The Dungeon Anarchist’s Rise & Revolution Introduction We’re finally here! I know, my review of books 1-3 was only a month and a half ago, but I read this series fast. There’s another world where I reviewed 4-6 mid-July, and yet another where this look at 4-7 came two weeks ago. But as I said last week, bingeing the series so quickly ended up burning me out on it a little, so the break has been helpful for me to process and recover enthusiasm. If you’re here and still deciding whether to start the series, make sure you’ve read my prior review first! If you’ve read some and are deciding whether to continue, I hope this article will be helpful. But I imagine most readers (if they exist) will just be here to read another person’s take on books they quite enjoyed. For them I’ll do my best to offer what insights and commentary I can! A brief preview of my thoughts: these books are good, they’re easy reads, and they have some truly compelling moments which make me glad to have read them. At the same time, any issues you had with the early books (particularly 2 and 3, once you’re in the swing of things) will absolutely continue to bother you should you choose to proceed further. At the same time, most of the things you enjoyed about those books will continue to entertain you, on increasingly impressive scales. So let’s get into it! Spoilers ahead for Dungeon Crawler Carl up to the end of Book 7: This Inevitable Ruin. Dungeon Crawler Carl Books 4-7, by Matt Dinniman Story & Structure Carl and Donut overcome a variety of tricky obstacles and make it down to the 10th floor of the World Dungeon. Katia goes full body horror at the end of the 9th floor and is sent to a safe zone where she’ll hopefully be able to protect humanity’s surviving children. Next section! (Not really, but it is tricky to find an effective level of detail for a summary that doesn’t either gloss over almost everything or take a few hours to convey.) Carl’s (and Donut’s) goal is already mostly solidified by the end of book 3, but becomes further crystallized into: survive & thrive, save as much of humanity as possible (in and out of the dungeon), and kill every evil alien showrunner/oligarch/noble/hunter he can along the way. He often accomplishes these goals very creatively, with details of his plans hidden from the reader until the climactic moment when they’re revealed in full. It’s entertaining! But for my taste it also sometimes manages to be both expositional and confusing, which can easily detract from those heightened moments. It’s likewise nice to see fellow Crawlers, NPCs, and even former Crawlers getting more page time and parts to play, fleshing out the world beyond Carl’s limited point of view and experiences. But it also greatly detracts from the narrative’s precarious momentum during downtime and makes action even more chaotic and harder to follow. Ultimately, the storylines of the dungeon itself are inspired by and straight out of TTRPG campaigns. It’s wonderfully imaginative and excellently executed, arguably better than even Critical Role and Dimension 20 for Dinniman’s inherent ability to control all aspects of the narrative. But they’re also necessarily shallow (which he’s great at satirizing) and follows the usual TTRPG curve, where early levels are filled with action and later levels involve lots of planning for rarer, climactic encounters. So enjoy these stories while you read them, but I don’t have too much to say about any of those details in particular. Dungeon Crawler Carl Characters, art by ThisBandicoot2919 Highlights & Morals The good news is that, despite how bogged down in the details the narrative sometimes feels, most of the highs in this series remain truly high. Probably my largest omission from above was the books’ growing characterization of the System AI—the effective Dungeon Master for the game and a surprisingly engaging third party in the conflict between the Crawlers and the showrunners. We learn that these AIs are actually not so artificial in origin, but in fact ancient Primals (like Carl’s chosen race) being awakened and trained through the process of running the dungeon and interacting with the life of entire planets. (A fun parallel to The Locked Tomb and general personifications of planets, like Gaia.) We also see that the showrunners have an explosive failsafe in place in case the AI gains too much understanding and control over the system at large—one of the best twists of the series so far was Carl using his access to permanently disable this failsafe and let the AI grow and act as it pleases. Another significant highlight occurs in book seven, with a focus on past authors of the Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook. We learn several of their fates through flashbacks and actually have several others return to the dungeon to aid Carl’s struggle. These characters’ stories were filled with heart, trauma, and overwhelming passion that felt a cut above anything else the series has accomplished thus far. They’ve chosen to return to this place that tormented them, and to likely die in the hope of striking a blow against the showrunners, and it’s truly great stuff. I’ve been mentioning the alien showrunners and nobility a lot, and that’s because they really have been centered to be the main antagonists, over fellow crawlers, anything in the dungeon itself, or the AI. This builds off of what we see of the Orc princes in the early books and expands to include the Hunters—killing crawlers for sport on the sixth floor—and Faction Wars participants—playing war games with the lives of crawlers and NPCs. It’s nice to have Carl taking direct action against the real evils, inciting alien populations against their overlords, and even managing to remove the antagonists’ protections so that their lives are just as at stake as those of the crawlers. Samantha, Demigod and sex doll head, art by luxfatale Impossible not to mention Samantha, who seems like an offhand joke at first but blossoms into a hilarious character and weapon in her own right. Her French-accented catchphrase of “I will kill your mother” has quickly grown on me where “Goddamnit Donut” always felt a little twee to me. Emberus, the Gate of the Feral Gods, the card game, Miriam and Prepotente, Quan Ch, and the appearance of Bea and Carl’s dad also stand out to me right now, mostly just as fun and notable elements of the story. Also very interested in where Scolapendra’s awakening is going! Finally, I think the Ring of Divine Suffering and its damaging effect on Carl’s mind and soul is a strong (if a little blunt) reminder of the cost Carl’s crusade must necessarily have on him—a supernatural timer for him to either complete his quest or become the monster himself. An important parallel to this is the idea of masks, that Carl and Donut must act this way to survive before eventually shedding the mask later—and trust that they won’t be changed too much in the process. It’s an interesting place to put focus considering that death is ostensibly waiting for them around every corner, but I think that makes the humanity of it all the more potent. Faction Wars, art by Levi Cleeman Staring Down the End There are two—really three, since book nine is being split in two parts—books left in Dungeon Crawler Carl, and #8: A Parade of Horribles, is already out in the world and waiting for me to read it. And while I’m sure it’ll be interesting and exciting and mind-bending and all the rest, I’m honestly not as fascinated and intrigued by what’s to come as I am with most series. Because we know the broad strokes of how it’s going to end, right? Our system AI grows strong enough to corrupt/challenge the Eulogist—the central alien AI—and burns the current order down even as Carl and Donut reclaim Earth for what remains of humanity. What I want is for a new, better system to be proposed after all the anarchy and revolution and violence—both on Earth and in the universe at large—but Game of Thrones taught me that such things are much easier said than done. I think these are ultimately good books with a fun, brutal depiction of taking action against the controlling puppet-masters (an idea that could only be dreamed of in Chain-Gang All-Stars, which I compared the early books to), but I’ve also come away wishing they had a little more to say. Imani, art by Andrew Mar (so much more incredible art on his page!) I wished at the end of my previous review that the books would apply their anti-capitalist lens to the pre-dungeon world, and I half got my wish by getting a glimpse of the same themes in the alien society instead. But there’s still very little representation or exploration of everyday injustices, and at this point it seems clear that there won’t be. And that’s ok of course, but I think it does lessen the experience and value of these books for me personally. As I discussed with regard to The Will of the Many, there’s an innate contradiction to any bestselling critique of capitalism, and I don’t know that either text ultimately overcomes it. What are your thoughts on the series so far? Any important themes or moments I missed? Thanks for reading and until next time <3

A tribute to limerence, wildfires, and eclipses Introduction & Personal Writing Hello! I'm back with another short story today, this one written just three weeks ago at quite a difficult moment for me, and thus coming from a very personal and emotional place. But more on that in a moment—first, here are the short stories I shared two weeks ago, in case you're interested in more or in a point of comparison for how my writing has evolved over the past year. Second, you can still look forward to my next Dungeon Crawler Carl review soon (covering books 4, 5, 6, and 7), but I'll admit I burned myself out a little bit on the series and need a little more time to get excited about writing that piece. Also certainly on the way is a review & analysis of Between Two Fires, a fantastic dark medieval novel with some similarities to The Devils which I reviewed early this year. Ok, a little about the story. (Feel free to scroll down and read it first if you prefer!) As I mentioned in my post at the time, my city was experiencing incredibly unhealthy air quality as a result of raging wildfires around the province. I'm used to supplementing my mental health with long walks and runs out in nature, so the disruption was very disorienting and depressing even beyond the overwhelming existential horror of climate change. Earlier in the same week, I had learned about the idea of limerence—essentially when a crush becomes neurochemically addictive, with intrusive thoughts and a deadening of most other feelings. The experience can be greatly heightened by common aspects of ADHD, including hyperfixation, rejection sensitive dysphoria, and emotional dysregulation. A helpful explanation I found is that limerence often takes hold in people whose self-worth is lacking, but who feel more complete when they're around their crush. Thus identifying those areas of low self-esteem and generally focusing more on oneself first can be an effective preventative measure against limerence. I learned about limerence the hard way, but I can't stress enough how important that knowledge has been to me over the past few weeks. It helps to explain so many past experiences that I otherwise struggled to reconcile with my understanding of the world. It prompted me to work on myself and tackle new projects, including writing this short story, inspired by both wildfires and limerence and more. Would love to hear your thoughts on the story below! Thanks for reading and until next time <3 Art by hellothisisangle The Girl Who Loved the Sun A tale, for you, from Gaia. Transcribed from the scorched bones that nourished this soil, absorbed by the questing roots of the Great Tree whose fruit you now consume. Plump and sweet, but also a little bitter, no? Perhaps a hint of smoke, even these many lifetimes later? Your pardon, a tale. The Girl who Loved the Sun. Keep eating, and see it from her eyes, feel it with her heart. Relatable, to love the light? Certainly we have all seen the Sun’s beauty, felt the incandescent glow of Her attention. Many have fantasized and dreamed of basking eternal in Her affection; religions and nations have devoted themselves to praising Her. But all know not to stare too long. All except the Girl, that is, whose heart and soul were pierced with shadow. When the Sun looked on her she felt healed and whole, a person worthy and capable of love. Art by MK Cooper Yet the Sun’s attention never lingers long, and each intervening darkness saw the Girl tormenting herself with tearing wishes and stabbing regrets. Whenever the Sun’s gaze alighted on her it found deeper, darker shadows to fill and less of the Girl to warm and adore. Her sight and care for others waning, the Girl realized that she and the Sun were all that existed and all that mattered; a tale of true love that would shine through the ages. For who else had ever felt such overwhelming ardor and need, and had felt it shining back with such warmth and generosity? In the long and painful nights, the Girl turned to fire for light and warmth and a reminder of her soulmate—though it was a pale imitation and only caused her to yearn all the more. So the fires she set grew and grew, apace with the ripping shadows in her heart and soul. One day, the Girl was standing on the highest peak of the highest mountain. Demonstrating her devotion, yes—but also waiting for the raging inferno of last night’s fire to finally die down in the forests and valleys below. Her mind, her heart, and her soul now had room for nothing else but her love of her Sun. When the light began to dim, she was confused. She stood above the clouds and the stinging black smoke. It was the middle of summer, and her Sun had promised to spend many more hours with her than this. Yet the darkness continued to grow. Suddenly, squinting her scarred eyes in the dying light, she could see it. Her Sun was not alone in the sky—had taken up with Her vile and eternal consort, in fact. The Moon, who had overseen and reveled in every painful moment of the Girl’s life. An ill-conceived afterthought in the face of her and her Sun’s love. Art by MK Cooper But all those nights of fantasy and self-flagellation had worn the Girl’s denial down to a threadbare tatter, which crumbled before the overwhelming truth in the heavens above. That her Sun loved another. That theirs was not a special and unique bond—that it had never been a bond at all. That all of her hope and joy, hate and criticism, love given and received and denied, was pure imagination. Immaterial and inconsequential. As the Sun disappeared into Her lover’s embrace, what remained of the Girl’s heart broke fully and finally. She fell, staring into the towering and cascading wildfire that was the only remaining light in the world, and realized her life hadn’t been so inconsequential after all. ~ Ah, welcome back; I see you’ve finished your fruit. Yes, it grows quite well here. As do we all, focused as we are on caring for each other and our world. Take the seeds and plant them, is all we ask. Share the tale with the people there, in case they have forgotten their own great tragedies. Ha, yes. May She watch over you as well, good traveler.

In conversation with House of Leaves and Piranesi Introduction I watched the movie! A little late to the trend, perhaps, but excited to discuss it nonetheless. Will keep this top section vaguely spoiler-free as usual, though I don’t think there’s much to ruin with foreknowledge here. While I vaguely knew about the idea of the Backrooms going into this, I wasn’t quite up on it enough to realize that its lore and origins are (supposedly) entirely distinct from the SCP about the infinite IKEA. (Though the fact that the film also features a furniture store would seem to indicate they’re pulling on both fandoms in order to get butts in seats.) Today I’ll examine what Backrooms is about, the degree to which it succeeds in its various goals, and briefly discuss how it relates to two of my favourite novels: House of Leaves and Piranesi. Follow me; you wouldn’t want to get lost. Clark in Backrooms, art by vlaurr What is Backrooms? If you’re as yet unfamiliar, the Backrooms originated as an online scary story (“creepypasta”) based on a vaguely off-putting picture of empty office spaces. It added to the internet’s fascination with abandoned and liminal spaces and attracted contribution through imaginative storytelling and further photographs of unsettling places. One such creator, Kane Parsons, apparently took the idea and ran with it, to the point that his web series was adapted into a feature film by A24. The internet is chock-full of articles on all of that if it’s of interest to you. The Backrooms film follows Clark, the manager of a furniture store, and Mary, his therapist. Clark discovers an entrance into the infinite, liminal Backrooms in the basement of his store, and explores it before bringing it up to Mary in their next appointment. He then returns with his assistant manager and her boyfriend, both of whom are killed while exploring. Clark disappears for weeks, prompting Mary to check in. She enters the Backrooms and finds Clark, who has somehow come to learn that the Backrooms are echoes of reality—content degradation and copy decay of the real world. He’s then killed by an echo of his own furniture selling-pirate persona, and she barely escapes by finding a staging area for a corporation investigating the Backrooms. Mary in Backrooms, art by vlaurr Does it work? On a visual level, I think Backrooms does a phenomenal job of portraying the uneasy feeling that has always been associated with this idea, as well as the strange wonder of exploring these spaces. The fuse box at the beginning is one of my favourite moments from the film; new switches growing diagonally like tumours and eventually controlling the store’s entire power flow. The other excellent part for me is seeing hints of human life in this alien world; the corporation exploring this place becoming as alien and unnerving as this other world itself simply by their presence within it. As a feature film, Backrooms is also obligated to tell an actual human story—something audiences can relate to and maybe even learn from, in addition to necessarily adding stakes and tension. I thought the actors and characters were great, and I really appreciate how hard they pushed the therapy angle with Clark needing to ‘find a new path’ forward. The idea is that he’s not responding to therapy; that he believes he’s just wired this way—and so has become stuck, lost in the infinite labyrinth of his own mind. Mary as therapist tries to go in and help him, and he attacks her both consciously and otherwise. She barely escapes, having failed to help her patient and with some new trauma to process herself. It works, if you don’t think about it too hard. But mostly because the filmmakers are jamming a square peg into a round hole with enough blunt force that just about anything would’ve worked. The Backrooms has its own lore and rules and, most importantly, fans: those certainly came first for the filmmakers, and telling a fully cohesive and meaningful story necessarily came second. Thankfully, the fraying-mind-as-infinite-liminal-world idea has been done before, and better, in House of Leaves and Piranesi. By Joaco-Art House of Leaves and Piranesi I’ve written about both of these novels in great depth before, so I’ll keep this fairly brief—and spoiler-light, in case you want to check them out for yourself. To massively oversimplify House of Leaves, it follows a man’s growing obsession with exploring the apparently infinite liminal space which suddenly appears in his home. It’s a powerful allegory for his discomfort living as a simple husband and father after a career as a front-line journalist, and it’s only one of many examples in the novel showing how obsession can pull you in and destroy your life before you even realize it’s happening. Piranesi moves in the opposite direction, beginning with its protagonist living a simple, innocent life in a strange and endless space. (Filled with statues which seem to echo ideas from our own world, in an interesting parallel to Backrooms.) Over the course of the book, ‘Piranesi’ learns more about his past and present and must accept his own agency in determining his future. Both my readings of Piranesi have taken place in single afternoons, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. The difference between these stories and Backrooms is again simply creative liberty: the filmmakers were bound by the property they were adapting, and so could only messily nod to the same ideas that House of Leaves and Piranesi are able to explore so profoundly. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and Piranesi by Susanna Clarke Exit Backrooms is a fun, well-acted and well-executed film that manages to faithfully and intriguingly adapt the best parts of its source material. In order to have it function as a film, the creators behind it attempted to graft on a Backrooms-esque echo of stories like House of Leaves and Piranesi, which works just well enough while still making me appreciate the originals more. Currently, Backrooms is the closest thing that exists to an adaptation of either of those books (though stop-motion animation studio Laika is apparently working on a Piranesi film), so I'll accept it as a fun simulacra of what could be. What did you think of the film? Any details or allusions I missed? If you’re a fan of SCP and other online creepypasta, have you read (my review of) There Is No Antimemetics Division? Thanks for reading and until next time <3

I love reading fiction books that teach or reinforce socially significant ideas, and sharing how they can be applied to the world around us. My Portfolio I have created an extensive portfolio of formative assignments throughout my Professional Writing and Communications Degree and beyond. These projects showcase my ability to tackle a variety of topics, from persuasive writing to technical communications, while being creative and maintaining a high level of quality. Explore my projects below to see the breadth and depth of my skills. Communications Documents Brand Portfolio Miscellaneous Work

I love reading fiction books that teach or reinforce socially significant ideas, and sharing how they can be applied to the world around us. Hello! Welcome to all things Zach. An avid reader of contemporary fiction, I love stories in all forms and am always hoping to be inspired by novel ideas and fresh perspectives on the world. I identify as queer and neurodivergent (with ADHD) and intend to pursue a career in social advocacy where I can promote and inspire discourse with voices who deserve to be heard. I strongly believe that education and empathy are the keys to a better world. I am currently a student in the Professional Writing and Communications graduate certificate program at Humber College, having earned my Honours Bachelor of Arts in English, History, and Religion at the University of Toronto in 2021. I work as an English and Math Tutor and have experience in the retail and food service industries. I bring a dedicated and inspired attitude to work that I am passionate about. Where possible I enjoy taking a creative approach, exploring different angles and ideas when completing a task. In team contexts I take pride in encouraging colleagues to add their unique perspectives to projects or discussions, and to work to their strengths. I would be happy to discuss any literature recommendations, important causes, or career opportunities. Feel free to reach out with a message!

Communications Documents These documents were created to fulfill specific assignment requirements during my time in the Professional Writing and Communications graduate program at Humber College. Annual Report PDF Annual Report Wrote an Annual Report in the brand voice and visual style of non-profit organization Start2Finish. Includes a message from the CEO and infographics for the year. Explainer Article Conducted the thorough research necessary to explain a topic of my choice: the City of Toronto's Winter Plan for assisting the thousands of unhoused people in the city. This included interviewing an expert on the subject. Article PDF Industry Infographic PDF Industry Infographic Conducted an interview with Communications professional David Litwin and crafted an infographic to share the insights he provided. Fundraising Letter Wrote a Fundraising Letter on behalf of the York Region Environmental Alliance, on the topic of the dangers associated with traditional fireworks. Fundraising Letter PDF Press Release PDF Press Release Wrote a Press Release on behalf of King Township in Ontario, outlining their Victoria Day Fair and Fireworks Festival while attending to proper formatting. Speechwriting Assignment Wrote a speech on behalf of Chi Nguyen, MP Candidate for Spadina-Fort York in Toronto and Executive Director of Equal Voices Canada. Speech PDF