170 – Luke Dumas & The Ghosts That Time Forgot

Sometimes two words can make a jaded horror reader sit up straight. 

Ghost is one, Dinosaur is another.

Ghost. Dinosaur.

Have you ever heard a more beautiful combination, a sweeter symphony of syllables.

If “Ghost Dinosaur” doesn’t make you go squeeee and shake your fists in excitement, I don’t know how to help you.

Anyway, that’s the focus of Luke Dumas delightful new novel, The Paleontologist. It’s a story about a haunted man, a creepy museum, institutional intrigue, murder and GHOST GODDAMN DINOSAURS!!

We talk about all of that and lots more, including humour in horror, how far a book can stretch a reader’s empathy, and why privilege is such a complex issue to tackle. 

But yeah. Also Ghost Dinosaurs.

Enjoy!

The Paleontologist was published 31st October by Atria Books 

Books mentioned:

• A History of Fear (2022), by Luke Dumas
• Children of the Fang, and Other Genealogies (2020), by John Langan
• The Lost World (1912), by Arthur Conan Doyle
• Jurassic Park (1990), by Michael Crichton
• Tyrannosaur Canyon (2005), by Douglas Preston
• The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr Spencer Black (2013), by E.B. Hudspeth
• The Bonus Room (AKA Bedbugs) (2023) by Ben H. Winters
• Nestlings (2023), by Nat Cassidy

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