I was doing a search on Google, and discovered this site. If anyone wants any info on the BOM, I will do my best to answer.
General reply to the chat board questions:
BOM was indeed an independent work at first.
FASA offices were originally located just west of the Chicago business core (i.e. the Loop) and north of the UofI campus, on Van Buren Street.
Jordan Weisman and Ross Babcock were the two founders (as I recall), and I signed rights to the copyright material in exchange for royalties. I was an independent author and had no tangible relationship to the business of FASA at any time. FASA was already around at the time, specializing in Star Trek and Star Wars (which was very new at the time)
RPG stuff.
I cannot recall the rationale for the final edition that eliminated several chapters.