I have read 7 of the 8 currently available Dungeon Crawl Carl books so far, but it took me until Operation: Bounce House to figure out how to describe what I’ve read of Matt Dinniman in terms of genre. Operation Bounce House is not part of the Carl series; it’s a stand-alone, with different cast and different universe, but also some distinct similarities including genre and general tone. The premise is still conventional sci-fi: human colonists of New Sonora are mostly farmers who, with the help of their agricultural AI robots, are happy to dream their dreams and live their lives. Naturally, this vaguely pastoral existence is about to be threatened by none other than Earth, which has hired/allowed Apex Industries to conduct the titular Operation: Bounce House. It’s a “game” where for a price, humans on Earth can wirelessly control mechs from Earth on New Sonora and hunt down the New Sonorans, as in kill real people on another planet from the safety and comfort of your own home. But why? This is a major question for Oliver, a New Sonoran native, who just wants to be a farmer, keep his sister Lulu safe, along with his maybe not-quite-ex girlfriend Rosita and all their friends. Oliver has some unexpected help in Roger-Roger the AI queen bee hive control unit for the farm robots, who also served as the teacher/educator for much of his generation (no cussing, or Roger will zap you).
This scenario feels kind of familiar, in an “I know I’ve read/seen this somewhere before but can’t place it”. The hallmark Dinniman snark and spunky dialogue is definitely here, as are the interesting little character details like how Lulu earns a side income with her Real-Friends account (think OnlyFans), Rosita’s farming specialty is garlic but she also wants to be a film-maker, Sam (Oliver’s bestie) wants to be a rock star with heir group’s band The Rhythm Mafia, etc. There’s also an additional mystery in what caused a mysterious illness that wiped out most of the protagonists’ parents’ generation. It’s a decent, if somewhat uneven, story with some not very subtle considerations of the implications of technology on human life, and what does it really mean to be human,e tc.
So, my theory of Dinniman? First (side note), I detect a definite interest in commentating on AI and technology in the modern world, but it’s not absolutely doom and gloom. But really, it’s mainly the combination of the fun personal world and character details in a somewhat familiar sci-fi situation and some catchy dialogue, and (here’s’ the big one) actual hope existing in the seriously violent and dystopic situations that the characters find themselves facing through no fault of their own. During and after the final showdown, there’s some conversation among survivors about a lose-lose situation wherein they managed to survive, and that’s kind of a win. If you think about it, in DCC, it’s kind of the same thing; there are substantial loses and tragedies, but the survivors are still there to face another day. Not a bad approach, especially in the here and now.
