It wasn’t quite the early morning chase a cat in a light snowstorm event that begins Dungeon Crawler Carl, but 10 a.m. on the Saturday of Comic-Con can feel jarring. Especially if you had to get up at 5 a.m. to get a wristband for another event. But this was a chance to interview author Matt Dinniman and audiobook narrator Jeff Hays of Soundbooth Theater, two gentlemen who have definitely sparked a phenomenon in fandom.
If you haven’t heard of Dungeon Crawler Carl (the title of both the first novel and the series), it’s only a matter of time. Centered on Carl, a schlub who survives the Earth’s destruction and transformation into a televised dungeon crawl — well, yeah, it sounds exactly like its title but so much more. Thanks to Hays’ multi-voice reading, this already popular LitRPG series exploded in the last year. Staying at the top of Audible’s charts — allegedly doing better than the omnipresent actual books themselves — what was already pretty funny prose by Dinniman has become comedy gold. With a lot of grotesquerie involved.
At SDCC, Audible transformed popular Gaslamp barcade Coin-Op into a Dungeon Crawler Carl themed escape room, packed every night. Though Amazon has benefited through Audible, other bookstores can barely keep Dinniman’s work in stock. The stealthy popularity of this series reminds me a lot of a certain boy wizard in the early days, but with a lot more alcohol. And a far more amusing talking cat.
Along with journalists from TheDirect.com, San Diego’s KPBS radio, Cherry from Los Angeles, and Pop Culture Cult, I sat down with Dinniman and Hays for a fun conversation that only made me more interested in finding time to complete the series. New obsessions can be so difficult to devote my time to, but Dungeon Crawler Carl is worth it. (Yes, on audio book — Hays is terrific.)
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