Luke Dumas: Don’t Waste Your Time With Projects You’re Not Passionate About
In this interview, author Luke Dumas discusses trusting his storytelling instincts when writing his new horror novel, Nothing Tastes as Good.
Luke Dumas is the USA TODAY bestselling author of The Paleontologist and A History of Fear. He is the winner of a 2024 Thriller Award, and his work has been optioned for film and TV. He was born and raised in San Diego, California, where he lives with his husband and dogs, and works for a biomedical research institute. Follow him on Instagram.
In this interview, Luke discusses trusting his storytelling instincts when writing his new horror novel, Nothing Tastes as Good.
Name: Luke Dumas
Literary agent: Maria Whelan (Mushens Entertainment)
Book title: Nothing Tastes as Good
Publisher: Atria Books
Release date: March 31, 2026
Genre/category: Horror
Previous titles: The Paleontologist, A History of Fear
Elevator pitch: After an obese man enters a clinical trial for a miracle weight loss treatment, he finds it melts the fat off his body but transforms him into a ravenous killer with a taste for human flesh. But how can he give it up now that he’s living the life he’s always dreamed of?
What prompted you to write this book?
Except for a weird couple of years in college, I’ve been fat pretty much my whole life. I’ve loved and related to writings on fatness by brilliant female authors such as Roxane Gay and Lindy West, but I’ve long hungered (sorry) for stories that pull guys like me out of the fringes of popular narratives—as idiots, clowns, troglodytes, and gay best friends—and let us tell society what our fatness means to us, rather than the other way around. Nothing Tastes as Good is my attempt to do that, with just a dash of cannibalism.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
Despite being so timely, this book is actually more than 20 years in the making. I was 13 when I first devoured Stephen King’s Thinner, enthralled not only by the obese male protagonist, but also the idea of losing weight as he does: super fast, no matter how much he eats, with no control over the horrifying consequences. I always dreamt of writing something in that vein, but from a point of view that felt authentic to my lived experience. After all, Stephen King isn’t a fat guy, and his character doesn’t really think and behave like one, either.
Years later, I decided the main vehicle for the plot of my story would be a clinical trial for a new weight loss drug. Little did I realize, Ozempic and its competitors were about to transform American medicine—and the conversations we were having about fat. The timing felt perfect for my take on weight-loss horror. The original intention of the book didn’t change, but in the writing, I leaned into the obvious parallels with Ozempic to make it feel like a book tailormade for the present moment.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
My publishing experience for this book reinforced something I already knew: You have to trust the professionals to do their jobs and make the big calls, even when it’s uncomfortable. It’s feels crazy to say this—because now I love it so much—but when I first saw the iconic cover, I wasn’t sure about it. Not because it wasn’t great, but because I wanted to think my story had depth, and I worried the donut was too simple an image. But my publisher felt strongly about it, so with a little more blood and a threatening new font, we settled on something I liked a lot better. Now, I’m obsessed with it, and so many readers are saying they picked up the book because of that bloody donut. Can you imagine if I’d dug my heels in? I dread to think!
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
Nothing Tastes as Good was always deeply personal, but it was surprising—and a little uncanny—how certain plot points ended up mirroring my actual life.
Like my main character, Emmett, when I started writing the book, I was severely obese, addicted to sugar, and scared for my health. After not seeing a doctor for years, I was getting anxious—particularly about type 2 diabetes—so while writing the book, I gave in and got my blood tested. Lo and behold, just like Emmett, I was severely diabetic. My—our—worst fear had been realized, and that wasn’t even the craziest thing: my doctor wanted to put me on Mounjaro, a close cousin to Ozempic.
I’d just turned in the first draft of the book—a horror novel about weight loss drugs—and here I was about to start taking one. Would it make me a hypocrite? Would it make me want to rewrite the whole book? Would it make me crave human flesh??? Thankfully, it hasn’t done any of that (yet). But like Emmett on Obexity, it did transform my body, my relationship with food, and the way people perceived me, all in a matter of weeks. It was bizarre but also weirdly validating. No rewrites required!
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
Although many will read it as a critique of weight-loss drugs, I hope the book leaves readers thinking less about the drugs themselves than the culture around them, especially the way society insists people look a certain way but condemns them for seeking pharmaceutical help. I hope those who’ve struggled with weight and body image will feel seen and understood in a way they maybe haven’t before. And I hope those who haven’t struggled in that way will gain greater insight into one version of the fat experience and maybe rethink some of their own assumptions about fat.
This book is at times grotesque, but the real horror lies in the raw human ugliness it explores. Do I hope it scares readers? Of course. But more than anything, I hope it creates space for greater compassion toward ourselves and each other.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
You have to write the book that only you can write. Don’t waste your time with projects you’re not passionate about because you think they’re on trend or what agents are looking for; write the thing you can’t stop thinking about, from a perspective that only you can bring.
It’s a lesson I often need to be reminded of. For instance, I thought long and hard about writing Nothing Taste as Good from the POV of a straight woman, mostly for commercial reasons. But my gut told me to honor my original vision and write it from my own perspective as a fat gay man—a perspective we rarely see in fiction—and I’m so glad I did. The early response has been overwhelming. Despite my concerns, readers of all genders, sexualities, races, and body types are connecting with and relating to Emmett—not in spite of his specificity, but because of it. Maybe a better piece of advice would be: always trust your gut!
