Bury Your Gays
by: Chuck Tingle
TOR
due 7-7-2024
5.0 stars

Misha Byrne is a Hollywood writer of horror films, currently finishing up a season of a TV show that ends with the 2 female stars professing a love for each other. However, the studio wants him to kill off both gay characters and have them replaced by straight ones. They told him it ws to keep the ratings up. This decision sets Misha on a trail of self discovery of his own identity.There are lots of gay references, some I didn't understand.

Bury Your Gays is a literatry trope that features same-gender couples with one lover dying and the other realizing they were never actually gay, and run to person of opposite sex....in Hollywood, its when a gay character must be killed off to advance a straight one. I found this to be a story of capitalism, the authoritarianism of our society and how predominantly these types will label and dismiss anything they deem as "other", usually without ever even speaking to them. Society has allowed stereotypes to dictate individuality, leading them to believe that tolerance is ok, acceptance is not. I like how it has been exposed in this book. Chuck Tingle is a master at developing charcters that are different and unique, and scripting stories that are true to life.
Fantastic read.
Thanks to NetGalley fro sending this ARC e-book for review.
#NetGalley #BuryYourGays

Boy, it's so nice to read a horror novel that is fresh, entertaining, and perfectly gay. This is my first Chuck Tingle, book, and I'll be picking up his first novel before this month is out. Bury Your Gays is ridiculously original, playing out in a Hollywood setting, in an episodic way that reminded me of the good days of horror television, when Buffy was Boss. I would be lying if I didn't say I was impressed by how well the story flowed from beginning to end, wrapping everything up nice and tight and leaving no loose strings, while still presenting a message of morality (brilliantly). The HOWS & WHYS behind the events/attacks in this horror story was a brilliant reveal. I need more Tingle. Tingle me, please.

I'm in the vast minority, but I did not love this book. I really loved 'Camp Damascus,' but this one didn't work as well for me, and it came off as very Black Mirror-ish (and I can't stand that series, so...I think the issue is with my taste in this case). All of the commentary on Hollywood, trauma mining, and the very real threats of "AI" and the ridiculous world we live in where it's still so trendy are certainly important points, but the execution fell flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Bury Your Gays has it all - compelling characters, an eerie, foreboding atmosphere, perfectly placed scenes of brutality and body horror juxtaposed with beautiful moments of poignancy and tenderness. Misha is layered and there were aspects of him that I could definitely relate to. The side characters were great and I really wanted to see more of them!

I did NOT see the twist/big reveal coming - my jaw was on the FLOOR!! This is my first Chuck Tingle novel and I am really excited to read Camp Damascus next. Tingle’s writing style is compulsively readable and it feels like you’re sitting next to your friend hearing them tell a story.

Bury Your Gays is a must-read for anybody who likes complex horror stories that may not be horror stories at all.

This was my first Chuck Tingle novel and to say I was blown away is an understatement. This is a book that won’t be leaving my mind anytime soon.

There was so much going on in this book, in the absolute best way. It’s bone chillingly creepy, it’s hilarious, it’s touching, all without being too much or trying to branch out into too many directions.
It also tackles underly represented topics including AI, especially in art, (which was done in an amazingly, utterly horrifying way), corporate Pride campaigns, queer representation in media, trauma, there were so many important themes in this book. Not only that, they weren’t just thrown in to meet some quota, they were done so in a way that not only brought depth to the story, but also shed light on how underrepresented these issues are generally.

This truly was a masterpiece of a book. I wasn’t familiar with Chuck Tingle prior to receiving this ARC but I’m now fully on board with the man in the pink mask. He is a literary genius and I’m ready to read ALL of his books, not just the more “serious” ones.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Nightfire, and the author for this ARC.
Publication date 7/9/24

Thank you TorNightfire and Chuck Tingle for the advance copy of Bury your Gays.

Wow. I absolutely adored Chuck's previous title, Camp Damascus and Bury Your Gays has easily become my favorite horror book of 2024.

The thing I love about Chuck's writing is the message behind the horror and how creative he can spin this. Bury your Gays has plenty of scary moments, and body horror!! (Iykyk, that one chapter made me squirrrrrrm.)

But above all else, it is heart wrenching beautiful art. I simply loved it

Thanks to Tor Night fire for the eARC!

This book! At the end I just sat there with my mouth open, much like a confused carp.

This book is brilliant, nauseating, and heartwarming and sometimes these emotions occur within three pages.

Brilliant and unnerving, the novel follows writer Misha, who is expected to kill off his beloved gay characters. Going back and forth through Misha's quite frankly horrifying childhood adds so much context that while a lot of the things Misha says and does makes no sense, it makes perfect sense later.

The villain in this book is topical and terrifying.

Bury Your Gays is my introduction to Chuck Tingle, and I’m hooked already. Camp Damascus is on my TBR, and after reading Bury Your Gays, I am very excited for it!

Bury Your Gays follows Misha Byrne as he finds himself at the top of his game. He’s received an Oscar nomination for his work, and now all eyes are on his next move. Misha is excited and has plans for his two queer characters, however, the studio wants Misha to kill them off. Queer tragedy sells, according to the numbers. Misha refuses, wanting his characters to serve as the representation he never had growing up, and this sets off a string of terrifyingly dangerous events.

This was such a fast and fun read! Misha is such a great MC that loves his characters so much because they aren’t just characters he wrote for a show, they come from a deeply personal place in his life. It was really easy to root for Misha and to root for his success. He’s fighting against the “bury your gays” trope because it’s about time to shift the focus on queer joy. This was a really fun one I’d recommend, and I’m very eager to read more from Chuck Tingle!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Thank you to @tornightfire and @netgalley for this e-arc, all thoughts are my own.


Chuck Tingle has a very bold and interesting way with words. His works are never disappointing and manage to invoke so many emotions. This book took me through being sad to laughing out loud, and in between I felt a little hopeless, but he managed to show me the way. It was a lot, all packed into a horror book nonetheless! The writing flowed wonderfully and was beautifully descriptive. This book kept me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what was going on until the last minute. I had no idea what was going on, but I was so engaged that I didn’t care. Then when we finally did find out what had been going on, my mind was blown, just Wow! It was fantastic, what a wild ride, and I highly recommend it to those who like horror, but also want some levity in their read.

This is a book unlike any other I have read. I highly recommend you check it out!

I loved this book so much I am tempted to make up new words to describe exactly how much I enjoyed it. It's Horrorific. Terrinating. Grueorous. Lovtastic. If I could give this book FIFTY STARS, I would.

Seriously horror has never before been so *uplifting*, so *laugh out loud funny*, so *adorable*. The tension snuck up on me and the twists made me cackle. Like out loud.

Also, love is love, y'all.

I read Camp Damascus when it was first released last year and was head over heels for its unique premise - I jumped on the opportunity to grab a copy of Tingle’s new book, Bury Your Gays.

Like Camp Damascus, Bury Your Gays has a relatively straight forward jump off point. Misha is a writer for a TV show, and is asked to kill off his gay characters, essentially burying the gays, instead of allowing them a happily ever after. Misha is sick of the oversold gay tragedy and plans to fight the system on this one. But then shit gets weird.

The vibe of this book is fantastic - it’s disorienting and confusing (in the good way). The relationships are beautiful, the topics of discussion are incredibly relevant, involving the controversial subject of AI and art into the mix. For a quick read, this book has both depth and heart. Tingle truly has a special talent for weaving fear, love, tragedy, triumph and more into his stories. Check this one out if you’re looking for a horror book with a bit more.

Thank you NetGalley, Chuck Tingle and Tor Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for this ARC. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book. The author brought together elements of humor, gore, tension and made it all work with a TON of heart. It was an honor to read this story early. It publishes July 08, 2024 <3

This is book is so much fun, LET'S TALK ABOUT IT.

Content warnings first: Homophobia, bullying, child abuse, violence, gore, body horror.

This story focuses on Misha Byrne, a Hollywood writer who came up writing horror movies and is currently wrapping up a season of a TV show where he's ready for his two main female leads to profess their love for each other. However, The Studio wants him to kill them off in the name of Ratings. Thus kicks off a weird, meta-filled, horrifying, gory odyssey as Misha grapples with his own identity in the face of absolute, all-encompassing, all-powerful capitalism. Oh, and it tackles the struggle of AI "art" as well. No big deal.

As a book that is full of meta-textual references to gay culture, there are references galore that are fun to pick out if you get them. There were also a few things I didn't totally get, and some sections of the story itself that I think were a little too meta for me and lost me for short periods of time. I feel like my husband, who loves horror films and writes screenplays, will probably get a lot more out of some parts of the meta horror & screenwriter elements when he finally reads this.

The character work of Misha was pretty great. We get flashbacks to some big parts of his past that inform the decisions he makes in the present, and he has two important relationships - a best friend and his boyfriend - that also ground him. I could have used a little bit more development of Tara and Zeke, though; I didn't feel deeply for them despite Misha's relationships and how those drive some of his actions later on.

I wish I could talk about more elements, but anything else I say would fall into the spoiler zone - or, at least, ruining some fun surprises zone. Misha is a compelling character to follow, and the journey he takes is fun and funny and horrifying all at once. The book satirizes so much about Hollywood while also exposing just how insanely awful it is at the same time.

Chuck Tingle has always had a lot to say about society through his work (YES, that includes his erotica). Camp Damascus explored one aspect of queer life in our world, and Bury Your Gays explores another. It feels like he's doing a lot of self-reflecting and expunging of his thoughts and feelings onto the page, and honestly I'm all here for it.

LOVE IS REAL, FRIENDS! HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!

As someone who has spent a great deal of time on the back lots of several film studios, I was delighted reading Chuck Tingle’s latest. The introduction where all levels of studio personnel, from PA to Producer, must wait in the line to check in with security, cracked me up. So. Damn. True.

Beyond that? I thought this was a very interesting and timely story centering around a deceased A-list actor who has been nominated for an Oscar. The catch? His performance was created with AI. This was a quick, fun story with lots of twists and turns and characters that I loved right away. Of course, the Hollywood storyline was very appealing to me, and he captured the current culture perfectly.

What a wild book, full of heart and love for human creativity! Misha is on his way to an executive meeting about his popular show’s series finale, when he’s told the board’s AI algorithm shows greater profit for the mega-studio if Misha kills off the two leads of his show after they confess their love for one another. Misha is angry — these characters mean a lot to him and many others in the LGBTQIA+ community, they are both women and the series has been leading up to them getting together. Things get wild from there, and Misha discovers the full extent of what the studio is willing to do to make him conform to their ideas of success. I don’t want to spoil anything so I won’t go far into detail, but I will say the book absolutely scared me, and also was a meaningful story exploring growing up queer, past traumas, and using horror as a way to explore and heal from those traumas. I’ll be recommending this one at our library, for sure.

This title will be featured/reviewed in a print publication. Please contact this reviewer directly for more details.

I just finished Bury Your Gays" and wow, it was wild!
This horror story about a screenwriter fighting Hollywood's "bury the gays" trope is equal parts funny and scary. It's got great LGBTQ+ rep and skewers the whole movie industry.The writing style is a little jumpy, but overall it's a fast and entertaining read. Definitely check it out if you're looking for something different!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for my Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Chuck Tingle knocked this book out of the park.

As a queer person with a background in scriptwriting, this booked hit me at the very core of my being. Poignant, funny, frightening... Tingle deeply understands the complexity of Hollywood, of art, and of queerness.

A perfect book for fans of horror, satire, and queer voices.

Bury Your Gays is a thought-provoking examination of the consequences that may arise, and have already manifested when capitalists wield technology beyond their capacity to regulate. The narrative is imbued with subtle intricacies, conveyed through accessible language. It also offers a poignant commentary on the treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly those who identify as asexual. Furthermore, Tingle's signature spine-tingling horror style infuses the entire work. An unmissable piece.

This book has it all -- terrifying screen characters come to life, a rebuke of the coming (and already present) capitalist hellscape, insightful reflection on media's treatment of queer characters, and a surprisingly tender heart that beats throughout the entire, spine-tingling story. The prose is clean, accessible, and propulsive, allowing the characters to shine and emotional moments to pack a punch.