Matt Dinniman says he was already working on Book 9 of his Dungeon Crawler Carl series before A Parade of Horribles even hit readers, and he already has a name for the character born from the book’s strangest turn: Sexy Scolopendra.
That twist came at the end of the eighth book, when Carl and Donut inadvertently turned Scolopendra into a companion after a fight that also hinged on the pet biscuits Dinniman says he planted earlier in the story. He said he wrote the scene with no fixed outcome in mind, even as it closed with Carl summoning the final boss of the dungeon. “The way I write, when I come into a scene, especially a big scene, I don’t know how it’s gonna go,” he said. “I had no idea.”
Dinniman said the ending was not planned in advance. “The book ends with Carl summoning the final boss of the dungeon, which is itself a surprise,” he said, adding, “I didn’t think I was gonna do that.” He said the ability had been part of Carl’s setup long before that scene arrived. “I knew he had the ability to summon two creatures to the floor, and when I first gave him that ability, I didn’t know what I was gonna pick.”
He said the pet biscuits were introduced earlier in the book while he was writing around the same time as the Scolopendra fight. “I planted the seed of the pet biscuits existing, and then I added the scene where Scolopendra gets the wrong pet biscuit [from Donut during the fight] and turns into, you know, Sexy Scolopendra,” he said. Asked whether fans had already started using the name, Dinniman said, “I think we are,” and added that he had been waiting to see if readers would do it first. “I was actually kind of waiting to see if people start doing that, because I’m already writing Book 9, and I am calling her Sexy Scolopendra.”
The interview centered on A Parade of Horribles, the eighth book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, which leaves the franchise with its final two books still ahead. For now, Carl, Princess Donut, Mongo, Ren and their expanded party are heading into the 12th floor and will try to make it through the 18th floor before time runs out on this season of Dungeon Crawler World.
The bigger question is not whether Dinniman has plans beyond Book 8. He does. The question is how far Carl and company can get before the season ends, and whether the next book can top a finale that already delivered a dungeon boss, a new companion and a nickname that Dinniman says he is keeping.
