Doom: The Plutonia Experiment print version

Last night I painstakingly assembled my three Doom novellas into a trade paperback on lulu.com, so's I could have a print version on my shelf. The book is available only to those I send the link to, and it's set so the price only covers the cost of printing (plus whatever shipping methods the buyer chooses). I was curious if the Doomworld community would want their own copies since the stories were well-received here when I originally posted them (I think with standard ground mail the book cost about $10). If so, I'll post the link here for anyone who wants one for their shelf. I'm gonna inspect my copy first, though, to make sure they didn't fuck it up (it'll be here in about 15 business days).

EDIT: Third Edition available here. Hopefully the goddamned page number issue has been solved this time.

If the mods aren't cool with it, I'll take down the link and post photos when it shows up instead. The cover was sorta thrown together with whatever I could find so it wouldn't look too generic (formatting the document correctly was a hundred hells of agony, however).

I would love to buy a copy. I recently posted in the Doom movie thread that I'd like some more Doom media and some fan work with heart put into it would be welcome on my bookshelf. :)

When you receive the book I'd love to see pics anyway. What did you use for the cover? I'm curious. :)

I wouldn't mind a link either. At the very least I'd like to check this out.

I just used the master levels background pattern from Jdoom, or some variation of it. Wasn't sure who made it, but I can put their name on a second edition.

It's nothing really special to look at, apart from using the Doomguy's status bar face for the author photo as a humorous touch. It'd be about two weeks before it gets here so I think I'll just post the link anyway (first post).

It just came in today. Here's a few photos.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a289/5thman/IMG_0175_zps44afacf8.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a289/5thman/IMG_0176_zpsd5f7a07f.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a289/5thman/IMG_0177_zpsa50ca775.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a289/5thman/IMG_0179_zps57c6f41b.jpg

The paper is pretty nice quality, and the page numbering came out right, which is a relief. I'm trying to figure out how to do a second edition so the page numbers will be centered, but it probably isnt a big deal.

Today is payday so I put my order in. Congratulations on your first publication.:)

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a new Doom book.

Kinda makes me wish Nick P would do the same for his huge Doom story. It's a chore reading the PDF and it looks terrible (text too small) on Kindle.

Anyway, thanks for the pics too. :)

Got my copy. Looking forward to reading it. I don't suppose you have a Kindle version or PDF version too? :)

There might be a link for a free downloadable version on the lulu page, but I could be wrong.

Sadly, there's isn't. It's cool though. I can manage with this new fangled 'paper'. :P

I have to admit something: I probably never made it more than a couple of paragraphs in any of the chapters posted. I'm not the sort to read large amounts of text over a computer screen. But I read books, and I'm very tempted to pick this up. For $10, why not?

EDIT:

Trevor Cooper, thank you for shopping at Lulu.
We will email your receipt in just a few moments.

;)

Lulu is such a polite lass...

My copy's in the mail, now it's a matter of waiting.

Didn't have to wait long, book delivered by courier this morning. Had a quick flip through and noticed only "Knee Deep in the Dead" has page numbers, but at least they're centered, so I'll assume it's the Second Edition.

UGH, thanks for pointing that out. The pdf looked normal.

EDIT: Or not. Just a blunder on my part turns out.

This is so fucking infuriating. You see why I called it a formatting nightmare...

GreyGhost, Average, and Coopersville, PM me your shipping addresses and I'll send you a fixed version myself.

Och, Impie, don't worry about it. I'm happy enough with the version I have. I bought it to support a cool little project that I'd like to see more of either from you or from others (Nick P!). I don't want to stress you out or cause you hassle. I just want you to try to enjoy your first endeavour in publishing!

It's still a good book and a nice collectable. :)

It's no hassle, but thanks man.

Apparently when I re-did the page numbers it treated the first book as one thing, and the other two books as a separate thing, so i had to insert page numbers TWICE to cover the entire book. But deleting one page number would delete them all. I don't get it.

Sounds like Lulu's publishing software could do with a bit more work.

I'm fine with the copy I have. Besides, you're probably making little enough from this venture without giving away copies.

Got it in the mail this afternoon. I'm looking at two twelve hour shifts in the next couple of nights, so I hope this occupies at least one of them. If page numbering is the only issue, I'm not concerned.

GreyGhost said:

Sounds like Lulu's publishing software could do with a bit more work.

It could, but it was my blunder this time. If you guys are cool with your copies as they are, then I won't worry about it.

Thanks for showing enough interest to buy a copy, fellas! Hope Coopersville enjoys them especially, since he hasn't read them yet.

After a long hiatus, I finished it this morning. Part 1 was 9/10 levels of pure immersion and psychological horror. It might be a solid 10/10 if it holds up in future re-reads. I blew through it in two short sittings. That's why Part 2 is such a downer when everything stops and the tone resets for a new cast of characters. This was the reason for my hiatus. It picks up in like the last five pages, but meh. Part 3 brings it back, though not as strongly as Part 1. We're reunited with the "Sarge" character, which is a dual-edged sword: We get to see more of the best character, but as he starts sharing some brief stories of what he was up to over the course of his absence, we feel cheated out of some good content while we were reading about "The Technician" sipping tea and tipping his molecule in the face of a demon threat. But I'm nitpicking at that point; I don't finish most fiction, so for me to pick this back up and truck on is a testament to the overall quality of the story. Part 3 is still about a 8/10.

All that said, it easily stands toe-to-toe with the official Doom literature (which I'm a big fan of). Will share it with my friends whenever they're in search for a good read.

Thanks for coming back and sharing your thoughts, Coopersville. The idea of Sarge playing "Chato's Land" in hell with a team of UAC killers would be a great story, but three of these felt like more than enough for me. If Id wanted to professionally publish a larger collection, I'd definitely do it for the Thy Flesh Consumed entry, and maybe even add Hell on Earth on top of it. But at the moment, I'm all fanfiction'ed out.

The main reason I didn't follow Sarge in every story was to keep the terror fresh: by the end of Knee Deep, Sarge is pretty well accustomed to the horrors of hell and his emotional wounds are pretty cauterized. Really didn't want to do two novellas about a guy who isn't phased by anything anymore. Using a new cast each time seemed to keep things fresh, even if the Technician's entry ended up the weakest -- I do kinda wish I'd had more action in Shores. I was a little worried about Inferno, too, since it was the most likely to turn into a typical Doom fanfic (endless monster-slaying for a hundred pages, the end), but I'm glad you rated it so highly.

Hope the book is even better on a second readthrough. Don't be shy about expounding any misgivings about Shores -- I do sometimes go back to my old works and tweak them again.