Wow! What a ride! A fun, creepy, and empowering story that shows compassion for all of the characters--even for the villains.
This would be a great nominee for the Alex Awards.

What an interesting book! I didn’t know what to expect with the authors other books being so, well you know. But I found myself really enjoying this book. Ominous and satisfying.

An autistic lesbian teen discovers the horrific secrets of the ex-gay camp that dominates her small Montana community. An excellent fast-paced novel with humor and poetic justice served HOT.

Tingle knows his stuff. The neck-breaking demons and suchlike supernatural apparitions are not the most frightening part. That honor is reserved for the smiley-face gaslighting that our heroine Rose endures from her parents and the celebrity pastor of the town's prosperity-gospel church. Her family's homophobia stems from the same root as their manipulation or dismissal of her neurodivergence. It's all about alienating you from your body and mind so you can be brainwashed more easily. Very true to life.

I also appreciated how the camp survivors arrive at different perspectives on religion after getting clear of the cult. Whether reclaiming an inclusive Christianity or trusting in empirical investigation, they coexist respectfully and complement each other's strengths.

Even given that teens in Rose's church take two years off during high school for religious studies, she came across as a lot younger than 20.

This is my first time picking up one of the author's books, so I'm not sure how much his voice differs from here to there. No one gets pounded by anything, so the tone definitely differs. Tingle's experience writing definitely shines through, the pacing of this book is extremely well done. It has a driving force that keeps the plot moving forward and kept me pushing through as quick as I could.

The first half to 3/5ths of the book has this intensely ominous, dread filled energy that made my skin crawl. When we started transitioning from the what and why is this happening into the let's fix the problem stage of the book I do think it lost a little bit of the horror that the previous part had.

Rose and the rest of the cast have a lot of heart, Rose's autistic swag truly captivated me.

I sincerely hope this is a trend, I would really love to see some more non-Tinglers from the author. I do love seeing all of the titles that involve things getting pounded in the butt, but I would love to have a couple of these mixed in the catalog to see how his writing improves.

While I don't think this one is for everyone, a little bit of queer fear and religious trauma definitely adds a little bit to the horror that builds at the very beginning, this really worked for me. If it sounds even a little bit interesting, at just under 300 pages it's not too much of a commitment if you want to pick it up and give it a go.

Hoo boy, where do I start? I really like Chuck Tingle. I've actually read a few of his romance titles and enjoyed them. I follow him on social media and really enjoy what he has to say. As an autistic person, seeing him out in the world and creating what makes him happy delights me. I love to see other autistics win.

That being said, this book fundamentally did not work for me. The writing style felt clunky and lacked the stilted charm of Tingle's romance titles. The horror and suspense didn't work for me. I had to force myself to plod through this book. Little details like Rose calling her parents by their first names but also by "mom and dad" took me out of the narrative. I hate to say it because I'm a very "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all," person, but the writing was bad. This book felt like self-published middle grade.

I did genuinely enjoy the autism representation. Rose's facts that she shares through the story were my favorite part. I'll absolutely win trivia with some of those tidbits. That was one of the few parts of the novel that really worked for me. The religious aspects felt surface level. As someone with religious trauma who grew up in a fundamentalist environment, this feels like someone writing fanfiction about it, rather than addressing the traumas of religion.

At the end of the day, Chuck Tingle has a lot of fantastic ideas and a great heart. I want him to share his art with the world, but this book was not for me. As an autistic, queer, religious trauma survivor, this book should have worked for me. I am the target audience. The writing was so unpolished I couldn't finish the book. I'm sorry Chuck. I'm sure other buckaroos enjoy the book and maybe I'm just an outlier.

Holy shit. I thought this was a slow starter given its length, but when things go off it escalates quickly. I never read any of the author’s work before, I just thought the cover looked cool so I requested the ARC. Camp Damascus viscerally captures how fucked up aversion "therapy" is, how stultifying religion can be, and the difficulty of growing out of something which has defined your entire life.

Some reviews mention it reads like YA, which is true in the sense that it's the first person perspective of a (mentally, emotionally, forced into extended childhood) teenage girl in a cult.

<i>"I love Jesus, I really do, but Jesus would want me to be cool. He’d want Martina to think I’m cool."</i>

Rose has been indoctrinated her entire life, with very controlling parents in a siloed community. She has been emotionally abused by a member of her church LARPing as a therapist, and her autism has gone entirely undiagnosed. She's only had herself and an internet connection. Coupled with what else happened to her, she doesn't start out as the best narrator. But she gets better, which is the point.

<i>"That acknowledgment could arrive after several decades, or it could happen tonight, but the time will come. Eventually, I’ll have to fully contend with this simple fact: the love I was promised is conditional."</i>

The voice gradually matures as Rose becomes less of a puppet and more aware of the issues within her religion.

Some parts of this gave me strong Twilight flashbacks (my own fault for knowing too much). When Rose and her family go apeshit over their "naughty" spaghetti with extra garlic reminded me of Bella speed eating molten microwaved lasagna and a glass of milk, a singularly rancid combination. There's also a bit where Rose has a three part revelation somewhat similar to Bella's. Both have a lot of hot Google action (at least Rose gives us interesting factoids)

There are better comps. But I'm A Cheerleader. Event Horizon. Half-Life.

They should've <spoiler>livestreamed the showdown</spoiler>, I think at least one of them would have thought of it

My only gripe is that the description heavily implies this takes place at Camp Damascus, when we see very little of the camp itself. Then again, I think, in this case, “how things got this way” is a less interesting story than “what are you going to do about it?”

Ultimately, this was an entertaining and cathartic read. Frick Camp Damascus

The fact that Chuck Tingle, an enigmatic author who’s been known chiefly an internet meme for years, wrote a “serious” book is surprising. That this book was deftly written, that the story was compelling, the characters relatable, the horror and the heart both present in spades, is nothing short of shocking.

A horror story based on a fundamentalist gay conversion camp is something of a niche genre at this point. I can specifically think of at least three other titles that cover largely this same theme. And no wonder, so called “conversion therapy” is more terrifying than anything to be found in the pages of a Stephen King or Clive Barker novel. But Camp Damascus may do it better than any other book I’ve read. Without veering into spoiler territory, Mr. Tingle, whoever he really is, has a keen sense for what makes conversion therapy, and religious fundamentalism in general, scary. He uses this insight, and flowing prose to spin a very fine yarn from beginning to end.

This book grabbed me from the first scene and propelled me on to finish it as fast as I could. I was intrigued, I was scared, I was entertained, and I may have teared up once or twice. I would encourage anyone who likes horror fiction, or just simply good storytelling to pick up this title.

This book is wild. There is a level of ferocity in which I consume books that feel religious cult-y and conversion camp-y. But this one did something I haven’t seen before…

In this literary creation from Chuck Tingle, we have a world where literal demons represent as the manifestation of “unpure” thoughts… and for Rose, she is awakening to the truth, ripped from her in her god fearing little community of Kingdom of the Pine.

This book did a great job straddling the line of horror and faith. Taking something like the real life horrors of the existence of conversion therapy camps and adding in the visual horror as well as the existential horror of the converging the mortal and demonic evils. This book has a lot of heart and such a great path of self discovery for our protagonist, Rose. She is a teenager trying to maneuver through faith and love… and real monsters, human and supernatural.

It’s REALLY difficult to review this one without giving anything away, considering the book’s synopsis is intentionally vague…

This book kept me up at night. Rose was such a great character and I love her with my whole soul. Also, pretty wild that with all the supernatural type stuff going on, the church remains the scariest thing about this book. This one's for my religious trauma folks!

World’s Greatest Author and two time Hugo Awards nominee Chuck Tingle has spent years titillating and educating the internet about how Love Is Real and is for everyone. He’s penned masterpieces like: Space Raptor Butt Invasion, Pounded In the Butt By My Own Butt, Bigfoot Sommelier Butt Tasting, Not Pounded By Anything And That’s Okay, and (a personal favorite) Living Inside My Own Butt For Eight Years —Starting A Business And Turning A Profit Through Common Sense Reinvestment And Strategic Targeted Marketing.

This man has used his skills and hyper-focusing power to churn out dozens and dozens of tales about love, inclusion, consent, friendship, and, well… dinosaurs.

Camp Damascus is Chuck’s foray into the big publishing world and the folks at @tornightfire have hit it out of the park acquiring this novel. While it has its flaws, Camp Damascus tells a heartfelt story of self discovery while wading through the dangers of radicalized religion and hate. Truly terrifying and deeply moving, author named Chuck delivers a memorable, albeit rushed, journey through a “straight camp” with horrible secrets.

Camp Damascus - 3.5/5 ⭐️
Chuck Tingle - 10/5 🌟🌈

Wow, holy crap, this was amazing!
I was hoping I was going to like this one but I wasn't prepared for how much I would absolutely LOVE it. I DEVOURED it. I didn't want to put it down, it was just that fricken good.

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle was so freaking good.
I found the book highly imaginative with interesting multi-layered characters.
I enjoyed learning more about them and their backstory and I was as curious about them as the mystery.
There are heavy themes in the book as can be expected.
A story with an original plot, strong characters, and a writing style that could cut glass.
It’s a very compelling, sometimes rage-inducing, and a very good story.
I really enjoyed the writing style, which is pure brilliant, I was sucked in so quick my head was spinning.
I loved the setting and the atmosphere. The descriptive storytelling is just mind blowing.
The supernatural element was intriguing. And the horror was phenomenal.
I hope Chuck Tingle continues to create more stories like this.
Because my only con is it the CD wasn’t longer.

Keep in mind this book will absolutely not be for everyone.
But I loved it.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Ya know, I was not expecting this. I have been aware of Chunk and his various escapades throughout the years, but the announcement of this release came as a total surprise to me. I thought that overall this was really good. I enjoyed the commentary, and it seemed either well-researched or to be firsthand knowledge (which, again, was not something I expected from Tingle). I think my only drawback for this work is that it really takes a handful of chapters to figure out the direction the story is going to go in and the writing could be a little disjointed at times. But overall, I think this is going to be well-received as a campy older YA horror!

Camp Damascus is the horror debut for author Chuck Tingle. As a Tingle Stan, this was certainly not the book I would have ever expected for him to put out however I enjoyed it thoroughly. The commentary was interesting as you could tell Tingle had alot of knowledge of specifically Christian religion. This is not something you'd expect from Tingle, but it definitely has his flare. Even in his satire works he manages to add commentary about Homophobia, racism, etc. So getting a "serious" horror novel with commentary was exciting.
Talking about the book in specifics, it was definitely a weird one. In the first 3-4 chapters I had no clue where the story was going and as things slowly got revealed my intrigue got higher and higher. My one critique for the book is the writing was a times clunky. This book is short at 256 pages, however it still felt a bit too long. Overall it was an interesting look at religion and homophobia and will definitely be a hit in the genre.

Camp Damascus is a clever, if flawed, entry into the queer horror genre that reads like YA. Rose Darling lives with her parents in Neverton (Peter Pan references left out to dry by the narrative), which is the home of Camp Damascus, the biggest and "most successful" gay conversion camp in the US. When Rose starts seeing gruesome figures, she has to follow the trail of her own past to find out what lies at the heart of Neverton.

The good things first:

Camp Damascus is compulsively readable. It reads quickly and has enough going on that a reader won't be bored by the writing style-very YA-esque. It's also probably an important book. In that way that I believe it's important to have more books about religious trauma and queer people freeing themselves from religious/social/familial oppression. Also, this book had very good autistic representation.

The bad things: The YA qualities aren't all good. The characters and the plot are pretty flat, and there are some pretty glaring gaps in information that don't telegraph very well. One spoiler-free example is that Rose often refers to her parents by their first names as well as "Mom" and "Dad." What a great opportunity for the author to show us more about the (apparently) complicated dynamic of the family, but not only does it seem out of place, there's no explanation given for it at all. There were a lot of wasted opportunities here that could have been used to enrich and deepen the characters and their experiences. Thus making for a more fulfilling reading experience.

Camp Damascus is the epitome of a 3-star read for me. I liked it, but I think it had so much more potential than what was realized.

Thank you to NetGalley and TorNightfire

This is going to be the best horror novel of the year!! I could not put it down, I was on the edge of my seat rooting for Rose! For queers who love horror this is THE book of 2023

After reading two chapters of this book, I needed to know if Chuck Tingle had other books that I could read. I was hooked with the writing. I was then shocked to find that this is their first horror novel. I am obsessed with the way this story was written. I had no clue what I was getting into and that excited me. Some scenes were hilarious, some were horrific, and others were horrifically hilarious. I love horror novels that don’t take themselves too seriously while also giving a genuinely entertaining storyline.

Some of the religious themes really struck a chord with me and I was able to connect to some of the elements of this story. While this is a horror novel, conversion camps and other horrific lgbtq treatment occurs because of religious beliefs. This really dealt with it in a different way and I’d be intrigued what other horror novels are in store.

"A hunger for knowledge is still a hunger."

Chuck Tingle's Camp Damascus portrayed the ins and outs of a remote, ultra-religious Montana town in such an incredibly detailed way. As the story unfolded, you learn more and more about the Christian prophet that founded the Kingdom of the Pines church, which nearly everyone in town belongs to. If not the Kingdom, community members are at least some flavor of conservative Christianity. While a fictional religious sect, it felt real and familiar.

Rose Darling, our protagonist, starts to uncover a rotten secret about herself and the town's anti-gay conversion camp, which also serves as the main economic boon of Neverton. Everything seems to revolve around Camp Damascus, which boasts a 100% success rate. Rose starts to question how that's possible, and finds herself on a journey of exorcising demons, finding true family, and challenging her faith.

I found that this story had a really honest and beautiful representation not only of what it's like to be queer in a city like Neverton, but what it's like to be different point blank. If you know what you're looking for, it's clear from early on that Rose is autistic, a fact which she confirms later in the narrative. It's rare to see an autistic character find love for themself and from those around them, and this book delivers on that. Rose is loved and appreciated for who she is, and when she finds family in her friends, they don't try to hold her back from doing what she loves. They help her hone the things that make her her, whether it's a stim or a cue card for social situations with facts and conversation starters; they help her benefit from those things instead of encouraging her to tamp them down like her blood family does.

This story also doesn't shy away from the supernatural and horror aspects of the genre, and it does so in a way that feels natural within the narrative. I thoroughly enjoyed the way this book grounds itself in science while still positing that maybe there's some things that science hasn't figured out how to explain yet. It makes the argument that all things are governed by science, even those things that are based in faith and supernaturalism, and it makes it in a convincing and thought-provoking way.

I'd recommend this book to anyone with the stomach for the occasional gore-y look into Hell and demonic possession. It's earned and fits well with the story, but it's definitely present in a way that might not be every reader's cup of tea. If it's yours, though, you'll want to savor that cup and will probably even want a refill.

Thank you to TOR/Forge publishers and NetGalley for access to an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

With a concept like this and the name Chuck Tingle attached to it my hopes were very high for this book. Maybe it's my expectations fault but it just fell flat for me and I wasn't really happy with the final product.

I’m of two minds with this one. I’ve been a huge Chuck Tingle fan for forever, I love his books and I love him on Twitter, so I was so incredibly excited for a tradpub book (from Tor no less!!) about gays getting revenge on a conversion camp. Overall, I thought the ideas were great—the camp’s methods for their 100% conversion success rate were horrifying, and the fundamentalist Christian practices that form the family’s religious sect seemed true to many fundie circles in that culty, appalling way. The pacing was neat for the first half, letting the tension build and feeling Rose’s disorientation around her way of life was great.

It started to fall apart a bit in the back half for me, though. I didn’t feel connected to Saul or Willow (willow’s was kind of by design but I still wanted more), and I wanted more retribution by the end of it. I kinda felt Rose resolved her internalized business way, way too quickly, and pulled a 180 on her views on her entire life without much mental struggle. I suppose it could be argued she worked on herself during the time before she went to Camp Damascus, but we as readers didn’t see any of that personal growth. No internalized homophobia from being raised in a homophobic culty religion that makes up your entire identity, family, friends, therapy, and community for 20 years? Mmm. I don’t know about that. Rose kind of just went “oh. I’m gay? Cool. Let’s kill demons.” which, slay, girlboss, wish that could be me. I don’t know, it just lacked a bit of the depth I would’ve expected from characters who had to disentangle their entire lives from everything they’d ever known.

(As a very minor, nitpicky note, the book was written in first person, and yet for some reason the main character sometimes refers to her parents by their first names even before she’s essentially disowned, so it wasn’t like a “taking back power” thing, and it threw me off.)

At the end of the day, I think there were a lot of great ideas in this book, and I have an overall positive impression of it, I just feel it could have benefited from….. more. More characterization, more mental analysis, more relationship building, more memories of Camp Damascus and the times before, more body horror and demons torturing homophobes and the community crumbling with a faith crisis. I just want more Chuck Tingle! I can’t wait to see what he does next.

If you drop the name Chuck Tingle into Google or Amazon you will be presented with a wild list of seriously over the top LGBTQ+ titles which are clearly not suitable for a school library. However, even though Camp Damascus has been written for an adult audience it could be easily be read by a YA audience and could be a perfect read for teens who are struggling with their sexuality and particularly with coming out or problems with their parents. It is not explicit in any sexual sense and even though there is some body horror towards the end I would happily recommend it to anybody aged fourteen plus. Much of Tingle’s previous work has been self-published and the fact that Camp Damascus has been picked up by Tor Nightfire indicates that this novel should have much broader appeal than his earlier erotic work. The backdrop to the story was the world’s most effective gay conversion camp. Nestled in the Montana wilderness, parents send their children from around the world to experience the program’s 100% success rate. It takes it’s time getting around to why the program is so successful, but it is pretty wild and heads deep into the realms of supernatural horror. In the UK there is ongoing legislation to outlaw this type of therapy, which to say it is frowned upon is an understatement, so it was fascinating to read a novel which (kind of) gives the inside track.

Rose Darling is a classic unreliable narrator, but do not hold it against her, as it is not her fault. Early in the novel, whilst having dinner with her parents, Rose begins to vomit out flies and her family are strangely unperturbed. When she returns to her bedroom she notices her bedroom door has been removed from its hinges, or was it always like that? The reader is not sure either way. We realise that Rose goes to an Evangelical Christian Church, she drops his hints and clues as the story moves on and the reader realises it might even be a sect or a cult. Rose begins to see things, thinks she is being haunted by a demon and has strange feelings for another girl. But being gay and a member of this church is forbidden, but nightmares blend with memories and all roads lead back to Camp Damascus, where she has never been (or has she?) I enjoyed this book a lot and ultimately it is about your queer people facing and conquering their inner demons, some readers might have preferred slightly more restraint with the supernatural element and ending, but it was still a wildly enjoyable romp. AGE RANGE 14+