I haven’t read the books Matt Dinniman is most famous for, the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I’ve heard nothing but raves about those novels, but as I’m not much of a gamer (I still firmly believe that the finest video game ever created was Mario 64), I wasn’t sure they were for me. Still, when an ARC of Dinniman’s new, stand-alone novel became available and I read the description, I was intrigued, and I took a chance.

I’m so glad I did, because Operation Bounce House is a ton of fun.

New Sonora is a planet far from Earth, colonized by humans from generation ships that left the home planet hundreds of years ago. Despite many setbacks, some of them catastrophic, the largely agrarian civilization is thriving, due in part to the guidance of the AI intelligence and agriculture bots that help run the family ranch where most of the story takes place. The settlers are looking forward to a transfer gate finally opening, which will give them instant travel to, and communication with, Earth.

And then everything goes to hell, when the settlers are attacked by war machines piloted by remote gamers back on Earth, thanks to a game called Operation Bounce House. The settlers much come together and fight for their lives against advanced technology and overwhelming odds, with only their ingenuity, their bravery, and a mediocre rock band to save them.

Dinniman excels at creating fully-realized characters you’ll root for, and does some truly exceptional world-building. And somehow, while building tension, amidst life and death stakes, he manages to inject laugh-out-loud humor when you least expect it. Like I said earlier, Operation Bounce House is a ton of fun.

This novel reminded me, in the best ways, of authors like Heinlein and Varley, and novels like The Forever Way, Old Man’s War, Ender’s Game, and Armada, but Dinniman has his own story to tell, and he does it well.

Operation Bounce House will be published February 10, 2026, and is available for pre-order now. Don’t miss this one.