Matt Dinniman

Dinniman began writing as a child and started his first novel while he was a senior in high school, which formed the basis of his The Shivered Sky trilogy, released in 2003.^[1] Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Dinniman worked as an artist who would travel to pet shows and draw art for pet owners. Dinniman published several works during the 2010s, such as The Grinding and two entries in the as-of-yet unfinished A Dominion of Blades series. He began publishing Dungeon Crawler Carl in 2019 on Royal Road, an online platform for publishing web novels and fan fiction.^[2] He self-published the first entry in 2020 via Amazon.^[3] The following year, an audiobook adaptation narrated by Jeff Hays was released through Soundbooth Theater.^[4] The series was picked up for publication through Penguin Random House, which released the series through their Ace Books imprint. The publisher only holds the print rights to the series; the e-book and audiobook rights were retained by Dinniman.^[5][6]

In 2026 Dinniman published Operation Bounce House through Ace Books in digital and print format. The audiobook was released through Penguin Audio and is narrated by Travis Baldree and Jeff Hays. The novel is a standalone work and not part of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.^[7]