Stopped by Half Price Books today.

[Frabby]

Maybe they wanted to gift their collection to a local fan, but didn't know any?

Maybe the seller wasn't the original owner and didn't know any better?

Maybe the universe wanted to reward you for being awesome?

The more depressing but also more probable explanation is that the collection is sold off by the original owner's heir(s) after he passed away.

[Cubby]

Rolled. The box was in dreadful shape, but most are. Interestingly, the box still had a FedEx sticker on it; someone had ordered the poster set directly from FASA.

Pssh. FedEx, never thinking about long-term collector resale value.

[ColBosch]

Pssh. FedEx, never thinking about long-term collector resale value.

I was wrong, actually. It's USPS and was sent to an APO in New York. See, that's the kind of thing that increases an item's value to me.

[Guroburov]

Seen at my Half Price Books in Lewisville.  There were a few other books and technical readouts as well but can't remember the dates beyond 3057.  Mostly the paperbacks.

[Karasu]

Way of the Clans: Legend of the Jade Phoenix I
Bloodname: Legend of the Jade Phoenix II
Falcon Guard: Legend of the Jade Phoenix III
Lethal Heritage: Blood of Kerensky I
Blood Legacy: Blood of Kerensky II
Lost Destiny: Blood of Kerensky III

That's in (mostly) publication history and (roughly) chronological order.

Surely you want to read Blood of Kerensky before Jade Phoenix.  - BoK is introducing the Clans from the outside, JP is the first look starting on the inside..  Also, BoK were published first.

[ColBosch]

Surely you want to read Blood of Kerensky before Jade Phoenix.  - BoK is introducing the Clans from the outside, JP is the first look starting on the inside..  Also, BoK were published first.

I disagree. The Clans are well-established now, so people who are already familiar with the universe will want to read Legend of the Jade Phoenix first, then move on to the Inner Sphere's response. I deliberately moved a few books around - out of their exact publishing order - to try to present a better overall narrative. I also moved The Sword and the Dagger to the very first "slot," even though it was published after the first Gray Death novel. (Honestly, that book is not good; I think Star Lord might actually be better.)

[Karasu]

I disagree. The Clans are well-established now, so people who are already familiar with the universe will want to read Legend of the Jade Phoenix first, then move on to the Inner Sphere's response. I deliberately moved a few books around - out of their exact publishing order - to try to present a better overall narrative. I also moved The Sword and the Dagger to the very first "slot," even though it was published after the first Gray Death novel. (Honestly, that book is not good; I think Star Lord might actually be better.)

The Sword and The Dagger is a fine book.  It's just that the expectations of the setting have changed so much since it was written, and Ardath Mayhar didn't write any more books to influence things the way she had imagined in the first.
In spite of everything else, there is a lot of backstory to the early plotting in that one book.

[ColBosch]

The Sword and The Dagger is a fine book.  It's just that the expectations of the setting have changed so much since it was written, and Ardath Mayhar didn't write any more books to influence things the way she had imagined in the first.
In spite of everything else, there is a lot of backstory to the early plotting in that one book.

It's not a bad book because the setting has evolved. It's a bad book because it is poorly written. It's just a copy of The Man in the Iron Mask, set in spaaaace...barely. There are no aspects of the story that rely on BattleTech's unique offerings, the characters are barely one-dimensional, and the plot just muddles along through coincidence and luck until the story ends.

It is not a good book.

[DarkSpade]

So, I just priced out a copy of Warrior: En Garde.  They start at $38.   WHY!?   I can get the other 2 for as low as $7.  What the hell makes Warrior: En Garde so much more expensive!?

[ColBosch]

So, I just priced out a copy of Warrior: En Garde.  They start at $38.   WHY!?   I can get the other 2 for as low as $7.  What the hell makes Warrior: En Garde so much more expensive!?

Supply vs. demand, in this case. (Though the $130 copy is certainly the result of a ripoff bot.) The market wants copies, but there aren't a lot in the supply chain. So the price goes up. I'm also seeing that in eBay auctions for this title.

[DarkSpade]

Just seems odd to me that the first book is that bad when the second two aren't.

[mbear]

Just seems odd to me that the first book is that bad when the second two aren't.

Just wait until the bots get tweaked to account for that. :\

[DEZOAT]

Wait a second...*runs and checks to make sure my collection is still there*

;D OMG thank god I was not drinking my coffee at the time read that. Same here check my collection to.

[DarkSpade]

Friend of mine was texting me from Half Price Book yesterday.  Like 20 minutes later I realized I should ask him to check on CBT books for me.   I caught him just as he turn on his car, but he was cool with running back in for me.

BOOM!

$3.49
Plus a few more bucks for a couple books I thought I didn't have but turned out I did.  I need to format that checklist a little better.

[Greatclub]

is that e-bay price for the original, or for the 90's reprint? (Damn the semi-digital art of the mid-late 90's was ugly. Why would they have abandoned the heroic-painting style?)

[Charbok]

Sword and Dagger was the first Battletech novel I read, back around 1990 or so, at just about the apex of my fandom. I hated it so much I didn't read another one until 1998.  If I hadn't loved Stackpole's X-Wing  books so much, I don't know if I'd have ever given anything else a chance.  Fortunately for me, I worked at a Greenhouse that summer with 12 hour shifts and few customers after July, and I got the Warrior Trilogy from the nearby Waldenbooks.

Side note, I hated Sword and Dagger so much that I'd traded in to the local used book store for 1/2 cover price in store credit shortly after I got it. About 15 years later I got a used one off of Amazon for $40.

[DarkSpade]

Scored again!  I think with this one I now have every plastic mini set aside from the lance packs.

I'm also expecting several books from them in the mail leaving me with only 2 novels left to find.