Matt Dinniman pushes Book 9 with Sexy Scolopendra turn

Matt Dinniman is already writing Book 9 of matt dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and he is calling Scolopendra “Sexy Scolopendra.” That shift comes after A Parade of Horribles, the eighth book, turned one of the dungeon’s biggest threats into a companion during the fight.

“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,” Dinniman said. He also said, “I think we are,” when asked whether that name is now the way forward.

A Parade of Horribles ends on a boss turn

A Parade of Horribles ends with Carl summoning the final boss of the dungeon, and the book’s endgame then bends in the other direction. Carl and Donut turn Scolopendra into a companion during the fight, a move that changes how the series carries into its last stretch.

Dinniman said he does not map the scene beat by beat before he writes it. “The way I write, when I come into a scene, especially a big scene, I don’t know how it’s gonna go. I have no idea,” he said. That approach helped him land on an earlier pet-biscuit scene with Prepotente, which he then used to set up the Scolopendra turn.

Final two books, final two books

The final two books are now aimed at stopping the end itself, not simply arriving at it. Dinniman described them as books about keeping the end from happening, as the story moves from the 12th floor through the 18th floor before time runs out on this season of Dungeon Crawler World.

That creates a sharper business for the series than a standard finish. Scolopendra is no longer just a boss to beat, and the nine-tier Scolopendra attack is being treated as a retelling of history inside the story, which makes the last stretch look less like a clean victory lap and more like a race to redirect the damage already in motion.

Book 9 and the endgame

Dinniman said he was already writing Book 9 before A Parade of Horribles was released, so the next installment is not a waiting game. The practical takeaway for readers is simple: the series is already past the point where one book can contain the fallout, and the companion version of Scolopendra is now part of the endgame architecture.