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
