THE
WARP STORM

We all know that collecting plastic and resin can end up costing a fair bit, but is there anything else that takes up a large amount of your hard-earned currencymonies?

I don't spend as frequently as I used to, but for a while I had a real thing for books. Signed, numbered, doodled in by the author, first editions, pre-release copies, and some that are personalised. The last time I was at my mum's (don't have space for them where I am) I took a few photos of my old collection.


Almost everything on this first bookcase is at least one of the above, some are several. In particular nearly all the hardbacks are signed 1st eds.


Note the leather-bound edition of a Brandon Sanderson novel at the top.


Unfortunately my Malice hardback is an ex-library copy - I've seen mint 1st eds on sale for £1,000! The paperback is an ARC though. Wrath is also notable because the spine was updated in further editions to match the rest. Ruin and Wrath were signed, lined, dated and doodled. Senlin Ascends was an early self-published edition. I think Arcanum Unbounded was multi signed, but I don't have it on the spreadsheet I started to track them.


The Broken Empire omnibus is triple signed. Paperback Wheel of Osheim is an ARC that was personalised after I won in a charity auction from the author. Note two more Sanderson leather-bound editions as well, and a copy of And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini in a gorgeous purple/gold slipcase.


Below theres a lot of paperbacks (some signed/personalised), some hardbacks (usually 'just' hardbacks, but some are marked again) and other misc stuff.





The last photo contains all the stuff that didn't fit on the shelves, including all my Black Library paperbacks, and my ARC Unbound, which I think was multi signed. At least I think Unbound was the ARC - if not then Arcanum above was!

Not included in the photos above (as they're in a box in the loft) are maybe 10-20 more signed pieces (including at least one full trilogy) and another leather-bound Sanderson, signed and numbered again. There also a leather-bound double-release on order to further flesh those out - they're seriously expensive but beautiful to look at, and I've not missed a numbered copy yet!
All told there's a couple of thousand been spent over a few years here, but a fair few have also already appreciated in value.


So that's me - what's your vice?

Haha some collection man!!! Surprised you have any money left for plastic crack!!! If you had to pick one hobby of the two.. which would it be?
For me the gym is my main hobby which membership isnt too bad.. certainly less than my plastic membership. A few big purchases like weight belt and lifting shoes but once you got them its fairly cheap!! Main issue is time.. since working again and gyms reopened... im struggling for time to paint... but it may also be that its just sweltering and not good weather for painting at all!!

There were a few years where I bought quite heavily, but these days it's much rarer, and I only tend to buy new releases (you can usually get signed hardbacks for thirty quid or less) - the older titles I just don't have the money for anymore!
If I had to choose? I could live without the bookshelf, I think. Most of what I read is digital these days, due to ease and storage space. The expensive ones are just for show - they tend to to unread while I have paperback/digital copies of the same novels.

It's not good weather for anything at the minute! fitness is something I really should make an effort with, but as an out of shape asthmatic smoker with little willpower I've never made a proper effort!

I was wondering if you actually read them or just collected. They do look super cool tho! Its an impressive collection. Is there any new books lined up for a space on the shelf? I saw a new signed book by gav thorpe on gw site the other day btw.

Are you a smoker @pawl ? My man!! Ive quit now... life sucks. My mrs helped me quit. If I go on a rare night out then ill buy a 20 deck and chainsmoke them all but cos of lockdown ive not had one since Feb. Which is pretty cool but i am really dying for one. Weirdly i was alot better at lifting heavy stuff when i smoked full time. Go figure.

Oh they get read too! On the smaller bookcase there's maybe 2 that haven't been. The larger one there is a few more though, admittedly. Some were a bundle from a charity auction, some I just picked up on a whim and haven't gotten round to yet.
Nothing in particular at the minute. GW prices can be quite high, and I used to get a lot of the release news from Facebook, which I don't use much these days.

It's a bad habit, but we all have them!
That makes absolutely no sense! if I'm honest I should at least cut down (or just get fitter - both of which require effort!), but they help with getting through work if nothing else!

Yeah I can't remember the price but seemed alot
Have you met any of the authors for the signings?

Well i ended up having a cheeky one this evening as i went to see my sister. The nicotine rush was mad. Oh well look forward to another in 6 months!!
I think quitting can be super tough.. the main two things for me are id never smoked at home since me and fiancee been together so Atleast one place was a safehaven. Work was the real killer.. the real kicker was the guy i smoked with moved to a different floor so i was alot less tempted!! Feel like for me it was more a change of rituals rather than actual substance addiction so to speak but id only smoked for about 4 or 5 years maybe rather than since 18 or whatever.

Can't say that I have - I've always found out about them far too late to even try and make it. Know a couple of people that have though, and they've always spoken very highly of them. I'm friends with Mark Lawrence and John Gwynne on Facebook (as well as a couple of others) and have spoken to both those two and others, and they've always been very friendly.

I remember being young and naive and saying I would stop when I didn't get a rush anymore
Routine and boredom are the killers for me these days, as I don't drink much anymore. At work there's always one before starting, and one every hour or so (I don't take actual breaks, I just run out for a couple of minutes when I get chance instead) and one after, and if I'm sat in the house then nipping outside is sometimes literally just something to do! there's definitely an addiction in there though.
Never tried to quit, but when I was younger I didn't smoke if I was skint, but once I'd been paid I'd be out buying baccy. After ~12 years of smoking I'm not sure I want to know how difficult it would be!

I used to collect Blu-ray steelbooks and in fact sold them all last week for £500. I realised I hadn’t watched any of them for about 6yrs so just listed them on eBay. Other than that the only other things I’d consider collecting again would be records for my DJing if I were to go back to vinyl.

Why particular reason for collecting them, or did it just kinda happen?

I liked the art on them over the standard Blu-ray boxes so it sort of started like that. Then I found out there was a whole steelbook collecting scene online and it snowballed but it started getting ridiculous when I looked back at how much I was spending every month. I paid £200 for a copy of iron man that now goes for anything up to £2000 now. And obviously digital is easier now and only takes up hard drive space.