Luke Dumas on Meet Your Maker
Summary
Brian and Jeff interview USA Today bestselling author Luke Dumas about horror’s link to joy, his path into the genre, and his novel Nothing Tastes as Good.
Dumas describes early horror influences with his father, writing seriously since high school, and how Edinburgh inspired his first horror novel.
In discussing Nothing Tastes as Good, he cites Stephen King’s Thinner, his experience growing up fat, and the fatphobic cultural discourse around GLP-1 drugs as key inspirations, aiming to depict the systemic horror of living in a fatphobic society.
He addresses weaponized “health” language, gym shame, social media’s superficial acceptance, and autobiographical family dynamics.
Dumas critiques unfaithful casting in new Carrie adaptations, previews his 2027 zoo-set thriller We Don’t Call Them Cages, and recommends the film Obsession for its emotional, tragic horror.
Find more from Luke here: https://www.lukedumas.com/
Check out our previous Meet Your Maker episode with Briana N. Cox, author of Indigent
And Check out our ongoing Series on Witches
The Witch (Eggers 2015)
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (Ovredal, 2016)
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