cross-posted from: https://leminal.space/post/38119890

Hello!

I noticed that there was no community on Lemmy similar to r/vermis, so I created one. It's dedicated to books by Plastiboo, such as Vermis and Godhusk, as well as other books (and games too) published by Hollow Press (Age of Rot, Mock Soul, How to Bake a Breadling, etc.)

If you're interested in offbeat literature, dark fantasy or tabletop RPGs, then I invite you to join!

![email protected]

This is my brief review of all four Plastiboo books published by Hollow Press. I'll be discussing the books not in chronological order, but however I like.

This review contains no spoilers, except for a very minor one, so you can read it even if you're not familiar with the books.

Vermis II

The second book in the Vermis series and, in my opinion, the best installment. It differs most significantly from both the first and third books in that it is more narratively focused on the journey of a specific character. It has no choices and significantly fewer gameplay elements, such as loot descriptions and the like, but it tells the story excellently and reveals new lore details.

::: spoiler SPOILER ALERT The typical character creation screen appears at the very end, after the Wayfarer's story has concluded, which, from a game design perspective, might suggest that what came before was, in a sense, a prologue to the main game? Personally, I prefer the idea that the player was given the chance to create a character at the end of the Wayfarer's story, after which the closing credits would roll. That would have been a powerful move. :::

Vermis I

The first part of the series has its own unique atmosphere. It's short, distinctive, and wonderful in its own way. I can't say too much about it, except that it’s an excellent book with an interesting plot and beautiful illustrations.

Godhusk

Godhusk differs from Vermis in many ways right off the bat. First, it makes it very clear what kind of game this could be (it's a Metroidvania). Second, there are multiple endings(!), which is really cool for loreGB and reminded me of those old choose-your-own-adventure books with page-turn options. Third, it's not fantasy but sci-fi. More specifically, a mix of biopunk and divine machinery.

This is an unusual book with interesting artistic choices that feels most like a guide to a long-lost video game due to its abundance of gameplay mechanics, interactions, and multiple endings. I also like Plastiboo's art style here. Art is very important in books of this genre, and back in the day, the art style deterred me from buying Bubzium and Final Fentanyl, cause it was quite specific and not particularly appealing to me personally.

Vermis III

The final book (as of this review) in the Vermis series. For me, it's one big contradiction.

On the one hand, it's clear that Plastiboo has significantly improved his artistic skills over the years: this book features the best artwork in the entire series. There are also more game guide elements here, such as descriptions of loot, game mechanics, maps, and interactions seem to be about three times more abundant than in the first book. The world has also become more interesting, as has the protagonist's journey (compared to the first book).

However, the book offers almost nothing new compared to its predecessors. The first book laid the foundation for the genre, and the second told a very interesting and cohesive story. The third, on the other hand, seems to be trying to take the first book and simply make it bigger. Is that a bad thing though? No, not at all. Even though it's the weakest book in the series, it still deserves a solid 7.5 out of 10 if I had to rate it.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading my thoughts. If you've read any books by Plastiboo, please share your opinion, I'd love to hear it. As for me, I'm about to start reading How to Bake a Breadling while I wait for my copy of Age of Rot to arrive.

I haven't read that many of their books yet (definitely fewer than I'd like), but of the ones I have read, Vermis II is definitely my favorite, both in terms of art style and storytelling.

If you haven't read any of their books yet, is there one that particularly interests you?

Hello!

I noticed that there was no community on Lemmy similar to r/vermis, so I created one. It's dedicated to books by Plastiboo, such as Vermis and Godhusk, as well as other books (and games too) published by Hollow Press (Age of Rot, Mock Soul, How to Bake a Breadling, etc.)

If you're interested in offbeat literature, dark fantasy or tabletop RPGs, then I invite you to join!

![email protected]

I'm a couple of days late, but here's the newsletter from Hollow Press announcing the release of a new essay in the U.D.W.F.G. series. For some reason, there isn't a blog post about this pre-order just yet. Perhaps one will appear closer to the book's release.

EDIT: This newsletter issue was published on the Hollow Blog, but for obvious reasons I won't be reposting it here (the text is identical). The link to the blog post is below.

https://hollow-press.net/blogs/news/lost_creepypasta_complete_files-pdf-by-alt-236-u-d-w-f-g-essays-ii-preorder

hey souls,

here a quick summer newsletter for you

we are so proud to announce that the new and second issue from our dark weird fantasy essays series is out to preorder!

Pre-orders close on August 10th. All orders including this product will ship between October 1st and October 15th.

After the first one from the legendary content creator Super Eyepatch Wolf, we have the second issue by another great content creator, Alt 236 from France!

Here his channel.

If the first time we talked about fake video games, this time we talk about a new phenomenon,

the CREEPYPASTA!

Obviously, as always this is not an academic essay, 

you know we like to publish "meta" essays with a double value: the cultural one and an entertainment one!

the full title of the book is:

Lost_Creepypasta_Complete_Files.pdf by Alt 236 (U.D.W.F.G. essays II)

and here is the cover, artwork from the immensely talented doctor.nowhere

the book is available in three different languages: english, french, italian

and in three different versions: regular;

collector with slip case and signed giclée print of the cover signed by both the artists Alt 236 and doctor-nowhere;

collector with a random original artwork included!

Hand drawn/painted by Alt 236

here an example of the artworks you can get:

we also chose again to make this preorder special giving for free a full set of 18 special cotton creepypasta stickers, to the first 1000 buyers! So hurry up to support us and this amazing artist!

you can buy it and find all the info and details HERE

and if you missed the first issue about fake video games you can find it HERE

I want thank you all for your support in advance for us this series of essays is very important,  it comes from our origin, if you don't know Hollow Press started as a self-publishing house in 2013 with an underground zine U.D.W.F.G.

(underdarkweirdfantasygrounds)

and to come back to make "culture" with our origin is special for us.

more soon...

very soon...

Thank you for your support!

This video by Dogma is probably the best way to get to know Vermis if you're not ready to buy the book. If you're not put off by long video essays, I highly recommend it.

For those who have absolutely no idea what Vermis is — it's a guide to a dungeon crawler-style RPG video game that doesn't actually exist. It features an incredible atmosphere and illustrations by Plastiboo. The book effectively created a whole new genre, and we now have many other similar books, such as Mock Soul by The Salamander King.

It's a shame that Lemmy doesn't have a built-in poll feature, so I can't run a poll directly about people's favourite books in the loreGB genre.

The official soundtrack for the first volume of Vermis is available not only on cassette from Hollow Press, but also as a digital album via Qobuz or directly from the artist on Bandcamp. You can download it for free from Bandcamp (but if you like it, consider supporting the artist).

I'll also leave a link to the album on YouTube. You can use your favourite frontend to watch it.

• Bandcamp: https://radagasttenderofbeasts.bandcamp.com/album/sounds-of-the-world-vermis-vol-1-melodies-of-the-unknown
• Qobuz: https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/vermis-sounds-of-the-world-vol-1-melodies-of-the-unknown-radagast/o62817skv7j7b
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtmJgCHxt9s

An article from the official Hollow Press blog dated 10 July 2026.

a new lore game book

and several reprints out!

hey souls, I hope to find you well, and not suffering too much for this hot weather!

Here just for a quick summer newsletter, we are so excited to announce we published the new lore game book by

The Salamander King, "Nostalgia Nest", and it will be one of the most GHOSTLY book you will ever see!

why ghostly: for sure for the art style used by the artist this time, but also for the printing production, it has a 16 pages insert and dust jacket printed on the prestigious GSK semi-transparent paper!

We don't want spoiler anything to you describing this new lore game book,

we can just tell you that many of us here in Hollow cried reading it. The Salamander King really put all his emotions here inside, and you will feel it from the beginning to the end.

This is limited to just 2000 copies as first edition, so hurry up to grab your copy, anyway, should it goes sold out soon, don't worry, as always we reprints all our successful books!

You can buy it HERE

and also, for the first time, we produced some very limited prints from the book, A3 size always printed on the GSK paper, pretty unique.

They are very very limited so hurry up to grab your favorite one!

You can find them HERE

We also want notice you that between them there is also a very special limited print, titled "A SHARED DREAM"

signed by both the artist, yeah, it is a collaboration between him and his mom, as explained in the discalimer the artist provided us:

---

A sentimental collaborative artwork from The Salamander King and his mother.

A collaboration unbound by time. It features a nostalgic illustration of a Datsun 280z, created by his mother in the late 70s, when she was nearly the same age as he is now. An Artwork that was one of his first inspirations as a child. Reborn through the haunting lens of Nostalgia Nest.

100% of proceeds from this art print are donated by Hollow Press directly to the Salamander King’s mother, to aid in her medical care and expenses, living with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer.

---

We really want be clear about this, you don't need to buy this special print to support this donation, the whole amount of money was sent in advance to him and his family, we thought it was just a small gesture we felt to do, so this donation is already fulfilled by us, and you can buy it just if you like it, as the wonderful and special print/collaboration it is, signed by both the artists, The Salamander Kind and his Mom!

--

before I leave you, I want just notice you about a series of so long waited reprints:

• Mock Soul, third edition
• How to Bake a Breadling, third edition
• Bubzium, second edition (as often happens the reprints is SOFT cover and not HC anymore)
• Postapoland comic fourth edition
• Weird Tles of Postapoland, second edition
• all the signed/erotic prints by Manuela Schiano