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Where are the original (official) stories?


Fëanor

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Well, I think I figured out which stories could be "official" and which might be "unofficial" (not endorsed by MicroProse). From the literature page at the ScifiEmporium, those stories which list the following are almost certainly official:

 

But you can't take that as 100% since sometimes that is found associated with a game title. The authors which seem to have written "official" stories for MicroProse Software are:

  • Brian Gallucci
     
  • Ted Paulsen
     
  • John Possidente
     
  • Russ Brown
     
  • Tim McCarty
     
  • Rick Riordan
     
  • Doug Kaufman
     
  • Shaun McClintock

I must emphasize that John Possidente's stories are almost guaranteed to be official since he was involved with both X-COM: Interceptor and Email X-COM. My gut feeling is that the other authors I list are also "official" story writers.

The authors I do not list are almost guaranteed to be unofficial since none have a MicroProse copyright. If I get some time, I'll look into this further.  :angry:

 

[Edit]

While looking around, I came across this page at the speedy.franken site. For those too lazy to click, here is what it says:

 

So Russ Brown's stories are indeed official. Like I said, those authors I listed are probably also "official".

 

- Zombie

 

I also agree that Possidente's stories are official since I remember reading about them several years ago, but the other authors I sincerely have doubts. If you check Shaun's McClinlock's story at the Sci-Fi Emporium it is clearly stated at the beginning: "Xcom and Xcom Apocalypse are registered trademarks of Microprose.

This is fan fiction and should not be sold or distributed for profit", even though he has the:

"Copyright (1995) MicroProse Software, Inc.

X-COM Copyright 1995, MicroProse Software, Inc.

X-COM is a Trademark of MicroProse Software, Inc."

 

I think that just having this copyright mention isn't enough to make them official. It has been added by the fan fic authors to prevent legal hassles with MicroProse. And Russ's Brown comment is exactly on this line: he says to keep the copyright notice and not to publish them on magazines/books (which MicroProse wouldn't allow being a fan fic because they hold all copyrights)

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I'm so sorry I didn't answer the posts before... forgive me guys...

 

 

Yeah FullAuto... that time line you posted is exactly the one I was looking for.

 

I don't know if it is the original one, but that timeline is the one I saw in the XCOM-Tactical Command site, and now I see it on the StrategyCore...

 

 

Thank you very much.

 

 

(oh... and sorry for the poor english... I'm Brazilian)

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Hehe, your English is word-perfect and spelled perfectly to boot. Not so many of us could do as well in your own language :angry:

 

As far as I know, it is the official timeline right up to just before the "Third Alien War". That's what was released in the X-COM Interceptor manual, and Shaun Green has done a great job of filling in the blanks after that :)

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Hobbes (see several posts above) does. Sorry, that's a little joke. Hobbes is André Galvao ;)

 

From what I've read, it's excellent, and many others (who have had a chance to read it all through - it;s HUGE) think so too. Definitely worth a read if you can spare the time.

 

(I might get round to finishing reading it one day :D).

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Hobbes (see several posts above) does. Sorry, that's a little joke. Hobbes is André Galvao :D

 

From what I've read, it's excellent, and many others (who have had a chance to read it all through - it;s HUGE) think so too. Definitely worth a read if you can spare the time.

 

(I might get round to finishing reading it one day ;)).

 

I might get around to finish reading it one day too :D

 

To me it is too big to read it other than in book format. Reading it on the screen isn't simply the same and although I can't count how many times I've read each chapter while writing it, I've never read it from beginning to end without jumping between chapters.

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Hmm *ponders* have you thought of formatting it all nicely and then going to somewhere like cafepress.com and aactually making a book from it?

 

It could be sold at cost price and presumably it'd be sort of legal as long as you made no profit from it...?

 

Hell, even if you didn't sell it due to copyright issues, you could still sell one copy to yourself :D

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I might get around to finish reading it one day too :D

 

To me it is too big to read it other than in book format. Reading it on the screen isn't simply the same and although I can't count how many times I've read each chapter while writing it, I've never read it from beginning to end without jumping between chapters.

 

 

Nice...

 

and... are you Brazilian?

 

 

I'd like to read it in portuguese... it would be much easier...

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I'd buy a copy off Cafepress if it were available. It took me longer to read that than all the Harry Potter books combined.

 

Look at the bright side: the story lasted longer and it was a lot cheaper to download it than to buy those books :D

 

But having my own edition of it wouldn't solve the copyright issues, plus it would need some professional editing to correct its flaws. I'd rather prefer to have it published in a completely legal manner, i.e., to have permission for the copyright holder.

 

Feanor: sou português. ;)

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Look at the bright side: the story lasted longer and it was a lot cheaper to download it than to buy those books :D

 

But having my own edition of it wouldn't solve the copyright issues, plus it would need some professional editing to correct its flaws. I'd rather prefer to have it published in a completely legal manner, i.e., to have permission for the copyright holder.

 

Feanor: sou português. ;)

 

 

nice... português... tenho um tio morando em lisboa.

 

 

And what about printing the book? That's ok, isn't it?

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nice... português... tenho um tio morando em lisboa.

And what about printing the book? That's ok, isn't it?

 

I have the story on .pdf file on my site, if it's easier to print it that way (easy is relative....it's still 690 pages). However, the site is offline currently (it is hosted on the same server as xcomufo.com) but it should be back online next week, I think.

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