I was reading Renaissance of War: Reviving the Art, and it blew my mind. Omnae's threads are oft longer than even the longest tales spun by other TRF veterans, and are written with both a commanding grasp of the language, the history of TRF, and the hierarchy of characters throughout the galaxy. His stories are mind-bogglingly good, and reach ever-greater levels of quality the more you dig into the intricate histories and interconnected nature of his characters.
I'm not just here to say he's good, though. Reading Art of War - as with most high-level Imperial threads, like Axioms of Evolution - makes a reader really respect that he's writing on some higher level. I'm talking the stratosphere here. He writes about events and the movements of entire nations as though they're beneath him or his playthings. The actions of small armies and lone Jedi are as microbes too small to see.
I don't know exactly where I'm going with this. I guess my point is I urge you to go read some of his more recent writings, especially if you think you've got a handle on affairs in the galaxy today. Ahnk's great at constructing an interwoven plot, and Telan can turn a slugfest fight into an epic tale of a soldier's devotion, but Simon's the sort of writer who can scare the shit out of you simply by mentioning you in passing in one of his stories. That's writing talent.
