They’re turning the world upside down

HANK LEUKART. As the author of The Doom Hacker's Guide, a book on altering Doom computer-game software, Hank Leukart receives regular royalty checks. This success — his work has sold an estimated 30,000 copies — has the 17-year-old writer thinking big publishing thoughts. But before he crafts another volume, Leukart will have to finish all his homework in study hall.

The son of lawyers, Leukart initially wrote the list of Frequently Asked Questions that is now packaged with Doom software. This led to overtures from three publishers, including MIS:Press, a division of Henry Holt and Co., which published the hacker’s guide. Why is Leukart’s guide so popular? “With my book,” he explains, “you can take the monsters you’re going to shoot and change them in your boss, and the monsters’ screams become your boss’s voice.”