‘Bury Your Gays’ was honestly way scarier than I was expecting it to be, as Chuck Tingle’s last book had an air of dark humor laced into it. While this definitely has cheeky moments, it leans into the horror of what some creatives would consider the most nightmarish of scenarios: the monsters you’ve written coming to life and hunting you. It was fast-paced and a page-turner that I couldn’t put down.

*Slight spoilers ahead*
There is also an important discussion that stems from the plot surrounding the future of media and the use of artificial intelligence within creative spaces. Any program used to replicate a persons likeness is terrifying, in a sense, but when it begins to calculate and predict movements is when we have hit Terminator level of absurdity. There is a time and place for these types of programs, but creative spaces are not a place for algorithms.

I loved this book!! I loved all of the clever Easter Eggs in the character names, and as both a queer writer and media consumer, Chuck Tingle really, really gets the struggle down. The idea of gay tragedy and trauma being "okay" by the masses, and then as we are self-aware of it, people try to over-correct and disavow sad gay stories or allowing ANY gay character to die. It really does feel like books, shows, and even online discourse are overly focused on making the most algorithmically perfect queer stories, that queer people are in fact limited. I love Misha's takeaway of "just let me write what I want!"

As someone also very much against AI, the way this novel goes into it is wonderful, even if uncomfortable with how too close to comfort things can feel. AI is soulless and can never capture the heart humans have when writing.

Overall, I couldn't put this book down. Fun characters, plot, setting. I think thematically, it's very important and timely.

There are many aspects of Chuck Tingle’s “Bury Your Gays” that I enjoyed, but unfortunately, there were also some letdowns for me. The queer representation in the book is fantastic and much-needed, as the title suggests. I appreciated the concept of a character defying the trend of killing off gay characters simply because a higher power mandates it. The prevalent “bury your gays” trope is tiresome, and it was refreshing to see it challenged.

The book immediately draws you in and is hard to set aside once you start reading. The monsters within the story are genuinely terrifying, and the descriptions are nightmare-inducing. I was looking forward to encountering more of these creatures as the narrative unfolded.

However, the novel’s strong stance against AI felt a bit heavy-handed at times, detracting from the queer elements that initially intrigued me. The author’s message is important, but it occasionally overshadowed the primary focus of the book. The queer representation, particularly concerning the asexual and bisexual characters Tara and Zeke, fell short for me. While the main character was fleshed out through flashbacks, they sometimes felt two-dimensional. Zeke, a rare representation of a bisexual man, felt underdeveloped and muted, often referred to only as “my boyfriend.” Tara had a standout moment of empowerment regarding her sexuality but still seemed to have untapped potential.

The narrative could have benefited from additional editing, as certain phrases were repeated excessively. Despite these flaws, I would still recommend “Bury Your Gays.” It is an engaging and easy read, perfect for horror enthusiasts seeking a story with a meaningful message that isn’t too dense.

Thank you to NetGalley and Nightfire for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions within are my own.

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I'm coming to the tragic conclusion that Chuck Tingle's writing and I are not a match made in heaven. I find it extremely heavy-handed and occasionally clunky. In particular, emotional redundancy is a pet peeve of mine. I don't need the themes restated in every chapter. I got it the first time. This sort of repetition - along with little sly references to real life media events (like straight-up naming a lesbian character to-be-killed-off 'Lexa') feel like lazy attempts at satire and theme, masquerading a lack of depth in exploring those same themes.

To be clear, Tingle's message is valuable and one I agree with. It's the execution I take umbrage with.

Actually, no let me give one thematic element the credit it's due, because I think it was actually interesting and added extra dimension. Tingle makes some fantastic points about Corporate Pride and toxic positivity. I just wish these elements were given more focus, instead of being used as a catalyst to plunge ahead into an underwhelming ending.

The redundancy also hurts characterization, especially in the case of Zeke, our protagonist's boyfriend. Every so often, Zeke does something heartwarming. If Tingle left it at that, my heart would be warmed. Instead, these actions are followed by Misha gushing about how wonderful his boyfriend is. Every. Damn. Time. With a stronger writer, that kind of doubling down would lead me to believe that Misha is trying to convince himself more than the reader and wonder what's gone wrong with the relationship. However, that's clearly not what Tingle is doing here. The redundancy, mixed with Zeke lacking any character development, renders him a cardboard cutout of a Perfect Boyfriend.

Other issues are not as glaring, but they're still there. Tingle's Hollywood lacks the authentic feel of, say, Mishell Baker's or Taylor Jenkins Reid's. Misha's encounters with the supernatural horrors of his cinematographic past entertained me but failed to scare me in the least, and the revelation of what was going on with them never made it past the gate of me suspending my disbelief. There were a few really odd word choices. I spent several paragraphs wondering what 'divergent eyes' were, before figuring they were staring in opposite directions.

I do want to mention it's not all bad here. I was pleasantly surprised by some of Misha's down to earth human interactions. I liked his friendship with Tara and the scene at the high school reunion where he talks about the value of horror. I actually really liked the flashback with his Uncle Keith. The build-up had me bracing for something poorly handled and melodramatic, but the scene of a child left in the care of an abusive adult hit home. Tingle's portrayal of Keith was nuanced and most importantly specific, taking no shortcuts, and so it managed to be more chilling than anything else in the book.

It was scenes like those that made me waver in my resolve to probably not pick up Tingle's next book. They don't cancel out everything else, but they move the needle nonetheless.

Being such a big fan of Camp Demascus, I'm truly honored to be given the chance to read the arc of Chuck Tingle's newest novel! And let me tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed Bury Your Gays. The concept alone would be enough to sell me: a horror movie/television writer going toe-to-toe with the very monsters he helped to create. This novel dealt with quite a lot of important issues from the use of queer tragedy in pop culture to the dangerous machine that is capitalism. The story covered many ranges of emotion from some hilarious comedic moments, to moments that brought tears to my eyes as we explored our main character, Misha Byrne's, past. As a huge horror nerd, I really enjoyed picking up on the author's references to the genre through character names, descriptions, etc while also coming up with some very creative original ideas to explore! This novel already leaves me excited and ready to pick up whatever Chuck Tingle writes next, and I'll be sure to recommend this one to everyone I know.

Chuck Tingle's first full-length adult horror novel was a lot of fun. It's as much a takedown of capitalist corporate greed as it is a skewering of gay trauma/"bury your gays" tropes.

Be careful if you're squeamish - the body horror is pretty intense. Personally I'm not a huge fan of body horror, so I did end up skimming those scenes, but it seemed to be well-done overall and wasn't a deterrant for me as I was reading. The psychological horror was extremely effective and well thought out. I would watch most of these movies (through my fingers, but still) if they were actually real.

I had a few qualms with the way the screenplays were integrated - it was never very clear whether or not they were mashups (Misha appears in all of them) or inspiration. I also thought the scene at the high school reunion was largely unrealistic and did not quite fit in with the timeline. It probably would have made a better flashback along with the other ones. Two relatively minor complaints for this book, though.

So happy to see a positive, complex queer horror novel out there. Will be recommending widely.

Bury Your Gays: a Review
by Chuck Tingle

I recently had the pleasure of diving into an Advanced Reader's Copy of Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle, a horror novel that's as thrilling as it is meaningful. Slated for release on July 24th, 2024, it promises to be the standout horror novel of the summer. Packed with edge-of-your-seat action and blockbuster-level scares, it also delivers a powerful commentary on LGBTQ+ representation in media. And don't worry, my review is entirely free of spoilers, keeping the surprises intact for your reading adventure.
Diving into Bury Your Gays, you'll ride shotgun with Misha, a scriptwriter who's seen it all and then some in the Hollywood grind. Just as he's about to pop champagne for his first Oscar nod, boom, he's slapped with a real Sophie’s Choice. The big shots want him to ax a gay character in the name of the all-mighty algorithm. Sounds like a no-brainer for the suits, but for Misha? It goes against everything he’s been working up to, building to, and it betrays the young Misha, who grew up wanting to see representation in the media.
Cue the ghost of decisions past, lurking around every corner, reminding Misha of times he wished he could forget. Now, he's staring down the barrel of a moral quandary that could either make or break him. It's not just about making a stand; it's a sprint against the clock to do the right thing, to rewrite his legacy before the final act. Trust me, it's a page-turner that'll have you rooting for Misha to pull off a Hollywood ending like no other.
Bury Your Gays isn't just a horror novel; it's a genre-bending rollercoaster that'll have you howling with laughter one minute and peeking through your fingers the next, all while tugging at your heartstrings. Chuck Tingle isn't just playing the game here; he's flipping the board, taking us deep into the jungles of AI in the arts, the scars of trauma, the quest for genuine representation, and the murky waters of corporate bandwagon pride—all without missing a step. It's like a perfectly mixed cocktail of themes, each enhancing the flavors of the others, propelling this narrative juggernaut forward with a precision that's nothing short of masterful.
Bury Your Gays is a home run. It's rare to stumble across a book that tries to juggle so many themes and nails it with the grace Tingle has, but here we are. Reading this book is like mainlining pure joy—it's that addictive. And if you thought Chuck Tingle was just dabbling in fiction with hits like Straight and Camp Damascus, think again. The man's not hiding behind any façade; he's out here, loud and proud, showcasing his knack for weaving queer horror with the finesse of a true artist. If anyone was still sleeping on Tingle's talent, Bury Your Gays is the alarm clock going off.
Thanks to Macmillan Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC–it was highly appreciated!

In a near future setting, Hollywood screenwriter Misha Byrne is enjoying his first Academy Award nomination in the short film category. He is also currently at work on the final season of his cop TV show. In the season finale, he's planning to reveal that the two female leads have fallen in love and started a relationship. When he's called in to a meeting with the studio head, he's dismayed to find that he's being ordered to kill of the two characters once they're revealed to be in a lesbian relationship (hence the title of the book). Misha decides that he's going to stay true to his idea and turn in the script he wants, even if it gets rejected and replaced. As he's leaving, he sees someone killed by a falling piano. This shocking death is just the first in a string of strange events that happen to Misha in the following days. He returns to Montana for his high school reunion, where he's under the impression that no one in his hometown has realized he's gay. This prompts some uncomfortable feelings when he sees someone he had a complicated relationship with all those years ago. Once back in Hollywood, Misha and his partner Zeke and friend Tara are soon being stalked by characters from Misha's past -- scary horror characters he created earlier in his career have come to life. There is the Smoker, a scary man with no eyelids, Mrs. Why (whose touch basically turns people into empty shells), and the Black Lamb, which looks cute until you get too close. Misha has created these characters, so he knows how they behave and what they are planning to do to him and his friends. He has to track down where they came from to figure out why they've come to life.

The story is certainly imaginative and makes for an interesting read. The implications of Artificial Intelligence and how it might be used are all too real in today's world -- especially how it might be used in the entertainment industry to create works (including featuring performers who are no longer alive). I enjoyed the story and would love to see it made into a film!

It’s been a very long time since I’ve read a book, if not in one sitting, in less than 24 hours. To be honest I’ve never read anything by Chuck Tingle, other than social media posts, so I did not know what to expect. Reader, I was blown away. The plot, in which a writer of horror films is stalked by the characters he created, is certainly clever and fun, but it’s the heart and depth and understanding - both of the characters’ struggles and of genre fiction/films - that won me over completely. I received this as an ARC. I will be buying a hardcover physical copy as soon as it’s published.

This was a wild ride. The book blatantly discusses how Hollywood likes to literally bury gay stories <spoiler>and also the impact that AI (although to the extreme in this book) is going to have on media.</spoiler> This is a great mix of some really scary moments with some truly emotional ones. However the last ten percent of the book felt rushed which is why I can't give this a true five stars. <spoiler>After all of this buildup and tension the fact that they walk right in and destroy the AI nanobot network so simply just feels like it was forced.</spoiler>

Without spoiling anything by implying tone or direction, I will say this about the book’s end:…what a satisfying ending to not just a perfect novel, but a perfect piece of horror literary fiction. It has everything I could ever want. As a horror novel, it’s the equivalent of literary fiction in the ways it meets and surpasses the elements that make for enduring literature that we classify as “literary fiction”. The horrors are HORRIFYING—layered, pulled from all sorts of horror tropes and archetypes and blending them in ways unseen, and scary enough to make one’s breath quicken and eyes dart down the page to make sure all ends well. The Smoker took my breath away and chilled me to the backbone. And it’s not just the monsters that make this book meaningful. The characters are not your average horror fare—they’re all well-developed, even the secondary and passing characters have depth and attention paid to characterization. And our three main folks of the tale—Misha, Tara, and Zeke—are all queer characters in a very real and impactful way. These are not token characters and stereotypes with a bit of spice to switch it up. No, these are characters with depth and humanity and resonance, uniquely developed in personality and person and all equally lovable and relatable. Though the things they experience together are horrific and haunting and fantastical, the characters themselves are grounded in an important reality often ignored by art in general—queer people are not types, they are just people, each unique and complex and contradictory and human like any reader who picks up any book with a beating heart and a pulse.

These endearing and enduring characters are just one of the many things which contribute to the significant success the novel achieves in terms of making its most important statement: horror stories, particularly queer horror stories, make for important and illuminating stories for the culture at large, and we need more human and humane queer stories across all genres and mediums to be seen by a wider audience with a more open mind. Tingle shines in weaving social/cultural commentary into the narrative and presenting it in ways that feel true to the characterizations or circumstances he has created up to that point. The scene at Misha’s high school reunion, as he argues for the importance of horror and tells the story of the haunted room in the basement of his college house, comes to mind immediately, as does the sprinkled-in points about how entertainment treats queer people and queer stories. Scenes like these make the point so beautifully. As a horror scholar myself, Tingle’s subtext about the importance of genre and horror hits harder and makes me fall in love with this book even more. It has it all: the scares, the substance, the standing power, and the staying power. What a gift to the world Tingle created in writing this book.

A very solid four star read. Bury Your Gays has a great story flow, fascinating concept (definitely not one I've seen before), and some of the best cover art yet this year. Chuck Tingle is quickly becoming an auto buy author of mine. If you like horror and are a tad squeamish, this book would be perfect for you. We always need more queer horror in our lives.

A brilliant novel that effortlessly juggles many tones and themes at once, shifting easily between horrifying moments, fun thriller action, the dreariness brought about by capitalism in Hollywood, and queer stories that are raw, heart wrenching, and heartfelt. The cast is a ton of fun with heroes that are easy to root for and terrifying villains. The messages of the story are so important and I hope this proves to be an influential novel for queer media that follows it, at the very least I hope for many more LGBTQ books like this in the future!

This is a fantastic queer horror novel about what it takes to make it in Hollywood seen through the eyes of a gay screenwriter. And what it takes is much more than just talent or artistic abilities. Sometimes it takes blood.

Misha is a screenwriter who is nominated for an Oscar for a short animated film. His success has come from queer horror and he has a fairly successful television series.

But when a studio executive informs him that he has to kill his gay characters or make them straight, he refuses. Although he's outed in Las Angeles, he's not so much out in his hometown in Montana. He's struggled with being partially closeted and he feels his characters allow him to express himself.

But pretty soon, terrifying things start to happen to him and to his boyfriend and his best female friend. At first it appears that some of his most horrific creations are coming to life and trying to kill him. But there's something much more dark going on. Something you won't see coming at first, and this could affect more than just his world.

This is a great read with some twists that examines the lengths greedy corporations will go to make the most amount of money. And as Misha struggles with trauma from his past while trying to protect himself and loved ones from monstrosities come to life it's going to take very drastic measures to stop the unstoppable. And maybe at a cost he can't see coming.

Wildly inventive and brimming with subject matter that feels like it's ripped from headlines, this frightening and action packed novel will have you rethinking everything you think you know about what it means to be an artist and achieve success. I highly recommend it.

This is my first chuck tingle novel and I rather enjoyed it!!

It's at times creepy and terrifying as well as entertaining!

It kept me engaged. I enjoyed the characters and I will definitely be recommending it to some of my friends!

"Bury Your Gays" by Chuck Tingle is a delightful rollercoaster of campy horror and queer satire. Tingle masterfully blends tongue-in-cheek humor with gory details, creating a unique reading experience. The juxtaposition of A.I. and the arts adds a layer of depth, exploring the impending impacts of technology on identity and creativity. With its unabashedly queer narrative and sharp social commentary, "Bury Your Gays" is a must-read for fans of offbeat horror and LGBTQ+ literature alike.

"Horror offers a chance to recognize this truth, to explore dark places in a safe way," the fascination with themes of queer embodiment in horror is torn wide open in this new installment to the Tingleverse, by camp king Chuck Tingle.

The story is a fascinating one, a writer is being pushed by big wig executives to kill off his TV series FMC's after their coming out episode while simultaneously being haunted by the monsters of pictures past. This story is incredibly smart, fun, and a quick-witted take on the "bury your gays" phenomenon in entertainment. What I was not expecting was great dialogue around the ethics of AI, coming out, commodification of queerness/pink dollars, and a thoughtful discussion around horror as a playground to explore dark ideas in a safe way. When something as basic as your identity puts you at risk, why wouldn't you indulge in what this horrible world has to offer through the lens of your own imagination?

The characters are campy and fun, the insertion of screenplay excerpts successfully disorients the reader, and the nod to slasher films will put a grin on any seasoned horror fans face.

This is my first Tingle book and I will definitely be watching his career as he continues to map out his literary universe. 5 Stars.

Bury Your Gays started out with a bang and hooked me hard- I found it nearly impossible to put down. This book is beautiful and tragic and horrific and unsettling and very, very gay. The story slows quite a bit in the middle but picks back up and gets brutal and gory in the very best kind of way. Bury Your Gays covers things I personally find to be truly scary and horrific, particularly AI and how it can/will impact the world. Reading about that made me squirm in a way that books rarely do. Tingle's writing was engaging and raw and relatable. This book is crammed full of so many amazing quotes and one-liners. I lost count of how many times I had to pull out the highlighter.

I got particularly excited when I suspected a character was Ace and even more so when they confirmed they are AroAce not too much later! (YAY FOR REPRESENTATION!) However, I am extremely conflicted about this character's role in this story. I honestly cannot decide if I absolutely love it or if I'm extremely disappointed? Honestly, I think it's a weird mix of both.

A lot of important messages covered in these pages.

Chuck Tingle - I love you. You provide harsh commentary on our culture and society while lifting with humor and wit.
Misha finally gets his two main characters - lesbians with massive sexual tension, together in his series finale. But The Board does not approve - forcing Misha to "bury your gays" as society continually pushes. Refusing to cave, Misha becomes the target of his horror creations. They stalk him, using their abilities to his life and those close to him.
The commentary is so intense. The ending just nails the swaying of trends - and societal pressures.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Diving headfirst into the glitz, glamour, and ghastly underbelly of Hollywood, 'Bury Your Gays' had me on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, and rooting for Misha all the way! This gem by Chuck Tingle is a rollercoaster through Tinseltown's twisted trails, blending real-life terrors with the kind of spine-chilling scares that have you double-checking your locks at night. Misha's journey – a bold stand against the monstrous machinations of studio execs and the actual monsters haunting him – is a masterclass in courage and camp. The book is a love letter to horror aficionados, complete with a treasure trove of nods to classics and cult favorites like 'The X-Files', alongside a cheeky wink to Tingle’s own 'Camp Demascus'. It's a tale that not only entertains but resonates deeply, especially in its unflinching look at the fear surrounding the visibility of LGBTQ+ characters in media. So, if you're craving a story that marries the eerie with the extraordinary, and the profound with the peculiar, look no further. This book doesn't just bury its gays; it immortalizes them in the annals of horror lore. Bravo, Chuck Tingle!

#HorrorLGBTQ #HollywoodHaunts #TingleTerror