Finally! Wing Commander books have arrived!

There was a brief period where End Run was incredibly rare -- people were paying $40 for a copy... I'm not really sure what happened, they're actually fairly common these days. (I bought them and gave them away whenever I saw them in the past... now I only pick them up if they're in especially good shape.)
 
I really should order myself a new copy as mine is starting to get to the point like rtherique's
 
As long as it splits in half at *exactly* the right point, everything should be fine...

(I have certainly loved quite a few Wing Commander novels to death - my reference copy of the movie novel is in two parts right now, and my Action Stations is missing a cover. I also have a copy of the WCIV novel that -somehow- got large bite marks in it.)
 
I'm not sure if it is splitting at the right point. It's sort of splitting at multiple points. My copy of False Colors is also getting close, but I'd never consider reading my Keith copy. That one is going to remain in as pristine condition as possible.
 
Houkiboshi said:
Of the same book?
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Of End Run and Fleet Action, accumulated from used bookstores when everyone and their sister was looking for them, yes. I can STILL get them, but I've got enough around here that I've been (very easily) able to replace copies that 'wore out'.
 
Book killers! You people baffle me - both my brother and my wife are reknowned tome-destroyers, and every book I've loaned them goes out in excellent condition, only to come back with slightly torn, permanantly bent covers, with 3 or 4 folded pages.

I don't know how this happens. Every book I've ever read has remained in almost-new condition. I don't even consciously make a point to ensure thier safety; I just open them and read them, and when I'm done, I put them on an end table or back in my carry-on, or whatever. How do people destroy them?

My wife only reads my books in bed and on the couch, yet she's crumpled, creased and torn the covers to both my copies of George RR Martin's Game of Thrones and Clash Of Kings - both were in great condition when I finally finished them. I'm going to have to start buying hardcovers.

How do you guys store/read your books? Are you the sort who folds back the cover?
 
MannPower said:
Book killers! You people baffle me - both my brother and my wife are reknowned tome-destroyers, and every book I've loaned them goes out in excellent condition, only to come back with slightly torn, permanantly bent covers, with 3 or 4 folded pages.

I don't know how this happens. Every book I've ever read has remained in almost-new condition. I don't even consciously make a point to ensure thier safety; I just open them and read them, and when I'm done, I put them on an end table or back in my carry-on, or whatever. How do people destroy them?

My wife only reads my books in bed and on the couch, yet she's crumpled, creased and torn the covers to both my copies of George RR Martin's Game of Thrones and Clash Of Kings - both were in great condition when I finally finished them. I'm going to have to start buying hardcovers.

How do you guys store/read your books? Are you the sort who folds back the cover?
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No, don't fold back the cover - the problem is that some of them seemed to have sub-par bindings, which meant they fell apart even sitting on the shelf. Others I haven't had an issue with, but some of them just seemed to disintegrate.
 
Odd. I must have the luck of the draw when it comes to the copies I get. I've only ever had one paper back whose glue wasn't up the snuff, and the cover fell off.
 
MannPower said:
Odd. I must have the luck of the draw when it comes to the copies I get. I've only ever had one paper back whose glue wasn't up the snuff, and the cover fell off.
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Well, that's part of why I have redundant copies now - although when I started, it was to ship copies to the deprived, the way I did Wing Commander CCG starter kits.
 
Book killers! You people baffle me - both my brother and my wife are reknowned tome-destroyers, and every book I've loaned them goes out in excellent condition, only to come back with slightly torn, permanantly bent covers, with 3 or 4 folded pages.
Click to expand...

The extenuating circumstance here is that many of the Baen Wing Commander novels were published at a time when Baen's books were incredibly cheaply bound. The glue from that period is very prone to becoming unstuck and breaking your book into three hundred book slices.

Mostly, though, it's just a matter of flipping through the books *so often* that they become over-loved. I have gone through multiple sets of 'reference' WC books simply because I often find myself needing to race through five sources to find references to thinks for the CIC (or for these discussions.) Day in and day out for fifteen years takes its toll on a Freedom Flight...

I do know your pain, regarding regular books... I'm a big (but not good) book collector and can't understand how family members will take a new book and turn it into some kind of crime scene in a matter of days.
 
What I'm surprised most at is the condition of all my original game manuals. Those things were published like tanks. I was too young to appreciate most of them when I first got them (I was 9 when we got Wing Commander, and I used to take Claw Marks to school), and even today they're all in very good condition. Even Voices of War and Victory Streak, which I used to flip through religiously for years.

I'm a pack rat when it comes to game trinkets. Up until earlier this year, I had all of my 'favorite game' boxes in one big cardboard box; this included WC2, WC1, Secret Missions, Special Operations, Prophect, Privateer, Righteous Fire, Ultima VII, etc... Until my parent's basement flooded and my mom threw them away without consulting me. I think only one or two of them got wet. :( Still makes me feel a little dead inside.

Still, I none of their contents were in the box. I have an entire pair of shelves dedicated to game manuals - most are extremely old, and I have no practical use for keeping them other than nostalgia. I have a bunch of Origin game flyers from 1992, in there somewhere, too; the navy blue brochure-sized ones, with the wireframe planet on the cover. Still can't believe Wing Commander II was $80!
 
All my manuals are in plastic bags inside a big box that has all my classic PC games in it. It's a treasure trove of 1990s PC gaming.
 
I know that catalog well - I'm sure there are dozens of them in crevices at my house.

Still, the one from the year before actually looks coolest:

origin9091productcatalog1.jpg
 
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Now that's a battle; one hornet facing off against velociraptors and diplodoci, all while inside Master Control.

I'm not sure what my oldest Origin thing is. Probably the manual from Ultima III. My oldest game manual, in general, is the manual to Adventure, for the Atari 2600.
 
I *think* (and I'm sure someone will correct me) that Ultima III was the first game published by Origin.
 
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