Publishers Weekly
★ 04/15/2024
Tingle (Camp Damascus) cements his place in horror with this gory romp, which doubles as a love letter to every queer kid who wished for TV characters like themselves and a sharply pointed warning about the state of entertainment and the rise of AI. Misha Byrne is a gay screenwriter hoping to make a career helming the queer shows and movies he wanted to see when he was growing up. He knows how to tell a good story, and he’s got the Oscar nod and a successful ongoing show to prove it. So when his studio executives tell him their algorithm says he has to kill off his lesbian lead characters to boost viewership, Misha refuses, despite the threat of cancellation and the undeniable success of the studio’s new AI-driven movie. He’s stressed, but holding firm, until a series of increasingly terrifying encounters with stalkers dressed as horror movie monsters he created for past projects shake his conviction. Someone is trying to scare him to death—and it’s his own stories he now has to survive. Tingle’s vivid, visceral storytelling combines with prescient insight into the corporate dynamics that rule mainstream media. The result is smart, subtle, and a bloody good time. (July)
From the Publisher
Tingle cements his place in horror with this gory romp...[his] vivid, visceral storytelling combines with prescient insight into the corporate dynamics that rule mainstream media. The result is smart, subtle, and a bloody good time.”
—Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)
“Tingle burst onto the traditional publishing scene with one of the best books of 2023 (Camp Damascus), but his follow-up is even better ... taking readers on a highly entertaining, fast-paced ride, filled with thought-provoking satire, original monsters, and some of the most realistic characters they will encounter on any page, all to prove that love is real and horror itself is, at its core, a celebration of life.”
—Booklist (STARRED review)
“Brilliantly bloody, wildly fun, and extremely scary, Bury Your Gays brings a sledgehammer down on tired tropes and makes a masterpiece of their guts. A profoundly smart and emotionally resonant novel that is sprinkled with cinema magic and a brutal Hollywood reckoning.”
—RACHEL HARRISON, national bestselling author of Black Sheep
“RIP gay clichés! Wickedly funny and hella entertaining, this takes great pride in digging up Hollywood's skeletons and gleefully pounding them to dust. I loved every eerie, nostalgic, blood-spattered, rainbow-flag-waving page.”
—JOSH WINNING, author of Burn the Negative and Heads Will Roll
"This triumph of a book effortlessly and cleverly upends cliche. One of the best novels ever about LA, the film industry, and horror movies, it delivers all the fandom, fear, and feels, and then some. Only Chuck Tingle can tell a story as masterfully as this, and he once again proves that love is so real."
—CJ LEEDE, author of Maeve Fly
Praise for Camp Damascus
An instant USA Today & Indie Bestseller!
A Bram Stoker Award Nominee and CALIBA Golden Poppy Award finalist!
A Best Book of 2023 (Vulture) and a Best Horror Book of 2023 (Esquire, Library Journal)!
An Indie Next Pick!
“Fantastic. Camp Damascus is seriously good.” —Jenny Lawson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Furiously Happy
“A genuinely terrifying nightmare – but it ain’t the monsters you gotta be afraid of. Chuck Tingle is absolutely the best guide through this level of Hell.” —N.K. Jemisin, New York Times bestselling author
“It’s a bighearted, chilling ride that proves the author’s mantra over and over: Love is, indeed, real.” —Vulture
“This book is highly entertaining, cinematic, and filled with monsters, both human and supernatural, all of which will lure horror fans to its pages, but what holds it all together is the immense love at the heart of the novel.” —Library Journal (STARRED review)
“A timely, authentically chilling story.” —Booklist (STARRED review)
“Chuck Tingle continues to surprise and thrill. Camp Damascus is terrifying, darkly funny, and engagingly humane.” —John Scalzi, New York Times bestselling author
“Camp Damascus is a queer horror novel that unpacks the cruelty of conversion camps and that particular brand of religious fervor that actively harms people who are different under the guise of godliness....It is genuinely horrifying.... It is also beautiful and affirming.” —Tor.com
“Camp Damascus feels like a fantastic debut, and a subtle reinvention, and a proper evolution, all at once....a genuinely great horror story.” —BoingBoing
“This chilling page-turner should win Tingle a slew of new fans.” —Publishers Weekly
“A joyful, furious romp through dark places, Tingle proves he's as good at fear as he is at love.” —T. Kingfisher, bestselling author of What Moves the Dead
"Camp Damascus is a hell of a ride. Tingle is right at home in the horror genre - he delivers all the thrills of a slasher while exploring the deep wounds that can be inflicted by broken systems. This book is worth your time." —Sarah Gailey, author of Just Like Home
“Jaw-dropping...both frightening and utterly cathartic. A queer nightmare of demonic proportions!” —Mark Oshiro, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anger is a Gift
“This book is for anyone who thought they were going to hell for being themselves. Chuck Tingle takes that fear and weaves it into a seamless horror that will keep you up at night, not only because it’s got monsters but because we’ve known those monsters. And yet it still proves love is real. Camp Damascus is a big hug to all of us who had to fight to find each other.” —J.R. Dawson, author of The First Bright Thing
“Intelligent, cleverly written, and subversive. A strong and brilliant story of identity, love, sincerity, and personal triumphs even when things get dark.” —R.R. Virdi, USA Today bestselling author of The First Binding
“Thrilling, engrossing, surprising, and ultimately uplifting. I loved it. Tingle blends horror and sincerity and makes it look easy, producing a mystery of betrayal and righteous justice that you won't forget.” —Ryan North, New York Times bestselling & Eisner-winning author
“Clever, scary as hell, and deeply satisfying. Love is real, and it transcends genre.” —Jay Edidin, cohost of Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men podcast
"A well-crafted and surprisingly moving novel. And certainly quite different from Tingle’s previous work..."—CrimeReads
Library Journal
★ 05/01/2024
Misha is a gay screenwriter working for a giant Hollywood conglomerate and celebrating his first Oscar nod, for a short film. When he refuses to kill off his queer characters to appease the corporation's profit algorithm, he becomes haunted—literally—by his movie monsters. As he's stalked by the creatures and the memories they represent, Misha must keep himself alive and his loved ones safe. Can he stay one step ahead of the algorithm to uncover and stop the source of the horrors? Tingle's (Camp Damascus) latest outing is another refreshingly original look at horror, this time mixed in with algorithmic art, commodification of identity, and coercive capitalism. His hallmark inventiveness with structure, trope, and genre come through clearly here and are balanced perfectly. Nods to fandoms that have experienced "buried gays" are sprinkled throughout the book, and love in all forms—platonic, romantic, and everything between—remains the way to beat evil. Terror comes as much from being forced into a stereotype as from being killed by a cinematic villain. VERDICT Captivating and creative, Tingle continues breathing new life into old tropes with a gory examination of art and the lives that fuel it.—Katherine Sleyko
