Authors Answer: Luke Preston
Authors Answer Q&A #616
Author interviews almost always focus on questions regarding an author’s latest publication (and that’s great because it’s how readers discover new books!) but sometimes it’s fun to ask authors to talk about their lives beyond the book they’ve just written. Authors Answer (started as a blog in 2020, moved onto Substack in 2025), is an attempt to give authors space to wax eloquent about the other influences on their writing. The questions posed here move beyond the formulaic classics like, “What books are on your nightstand?” or “What book inspired you to be a writer?” and even “You’re having a dinner party….which three authors (dead or alive) do you invite?” There are 20 standing questions. Authors pick FIVE that they want to answer.
Are you an author? Visit the Questions page to learn more about participating.
Today’s post features Luke Preston.
Luke Preston spent most of his twenties as a freelance writer, a private investigator, and listening to rock ‘n roll. He drinks heavily on occasion, is a half decent musician and his idea of a good time involves a jukebox designed to bleed ears.
Luke’s work has been recognized by The Inside Film Awards, MTV, and The ATOM Awards. He writes in cafés, bars and in parking lots on the back of old fuel receipts and cigarette packets. He doesn’t believe in writer’s block or in the magic bullet theory and his favorite album is Exile on Main Street.
Luke’s writing is as much influenced by AC/DC and Johnny Cash as it is by Richard Stark and Raymond Chandler. He holds a Master of Screenwriting from the Victorian College of the Arts and has absolutely no intention of moving to a shack in the middle of nowhere. He likes bad traffic, noisy neighbors, cheap beer, loud bars, and has been occasionally known to howl at the moon.
Luke is the author of the best selling novels Dark City Blue,Out of Exile, and Anonymous Jane.
Are there particular films that have influenced your writing?
All of them. Good ones, bad ones, in-between ones. I learn as much by the worst films ever made as much as I do by the best. I’m not a film snob. I’m kinda like the anti-film snob where classics such as Citizen Kane are just as important to me as Weekend at Bernies.
But, if there were a gun to my head I’d have to say the following films have influenced me the most:
Casablanca – This is one of the few movies that is a mix of almost every genre of cinema there is. It’s a romance/crime/thriller/comedy/musical and war movie all rolled into one. The writing is sharp and the performances rock.
El Mariachi – If anybody every tells me that they can’t make a movie I automatically give them a lecture about how Robert Rodriguez made a kick ass action film on 7k. This film is the only film school you would ever need.
Big Trouble in Little China – If someone told John Carpenter he couldn’t do something; he’d give them the middle finger and go and do it anyway. Everything about Big Trouble in Little China shouldn’t work, but everything in it does. From Kurt Russel thinking he’s the hero of the movie, to all the mythology and a special shout out to Kim Catrall’s awesome delivery of exposition.
The Big Lebowski – No explanation needed.
Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?
I listen to music so loud while I write that the neighbours call the police. I can’t sit down at the keyboard to start hammering way pages unless I know what the musical personality of the story is. That means I spend about a week laying on my couch listing to vinyl and making mixed tapes. It’s only when I have a list of twenty tunes than I can sit down to write the story.
Is there another profession you would like to try?
If I could be anything other than a screenwriter, I would want to be a saxophone player in the Roling Stones from 1965-1980. I’d get to travel the world. Listen to great music. Go to awesome parties. Rock ‘n’ roll saxophone players pretty much only play a short solo on every other song so I wouldn’t even have to work that hard.
If you could create a museum exhibition, what would be the theme?
I’d create a bad taxidermy exhibition where all the animals re-create great moments from cinema. What to see a bunch of mice recreate Mad Max: Fury Road? Come to my exhibition. Want to see two bung-eyed dogs doing the final dance from Dirty Dancing? Come buy a ticket. What about Batman but he’s a real bat?
Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?
No.
Well, maybe?
I don’t know? Now that you bring it up, I’m starting to think about it for the first time. I always thought I belonged but now I’m not so sure. What if I shouldn’t be writing books and movies? Maybe, one day they’re going to find out I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t belong here? What was the question, again?
Endnotes!
This newsletter is a passion project started by me, Elizabeth Rynecki, to try to help shine a light on new-to-me authors. I am also an author (and a documentary filmmaker and podcaster) and if you want to learn more about me, you can visit my website or read my personal newsletter, Ink Trails: A Chronicle in Creativity.
I’ve never made Authors Answer specific social media accounts, but you can find me on Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.