In September 2020, Dungeon Crawler Carl exploded onto the scene. The book, a litRPG, follows Carl and his talking cat, Princess Donut, into an underground dungeon after aliens obliterate most life—and all the buildings—on Earth. What comes next is nothing short of pure chaos and mayhem.
The premise might seem absurd, and the unhinged violence might turn some people off. But there is a surprising amount of heart entrenched in these books. With seven published and more on the way, there are a legion of loyal fans gleefully awaiting to see what exploits our favorite crawlers will get up to next.
But no one ever said waiting was easy. Or fun. Luckily, we know where to find more fun reads while you wait. Ever wondered what would happen if you found out you were the new Grim Reaper? Or what zombie wrestlers might unleash if they showed up at a bake-off? Here are seven fun science fiction and fantasy books to keep you laughing while you wait for the next Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Saucer
140,000 years ago, a UFO crashed into the Sahara desert. Over time, it became embedded in the sandstone only for seismic surveyor Rip Cantrell to discover it. Before he can claim the UFO as his discovery, he finds himself fighting against a cunning billionaire and the Libyan army. Teaming up with UFO skeptic and test pilot Charlotte Pine, the duo manages to get the spacecraft up and running. They wanted to keep the alien secrets safe. They ended up taking an ancient spaceship on an adventure centuries in the making.
He Who Fights with Monsters
When Jason goes to sleep, he’s an office supply store middle manager. When he wakes up, he’s an interdimensional traveler. At least he has magical powers. Unfortunately, for someone who wants to be the hero, all his powers are evil. Still, he does the best he can facing cannibals, wizards, cultists, and monsters. And that’s just when he wakes up. He has to gain more power and experience if he wants to survive. And maybe a pair of pants.
Zombie Bake-Off
Every year in Lubbock, Texas, is the Recipe Days bake-off. Everyone from grandmothers to new moms show off their family recipes hoping to win a chance to appear on the famous cooking show, How Would You Cook It, Then. It’s bad enough that the event is crashed by a federation of pro-wrestlers. But when the zombies arrive, all hell breaks loose. Someone fed the wrestlers an infected batch of donuts and chained the convention doors shut. Now it’s up to the soccer moms and grandmothers to save the survivors from the hungry undead. It’s the ultimate showdown and anything can happen.
The Quantum Thief
Every day, Jean le Flambeur has to kill himself before his other self can kill him first. Until he’s rescued from the Dilemma Prison and taken to the Moving City of Mars. There, time is currency and memories are treasures. It’s also where an investigator hunts an arch-criminal named Flambeur. Over many years and many lives, the entity known as Jean le Flamneur has been many things. In his last job, he managed to hide his true identity from himself. Now, he has the chance to regain all his power. He just has to finish the one heist that he’s never been able to finish.
Redshirts
Ensign Andrew Dahl is thrilled when he’s assigned to work in the Xenobiology lab aboard the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid. Until he starts to notice some things. Like, every Away Mission ends in a violent confrontation with aliens. And the high-ranking officers always survive while the low-ranking crew members die. But when Andrew discovers information on what the Intrepid really is, he realizes he might have stumbled onto a way for all his fellow low-ranking crew members to survive.
A Dirty Job
Charlie Asher lives a perfectly normal life. He works a perfectly normal job and is married to a perfectly normal wife. And when she gives birth to their first child, Charlie expects the baby to be perfectly normal, too. Until one day, people start dying all around Charlie. Somehow, Charlie is being recruited for a new job.
Death. It’s a grim job, a dirty job. But someone has to do it, and that someone is Charlie.
All Systems Red
Murderbot just wants to be left alone. That’s not its real name. At least, not the one it would ever say out loud. That would only freak out the humans. So would the discovery that it freed itself of the governor modulator controlling it. Not that it matters. Murderbot intends on doing its job. That way everyone leaves it alone to watch its soaps. But when a nearby mission goes dark, it’s up to Murderbot to protect the humans its assigned to. And that means, discovering the truth behind what’s really going on with that mission.
