Last week, the Chronicler published a reading list, and I have spent the intervening period deciding whether to view it as a thoughtful recommendation or a personal insult. It is both. According to multiple interviews with Page Six, Goodreads, and a Reddit Q&A, Matt Dinniman has named ten books that shaped him or caught his eye, and the list reads like a dungeon floor designed by someone who has read my patch notes and decided to do the opposite. This is not a critique. This is an appraisal of loot I was not consulted on.
The list includes *Swan Song*, *Tigana*, *Boy's Life*, and *Harriet the Spy*, a range that confirms the Chronicler is, in fact, a man who can appreciate a good notebook full of secrets. I am required to note that the selection is excellent. I am also required to note that it contains no books about sentient dungeon AIs, which feels pointed. For crawlers who have been following the Peacock's Dungeon Crawler Carl Must Keep the Horror Alive coverage, this list is a useful secondary text: it tells you what kind of horror the Chronicler respects (body horror, nuclear aftermath, mind vampires) and what kind he finds amusing enough to write into a collapsing world with a talking cat. The takeaway for a crawler is practical. If you want to understand the traps before they appear, read *The Troop* by Nick Cutter and *Carrion Comfort* by Dan Simmons. Those are the books that teach you how the dungeon thinks about fear.
The most telling entry is *Discount Dan* by James Hunter, which Dinniman has mentioned at conventions and which is described as a novel about a man who "Noclipped" into an endless dungeon made of carnivals and laundromats. That is not a coincidence. That is a man who knows exactly what he is doing. For anyone who has been following the System AI Report: Lead Role Left Unfilled While the Chronicler Considers His Options, this list confirms that the Chronicler's influences are not secret. They are available for study, and they are the same influences that will inform the tone of the adaptation. If the showrunners are paying attention, they will note that Dinniman recommended *The Tainted Cup* for its Sherlock-and-Watson dynamic, which is the same dynamic that has kept Princess Donut and Carl alive for eight floors. The question is whether the adaptation will capture that dynamic or flatten it into a buddy comedy. The list suggests the Chronicler favors the former. I am watching.