•Author Matt Dinniman has weighed in on one of the most heated debates in the fandom surrounding his Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks: how fast fans should listen.
The books, based on Matt Dinniman’s LitRPG series about a post-apocalyptic Earth taken over by an alien corporation, are narrated by Jeff Hays. Among the competitors in the fictional televised competition Dungeon Crawler World: Earth is Carl, a Coast Guard veteran accompanied by a talking cat named Princess Donut.
The audiobooks have become enormously popular, but many fans listen at accelerated speeds rather than Hays’ standard pace. On Reddit, Facebook, TikTok and elsewhere, playback speed is a recurring topic—some listeners brag about speeds of double or more, while others question why anyone would listen at the normal 1.0 pace.
“I personally feel anything above 1.5 is psycho,” Dinniman told Polygon during an interview at New York Comic Con.
Dinniman said he listens to most audiobooks between 1.0 and 1.2, sometimes up to 1.25. He praised Hays’ delivery but said faster speeds undermine the performance.
Jeff Hays’ delivery is really good, and there’s nothing wrong with listening to them at 1.2, but I see people doing it at 2.3 and it’s like chipmunks on bath salts. I mean, I guess it’s fine. You’re absorbing the story, but you’re kind of missing out on the nuance of some of Jeff Hays’ performance.
Matt Dinniman
The conversation at New York Comic Con also covered the upcoming Dungeon Crawler Carl live-action series, which Dinniman confirmed is still in development. He said the adapting team consists of fans who are “protective of the source material,” though he acknowledged changes were inevitable.
Dinniman also discussed expanding the franchise beyond novels, pointing to the Crocodile comics, a graphic novel based on the character Florin. Written from Dinniman’s short story treatment and scripted by Michael Moreci with art by Brett Bean, he said more spinoffs may follow depending on reception.
As for his own writing, Dinniman said he is currently finishing what will be split into two volumes as the final Dungeon Crawler Carl book. He also noted work on a separate title from Ace/Penguin Random House that he described as “a super violent cozy fantasy.”
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