Hi folks! Who might want old PBM mags?

[RedKnight]

Hi folks, how's it going?

I was huge into Galactic Prisoners (I was HT Rex) and other games back in the days....

I'm cleaning out my garage and came across a box of old PBM magazines. It's perhaps 50 Paper Mayhems, about 20 Flagships, and a few Avalon-Hill Generals. They're not in the best condition, and I'll want to keep a few that I wrote reviews in... but otherwise, I hate to just chuck'em all.

Is it possible anyone might want these?

I can't seem to find Paper Mayhem off the bat, in a google... is it still alive?

And I noticed how Flagship appears to have started a digital archive - but Carol Mulholland is now ill. How sad!

Any ideas concerning the disposition of these mags is welcomed.

Thanks!

Mike

[vanollefen]

Dave Webber, who published Paper Mayhem, died quite a while ago, 10 years at least, and his creation died with him. Heck of a nice guy, met him several times.

[GrimFinger]

Yeah, I'll take the magazines, if you still have them.

[RedKnight]

Yeah, I'll take the magazines, if you still have them.

Hi Grim, ok, no problem... at the very least I won't chuck them, and will probably send them to you.

They are very slightly water damaged; the lower couple of inches of the covers stuck together. The good news is that this only affected the covers, not the pages within. The bad news is, of course, that everybody likes to see the covers.

I saw how Carol has started to keep a digital archive for Flagship. Is there anything equivalent for Paper Mayhem (PM)?

I would hate to see all this old stuff lost. I'd even be interested in donating maybe some time to scanning. But we'd need more than me, and we'd need a good long-term archive.

Anyway... I'm just thinking out loud here...

... maybe I should change the title or location of this thread ...

Your thoughts?

Thanks,

Mike

[GrimFinger]

Hi Mike, and thanks!

I have written to Elaine Webber, the wife of former Paper Mayhem publisher David Webber, previously, and on more than one occasion, offering to scan back issues of Paper Mayhem, but to no avail. I don't know who currently owns the rights to that now-defunct magazine. Carol was OK with me scanning back issues of Flagship, as far as I know. She sent me some of the first issues of the magazine for that purpose, a few years back. Had we not been an ocean apart, all of Flagship's might well be in digital format, by now. Carol also agreed to allow me to keep a repository of Flagship back issues on this site, as duplicates in case her new site went offline. All of the back issues, however, have never made it to a scanner, however, insofar as I know. Since Carol and I lived an ocean apart, it would likely have been cost prohibitive for her to send me a copy of all back issues to scan.

With regard to any of the old PBM stuff, I have no interest in violating anyone's copyright. I wouldn't mind scanning most anything, in order to help preserve it for posterity's sake. But, simultaneously, I don't need any unnecessary legal headaches, either. For most of the old PBM moderators that are still alive, I have no current contact information for them, in order to even ask them about scanning stuff for them at no charge to themselves.

[RedKnight]

Hi Grim,

I can understand it if somebody doesn't want legal hassles. Did you have much of any agreement in writing with Carol, for Flagship? As for Paper Mayhem, it's too bad no one can be contacted.

Maybe it'd be more productive to ask if anyone would be willing to host the copies (i.e., a digital library of the old PBM mags). If they are comfortable enough with a disclaimer that they will take them down if anyone with some semblance of ownership asks them to, shrug.

That wouldn't be me, since I don't have any space anyway.

If we could get some kind of (semi)permanent archive, we could perhaps get folks scanning old issues. Before they're all gone.

Your ideas?

Mike