A speculative fiction advent calendar of quotes: Dec. 18, 2025

Matt Dinniman’s hilarious novel Dungeon Crawler Carl (2020) is the first in a series of novels starring Carl and Donut as they navigate a world catastrophe (emphasis on the “cat”) requiring them to survive multiple levels of a fiendishly designed gamer dungeon. Their peril is being streamed to an alien audience of billions. The alien version of Twitch, I guess. This is LitRPG at its funniest, especially considering how ill-equipped Carl is for combat. On the book cover, you see him in his boxers with the pink hearts, being chased down by a goblin about to flatten him. As for Donut. . .she’s a survivor.

book cover of "Dungeon Crawler Carl," LitRPG humorous novel by Matt Dinniman
Find out more HERE.

A speculative fiction advent calendar of quotes: Dec. 17, 2025

China Miéville, one of the best writers in any genre I’ve ever read, published The Scar in 2002. It may be my favorite, but that’s a hard call. Miéville writes what has been called “New Weird” fiction. This novel is weird, all right. Also absolutely fascinating, part of a trilogy set in the same fantasy world. Some of the characters overlap from book to book, but they are not sequels.

Find out more about the whole trilogy HERE.

A speculative fiction advent calendar of quotes: Dec. 15, 2025

One of the most engaging anti-hero rogues in all fantasy, Locke Lamora is even more fascinating when paired with his buddy Jean. If you haven’t read The Lies of Locke Lamora, you have a treat in store. It is Book One of The Gentleman Bastards series.

Find out more HERE.