9 June 2026
My head’s coming together slowly this morning. I’ve got a doctor’s appointment in an hour and was going to skip the coffee, but let’s be honest — I need it if I’m going to get moving. It’s fine; the doc told me coffee before labs is okay. Still, I always feel like I’m trying to pass a test.
I finished my latest read last night. It’s a book I normally wouldn’t have picked up, but one of my granddaughters sent it to me, so I gave it a shot — and it turned out to be surprisingly good. The book is Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, a New York Times bestseller.
The story feels like a cross between TRON, The Wizard of Oz, and War of the Worlds. It’s this wild blend of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and comedy. The main characters are a guy named Carl — as you might guess — and a talking show cat named Princess Doughnut.
One early morning after midnight, the two are thrown into chaos when aliens invade Earth. The survivors who manage to get underground are dropped into a kind of living video game the aliens call the Dungeon. Their goal is always the same: fight their way to the next level by battling monsters, earning tools, gold, skills, and whatever else might help them survive — if they can even find the way down.
I know, it sounds like a mess on the surface, something that shouldn’t work at all, but Dinniman somehow pulls it off. It’s a series, and I’m thinking about picking up the next book to see what happens next.
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” — Arthur Ashe
"Welcome to the Dungeon survival is optional" - Matt Dinniman
Dammit Doughnut - Carl
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