LAST EDITED ON Sep-13-10 AT 08:33 AM (EDT)
 

>>> PUBLICATIONS
>> REFERENCE
> GENUINELY HELPFUL

Among the relatively few genuinely helpful reference books available in the galaxy today, few are held in such high esteem by so wide a band of the population as the So You series produced by the Wedge Defense Press.

The original So You book was written in 2031 by WDF morale officer Derek Bacon, to address a need that was not immediately obvious to those outside the Force - namely, the unusually large number of dimensionally displaced persons arriving on this plane of existence as a result of the interdimensional war that became known as the Rift Conflict. These people were from a fundamentally similar world, but still had to contend with a great deal of culture shock as they accustomed themselves to life in our world.

Seeing a need, Bacon and a team of graphic designers attached to the WDF's Morale Office devised and produced a whimsical yet helpful manual for distribution to the newly arrived displacees.

Fig. A So You Just Arrived from a Parallel Dimension, second edition (2042)

The book was an instant success - but, to the surprise of Bacon and his colleagues, it was a hit not just with its target audience, but with the general public as well. Most regular people thought it was a work of tongue-in-cheek humor, not seriously intended for the orientation of people from a parallel dimension, but both groups found it irresistible. Demand for further titles in the series, covering topics of broader appeal, soon followed.

For the remainder of the WDF's Golden Age, Bacon and the So You team stayed busy developing further titles, some of them serious, others ridiculous, and more than a few both at once. A complete list of the So You series is well beyond the scope of this entry, but here is a selection of those most likely to be of interest (and occasionally practical use) to hitchhikers:

- So You Aren't the Master Race: Coping with the End of Your Civilization's Dreams of Conquest (originally written for the Irken Empire)
- So You Are Falling from a Great Height
- So You Became Unstuck in Time
- So You Come From Australia
- So You Probably Shouldn't Have Eaten That
- So You're Unexpectedly In a War Zone
- So You Don't Want the Creature to Eat You

The fall of the WDF brought the So You operation to a halt, but so beloved (and useful) were the books that, unlike most other WDF-associated publications, most were not destroyed during the period when the Force was out of public favor. In some places they were explicitly exempted from local laws banning WDF-related books, and in others they were hoarded and hidden away by enthusiasts. Over the intervening century, they became treasured collector's items, sometimes even heirlooms, passed down through generations, often in secret.

In the 2380s, with the return of the WDF, demand arose for the So You books to return to print, and then for new editions and whole new titles. Despite his increased responsibilities with the new WDF, Derek Bacon, now a starship captain, obliged. He reformed the So You team and relaunched the series with a brand new edition of the classic So You Escaped the Robot Apocalypse for the WDF's new Colonial allies.

Today, though Bacon is no longer a WDF officer, he continues to oversee the So You department at the Wedge Defense Press, and his byline on all the books he writes for the series remains "Sublieutenant Derek Bacon, Wedge Defense Force".

This Guide entry was written by the English diarist Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), who also contributed to So You Come From Ye 17th Centurie.

Ya know, while the whole entry is great, and Bacon's self-help books are one of my favorite in-universe gags of the UF series, the thing about this post that almost got my keyboard wet was:

>This Guide entry was written by the English diarist Samuel
>Pepys (1633-1703), who also contributed to So You Come From Ye
>17th Centurie.

Hee hee hee. Gryph, I love you, man!

----
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This is an anthem for the girl that got away
This is an anthem for the war of yesterday
This is an anthem for the rebel of my youth
This is an anthem for the risk of loving you...

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> - So You Come From Australia

Truly the greatest culture shock of them all.

>> - So You Come From Australia
>
>Truly the greatest culture shock of them all.

Oddly, demographic research shows that So You Come From Australia is almost universally purchased as a double set with So You Probably Shouldn't Have Eaten That.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>>> - So You Come From Australia
>>
>>Truly the greatest culture shock of them all.
>
>Oddly, demographic research shows that So You Come From
>Australia is almost universally purchased as a double set with
>So You Probably Shouldn't Have Eaten That.

Which is weird when you think about it, because it's a well-known truth that anything is edible if barbecued for long enough or consumed with beer.

>>Oddly, demographic research shows that So You Come From
>>Australia is almost universally purchased as a double set with
>>So You Probably Shouldn't Have Eaten That.
>
>Which is weird when you think about it, because it's a well-known
>truth that anything is edible if barbecued for long enough or consumed
>with beer.

Not on e.g. the turian homeworld. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

LAST EDITED ON Sep-13-10 AT 09:41 PM (EDT)
 
Homer Simpson: Mmmmmmm, Turian.

Actually, I can imagine the ecosystems like the dextro-amino-derived Turians are probably a few chapters of SYPSHET.

In fact, I'm fairly certain that some of Bacon's So You... books have become required reading reference texts in several paramilitary organizations, much like the Jane's manuals.

----
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Hiding from tomorrow, nothing left to say!
Gathering up our courage, ready for the fight.
Howling in the shadows, till we start to bite!

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>In fact, I'm fairly certain that some of Bacon's So You...
>books have become required reading reference texts in several
>paramilitary organizations, much like the Jane's manuals.

Indeed. For example, So You Got Shot is an invaluable resource for anyone who might have to treat his own gunshot wound at some point.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>Indeed. For example, So You Got Shot is an invaluable resource
>for anyone who might have to treat his own gunshot wound at some
>point.
>
>--G.
>-><-
>Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
>Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
>Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

It is, however, highly recommended that you read that book before you get shot. Reading while wounded has been shown to lower the effectiveness of the information.

Bacon is not responsible for incompatible or non-standard physiologies due to mutations from base phenotypes. Please see publication So You're Not Like Everyone Else for assistance.

>Oddly, demographic research shows that So You Come From
>Australia is almost universally purchased as a double set with
>So You Probably Shouldn't Have Eaten That.
>

From everything I've heard of the land down under, I would have expected So You Don't Want the Creature to Eat You to be the popular companion book.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "It was used as a prison colony for a reason."

It is, on Ragol.

>
>>Oddly, demographic research shows that So You Come From
>>Australia is almost universally purchased as a double set with
>>So You Probably Shouldn't Have Eaten That.
>>
>
>From everything I've heard of the land down under, I would have
>expected So You Don't Want the Creature to Eat You to be the
>popular companion book.

You would think? Except most of them seem to at least want the creature to try.

--G.
"'E don't look so tough, myte."
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

I have 4 words for you:

"Some of the sheep."

:)

>"Some of the sheep."

Well, there was that trouble at a biological research station on one of New Brisbane's moons...

...which is why there's one less moon there now.

Terrible what happened with Project: Black Sheep.

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"

>
>>Oddly, demographic research shows that So You Come From
>>Australia is almost universally purchased as a double set with
>>So You Probably Shouldn't Have Eaten That.
>>
>
>From everything I've heard of the land down under, I would have
>expected So You Don't Want the Creature to Eat You to be the
>popular companion book.

So You Probably Shouldn't Have Gotten Eaten By That?

Shalon Wood

>So You Probably Shouldn't Have Gotten Eaten By That?
>
>Shalon Wood

"Outside of a dog a book is a man's best friend. Inside a dog it's too dark to read." -- Groucho Marx.

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"

So Your Friend's Trying To Eat You: Dealing with a Zombie Plague
So You're Dead: Life in the Afterlife
So You're Undead: Becoming a Creature of the Night
So You Shouldn't Have Pressed That: Raiding Tombs for Fun and Profit
So You've Been Framed For Mass Murder

Here are other Bacon titles, mentioned either in stories or in the featured documents:

• So You've Just Returned From Beyond The Outer Rim
  
• So You've Just Arrived from a Parallel Universe
  
• So You're Not the Master Race: How to Cope with a Rude Awakening to the Realities of Galactic Power
  
• So You've Become Unstuck in Time: A Survival Guide for the Chronally Displaced
  
• So You Want to Be a Space Cowboy: A Guide to Starfighter Piloting
  
• So You Fell From a Great Height: A Celestial Outcast's Survival Guide to the Mortal Plane
  
• So You're Dead: A Non-Survivor's Guide to Valhalla

I'm surprised the titles in this running joke have been remembered by the authors as consistently as they have. Between the stories, the featured documents, and this thread, the title count is now up to something like 18.

Are "You've Just Arrived from a Parallel Dimension" and "You've Just Arrived in a Parallel Universe" different editions of the same book, or just titled that way due to authorial memory? "Dimension" is generally mentioned as the book the Cephirans were given to read when they first arrive (Utena, Saionji, Juri, and Wakaba all read it at WPI), while "Universe" is the book that the X-Men and friends were given when they arrived (although Miki read it too, at the Hutchins home). Both books are mentioned in "Christmas Rose" (where Kate tells Utena to read the appendix to Universe (...And Your Enemies Have Followed You Here) because it was added in the 2nd edition - but Utena never read the 1st edition of Universe, she read Dimension)

Similar "mismatches" that make me wonder if the title was changed in later editions - "So You're Not the Master Race:..." and "So You Aren't the Master Race:..." (the full titles are fairly different) and "So You Are Falling from a Great Height" and "So You Fell from a Great Height:..."
Jeanne

	Jeanne Hedge http://www.jhedge.com
"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem." -- Gabrielle of Potadeia

LAST EDITED ON Sep-25-10 AT 03:12 PM (EDT)
 
My personal belief, speaking ex colono, is that Derek will sometimes change the names a little bit just to see if people are paying attention...

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"

>My personal belief, speaking ex colono, is that Derek will
>sometimes change the names a little bit just to see if people are
>paying attention...

This is an excellent Mighty Marvel No-Prize-style answer, but the truth is that it's usually just me not quite remembering right. (The exception is that So You Fell from a Great Height and So You Are Falling from a Great Height are actually two different books. One is for celestial outcasts, the other is for people who've just been ejected from high-flying aerospacecraft and/or defenestrated from a tall building. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

I don't know what to say to this, so I'm just sharing the link. http://www.thinkgeek.com/books/nonfiction/e567/

YES. LoL.

I always claimed that as a survivor, if I ever became bitten, that I saw it as my duty to lock myself in a basement or a closet...with the intention of making other survivors lives "interesting", in a Chinese-proverb kind of way.

----
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It looks like somebody may be a UF fan out there:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/books/nonfiction/e567/

Weird, huh?

Michael

Michael C. Fortner
"Rule 37: There is no such thing as "overkill".
There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload".