In this episode, Rachel Redd sits down with Luke Dumas, the author of A History of Fear, The Paleontologist, and Nothing Tastes as Good for a wide-ranging conversation on obsession, grief, identity, and writing horror that feels deeply human.

Timestamps:
00:01 – Welcome to Talking Horror & Meeting Luke Dumas
02:40 – Reading Roots: A Storyteller Before He Was a Reader
03:29 – The Boy Wizard Phase and Falling for Fantasy
04:22 – A Lifelong Jurassic Park & Dinosaur Obsession
06:50 – Discovering Horror: Weekends With Dad and the Haunted Hotel
08:42 – The Comedy Writer Who Wanted to Be David Sedaris
10:27 – Early Writing Dreams and Delusions of Fame
11:55 – Studying Literature and the Master's in Scotland
16:26 – Letting Go of the "Wonder Kid" Pressure
17:58 – The Risk-Averse Path: Writing Around a Day Job
18:29 – Grant Writing, Zoos, and Mining the Day Job for Fiction
21:08 – Book Five: How A History of Fear Found Its Agent
23:00 – The Overnight Offer That Made Him Cry
24:23 – Finding Resilience Through Five Unpublished Books
28:06 – Why Storytelling Is Woven Into His Soul
30:45 – Craft vs. Plot: Refusing to Sacrifice One for the Other
32:46 – The Heavy Plotter Who Loves Outlining Most
34:15 – The Two Wolves: Beautiful Writing vs. Getting It Out
37:37 – "I Hate Research": Faking It for The Paleontologist
40:32 – Interstitial Documents and the Book-Within-a-Book
43:43 – A History of Fear, Edinburgh, and Scottish Demonic Lore
46:02 – The Walk Through the Meadows That Sparked the Story
47:57 – Religious Trauma, Identity, and the Harm of Repression
50:13 – The Paleontologist: Excavation as Metaphor
51:31 – From "I Just Love Dinosaurs" to Ghosts in a Haunted Museum
53:55 – The Grim Ending and the Horror That Makes Him Giggle
56:46 – Raving About Nothing Tastes as Good
59:22 – Knowing When It Was Time (and Stephen King's Thinner)
01:00:20 – Weight-Loss Drugs, Ozempic, and Perfect Timing
01:01:19 – Writing Fatness From a Male Perspective
01:02:52 – Emmett: The Monster You Can't Help Rooting For
01:07:11 – Lisette, Body Positivity, and a Cousin Named Rachel
01:11:16 – Sitting With the Discomfort of "Just Change"
01:12:11 – First Look at We Don't Call Them Cages (Spring 2027)
01:13:53 – "Madagascar for Adults": Rewriting Childhood as Horror
01:14:56 – Wrap-Up & Thanks

Grab your copy of Nothing Tastes as Good: https://amzn.to/4fnO7PY

Connect with Luke Dumas:

https://www.lukedumas.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thenewdumas/?hl=en

Follow Talking Horror Podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelreddreads/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachelredd

If you enjoyed this episode, please Like, Subscribe, and hit the notification bell to help us grow the horror community!