Campy, queer, and full of classic, nostalgic horror tropes but with twists that will keep you guessing. I had SO much fun reading Chuck Tingle's latest!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Some mild/slight spoilers to follow.

Wow wow wow. Chuck Tingle has done it again. I loved his first foray into traditional publishing Camp Damascus, but I think I may love Bury Your Gays even MORE. (Also, shout out to the Camp Damascus reference in here. Love when authors create a connected universe.) Another thing I absolutely love? When the villain is capitalism all along. Just brings that extra level of realism to a fantastical horror novel. This was just such a wonderful takedown of so many things: AI in art, corporate greed, the fetishization of gay tragedy, the inevitable pendulum swing in the other direction to the fetishization of queer joy, ace erasure... I love every minute of reading this book (even the grossly descriptive parts that made me go ewww.)

Tingle writes so smoothly and so well. Many books, including horror, often have slow buildups, lulls, disappointing endings, etc. Bury Your Gays is solid writing throughout. It was emotional, funny, touching, gruesome, and thought-provoking. I didn't expect the sci-fi element at the end but it worked so well.
I can't wait to read Camp Damascus!

Bury Your Gays follows Mischa, a scriptwriter working on a TV show where he is gearing up to finally write a lesbian arc for his two main characters. His dream arc for these two characters coming to fruition and an Oscar nomination should be the best time in Mischa’s professional life. But then the studio demands he kill off one of his characters instead of letting them get together, and this one note sends Mischa into a fight for his life and the life of everyone he loves as he refuses to be bullied by the studio. I loved how light on plot the synopsis online is, so I’m also not going to get much more into the actual plot details here. But this is a really fun, gory adventure against capitalism and the squashing of art within the current studio system of Hollywood. It’s also a heartfelt look at coming to terms with your gay identity and who and when you fully come out, especially when they’re trauma surrounding it in your childhood. I found Mischa as a main character realistic and sympathetic and you root for him to figure it all out. Great gore and kills, creative creature designs, and a really solid mystery at it’s core, this is a fantastic follow up to Camp Damascus (a book I adored). The Camp Damascus even gets a shoutout in this novel that had me doing the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme. Anyway, I recommend!

This review will post on my instagram @boozehoundbookclub

ARC Book Review | BURY YOUR GAYS by CHUCK TINGLE

4/5 ⭐’s | ARC Review | PUB DATE: 9 July 2024
I received this ebook for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Read if you're looking for:
* Cheeky, satirical horror
* Critique of queer representation in Hollywood & corporations condescending to queer consumers
* The real horror is capitalism
* Creepy creatures of mysterious origin
* Written by a queer, autistic author

This book follows Misha, a closeted Hollywood tv and film writer who has been in the industry many years, when he is suddenly told to kill off two of his gay main characters in one of his popular shows by the upper management. Misha refuses, stating that he will not perpetuate the “bury your gays” trope that has long been common in Hollywood. After this refusal, strange events begin happening to Misha and his friends, and to other queer writers in the studio, with monstrous and dangerous characters from Misha’s previous shows somehow showing up in real life. Misha must figure out what’s going on in order to save himself and those he loves, and to do that he must face his traumatic past and embrace who he really is.

This is Chuck Tingle’s second full-length novel, and it was a campy romp of a horror novel. Chuck Tingle also wrote Camp Damascus, which was one of my best books of last year, and he’s quickly becoming one of my favorite horror writers of all time. The horror in this book is fueled by capitalistic greed, which I think is pretty relevant at the moment. The book also pokes fun at the performative, and often empty actions, of corporations to appeal to the LGBTQIA+ community, with shallow representation and rainbow merch. It was gory and full of action, and there was never a dull moment. I also really appreciated the diverse representation, with an asexual/aromantic major character, which is sorely lacking in a lot of LGBTQIA+ stories. I strongly recommend this for anyone who enjoys humorous or satirical horror.

CW: Homophobia, Gore, Blood, Child abuse, Outing, Vomit, Acephobia/Arophobia, Drug use, Cursing

Chuck Tingle is the master of feel-good horror. This was such a lovely and spooky read. It took some surprising turns and almost had me in tears at the end. I think I loved this even more than Camp Damascus.

This novel had everything. With some great creepy villains and some unsettling moments it would have made a decent horror novel. But on top of that it was fun, queer, full of heart and had great characters (especially a very well realized, easy to love protagonist). Now mix all that up with pop culture references and the commentary against the shiny facade of Hollywood, corporations, AI and feeding the algorithms, and you’ve got yourself a spectacular ride. I honestly didn’t want to stop reading this once it got going.

This book offers thought-provoking social commentary and genuine scares, making it a standout favorite of the year. From the very first page, I couldn’t put it down. It skillfully blends horror and humor, delivering a mix of psychological terror, queer erasure and representation, and queer love. All these elements come together in a single, fantastic read.

"Horror stories aren't just things we want to see, they're the things we need to see."

Boy Howdy!!! BURY YOUR GAYS by @chucktingle is the queer, anti-capitalist greed horror story that my heart needed right now! Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher @tornightfire and @macmillanaudio for the e-ARC and audio-ARC.

First of all, if you have the chance to listen to this one, you should definitely go that route! This story features an all-star cast of author narrators including Charlie Jane Anders, T Kingfisher, Stephen Graham Jones, Sarah Gailey and more which leads to an incredible audio experience!

There is so much social commentary in this book and I am sure I cannot hit all the hot spots but here goes:

💲Modern Hollywood's cult of greed
🍭Late stage capitalism sucking the life and art from us all
🤖The dangers of AI and nano-tech
👨‍💻Our lack of concern about tech insecurity (data mining)
🏳️‍🌈The importance of representation and being an active participant in your own representation
💚Always being proud of who you are
⚠️The dangers of straightwashing queer stories or gay erasure

But my favorite concept of all that Tingle discusses in this one is the idea that fear is a muscle that needs to be exercised -

"There are scary things in the world, that's just a fact. And if you pretend they're not all around us, you are in for a rude awakening. Horror offers a chance to recognize this truth; to explore dark places in a safe way." -

I feel this one to my soul and it is the reason I have had such an explosion of horror in my life in the last few years. Gotta keep this muscle pumping!!

Read this one if:

🏳️‍🌈You think we need more queer stories in the world
🏳️‍🌈You love tired tropes being smashed to pieces
🏳️‍🌈You want to read a new spin on slashers
🏳️‍🌈You wanna buckle up for a wild ride
🏳️‍🌈You have ever been haunted by your own actions or stories

All the stars! As your queer auntie I recommend you get this one IMMEDIATELY and devour it in all its glory!!

💚SMASHBOT💚

#buryyourgays #chucktingle #tornightfire #macmillanaudio #queerhorrorbooks #horrorbooks #queer #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #booknerd #bibliophile #bookis

Thanks to NetGalley & Tor Publishing Group for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

A very fun, fast-paced meta-Hollywood romp. I really loved all the digs at Hollywood and how it treats LGBTQ+ media through a monetary lens.

I feel like this book is best enjoyed when having followed Hollywood vs LGBTQ+ drama for decades--especially in the fandom-sphere. You know which shows and films the author hints at thanks to the useless knowledge, ha. Well, it's not useless for this book!

The only negative is how focused it is on Misha that it ignores the 2 side characters that are said to be important to the character but we rarely see them interact in the book. I also truthfully skipped the script/screen-writing mini sections, they didn't interest me as much as the story itself did.

Right off the bat I'll say that while I did enjoy this book, I personally found his previous horror novel (Camp Damascus) to be more up my alley, but that's not to say that this one was bad (it wasn't!). I think this one actually has a higher goodreads rating, so go figure. Now, I enjoyed this book, I really did, and I can honestly say I was never 100% sure where things were going (as in they kept me guessing), so kudos to Tingle for that. There were also so many things about it that were important. Elements of AI, intellectual property, and talks of art and artists, elements of queer erasure and tragedy. All of it was great. And there were honestly some gross/terrifying scenes here. I think my main issue was that it just seemed slightly disconnected and the ending was a little too...easily resolved I guess. I feel like we got this whole big bad thing happening and the climax was just slightly anti-climactic. Again, these are just my thoughts, and I do think there are so many things in this book that are great. I'll probably re-read it at some point too, just to see if knowing where it's all going will change how I look at it. Either way though, I will be very happy to recommend this book to just about any horror fan out there, and I am so glad to see another Tingle horror book on the market. I've also read there will be at least three more coming in the future, and I can't tell you how pleased I am about this. Tingle not only proves that love is real, but that weird horror stories can say important things, and all of his work should be taken seriously.

This is in my top 5 of the year. Absolutely phenomenal. The horror novel that everyone should read. Witty. Humorous. And full of nuance, it's a breath of fresh air. I hope Chuck Tingle keeps writing these for the buckaroos

Thank you for the arc Tor

The amazing Chuck Tingle does it again!! I love his previous tinglers, but this is just a whole different level.

Welcome to Hollywood! This is the place where dreams come to be made and destroyed in equal measure, and the competition is cut-throat. Misha Byrne, though, has finally made it. He's finally making his mark on this dusty old town, and the only thing standing between him and further greatness is one pesky little ultimatum. Misha is the showrunner of a hit sci-fi series called Travelers, and all he has to do to stay on top is kill off his two lead characters.

Seems simple enough right? There's just one problem. Misha's lead characters are gay, and he had plans to finally let them be happy together in this season's finale episode. Unfortunately, the powers that be at Harold Brothers Studios have run the numbers, and there's money to be made in the demise of these two would-be lovers. Misha, a gay man himself, is naturally outraged. He's spent his entire life hoping to see characters like him on TV and in movies. Now, he finally has the chance to make it happen, and he's being told he can either kill off the characters, turn them straight, or face a lengthy law suit for breach of contract.

So, Misha does the only thing he can do. He refuses. He tells Jack, his producer, no and storms off the lot. Which is precisely when things start to get really weird. People around Misha start dying by uncanny means, and people dressed as villains from Misha's prior work start popping up, stalking and threatening Misha and his friends. There couldn't possibly be a connection between the deaths, the stalkers, and Misha's refusal to bury the gays on his show...could there?

The answer to that question, learning more about Misha's past, and the obvious commentary on queerness in Hollywood and the general issues with the movie and TV industry are what kept me glued to this book.

While Bury Your Gays is primarily a horror story, it's also a queer story. Misha grew up in rural Montana, and he's lived half in the closet (as he calls it) ever since he moved to California. He has a long-term boyfriend, Zeke, who he is starting to think may be the one. But, Misha's reluctance to accept his own queerness leads to friction in his relationship with Zeke. He's scared of being "found out" even as an adult, and the story briefly explores how that can affect the trust crucial to a successful, happy relationship.

Misha also writes gay horror movies and TV shows. It's what he's known for, but he's never actually come out to his family or anyone he knew growing up. So, an underlying part of the book involved Misha's journey of acceptance for who he is and channeling that into what he wants his life to be. I feel like a lot of LGBTQ people who read this book will deeply identify with Misha and his struggles.

The other subtext threaded throughout the story involved Hollywood as an industry, specifically with the increased interest in using AI. Harold Brothers Studios has even managed to make an Oscar-nominated movie using a dead actor's likeness thanks to advances in AI, which is equally concerning, disturbing, and morbid to be quite honest. The story also mentions issues like fair pay and the future of streaming.

Ultimately, the focus became the issues that directly affected Misha. Misha is fighting for more than queer representation on TV. He's also fighting for his creative freedom. Misha is the showrunner, but the executives at HBS are forcing him between a rock and a hard place. He can either submit to their wishes by killing off or turning straight his gay lead characters, or he can kiss his career good bye. This situation is straight from real life. Big companies put revenue and profits first and people way down on the last rung of the ladder.

Bury Your Gays is exactly what I expected from Chuck Tingle after reading Camp Damascus (read my review here). This book is a queer story wrapped up in a horror setting, and it is occasionally very meta. Misha often approaches problems by analyzing what part of the "story" he's in, and it was a sly jab at the fourth wall that I really enjoyed. My only negative about this book had to do with the character development. The story is told from Misha's perspective, and this left the other characters feeling underdeveloped and flat. The messages addressed in the story more than made up for that, though. Even though I saw it coming, the twist at the end will definitely shock some readers!

I gave Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle four out of five stars. There's a softly beating heart at the center of this horror story, and by the end of the book I just wanted to give Misha a hug. This book is a manifesto to queerness wrapped in a bloody shell, and I loved how it simultaneously criticized the problems in Hollywood while seeking to correct them (even if it is just fiction). I wish the side characters would have been given a bit more development, but other than that, I really enjoyed this book. I encourage anyone who is looking for a quick horror book with a twist to give this one a try!

An absolute masterpiece that proves love is real and the validity of the queer experience. This was some of the most unnerving violence I have read to date and I couldn’t stop reading any of it. (The broken don stuff was just INSANE). I also thought the AI angle was incredibly well thought out and clever. (As well as horrifying). Now, the Asexual representation, Tara was probably hands down my FAVORITE thing about this entire novel. (I mean, there was an awful lot I loved) but EVERYTHING about Tara just felt like a warm hug and someone I fiercely love, look up to and admire. I hope everyone has a Tara in their life. Once again, Bless Chuck for giving us another novel so authentic and unabashedly queer and full of queer authenticity, struggles and joy.

I liked this very much - the satire is sharp, the horror plot really works, etc. I did like Camp Damascus more, I have to say - this seems just a bit less polished. I still enjoyed it and will absolutely recommend it, though.

I love Chuck Tingle and hes an amazing writer who tells important stories. The setting of this particular book just wasn't for me. I'm not really interested in Hollywood and/or screenwriting.

This will be a great story for some people, just not for me.

Very readable, creepy but not too scary. And an unexpectedly interesting storyline around AI and film.

Are you looking for a queer, campy horror novel about queer, campy 1990's horror films?

Boy, oh, boy- do I have a book for you!

While Camp Damascus was much more in line with my typical genres (i.e. my recent journey into science fiction/magical realism exploring religious trauma), this book was a joyous romp through Hollywood and the film industry's allergies to non-performative allyship.

Now, don't get me wrong. This is a horror novel. There is gore and violence and tragic, bloody deaths for many, many characters. But there is also a kernel of hope in this novel that only Chuck Tingle knows how to plant in these sort of stories. Despite everything, there's a lot of hope in this book.

If you love outlandish but soulful horror novels, look no further. I've got a rec for you.

I enjoyed Chuck Tingle's Camp Damascus last year, and was eager to give Bury Your Gays a read. To my pleasant surprise, I enjoyed it even more than I did Camp Damascus. Tingle does an excellent job building the glamorously superficial Hollywood our screenwriter protagonist Misha inhabits. The underlying threat of the movie monsters Misha created coming to life dovetails beautifully with flashback vignettes to his younger years, showing how the traumas of navigating adolescence as a queer youth contributed directly to the horror cinema he creates as an adult. These elements add depth to what's already a compelling sci-fi horror romp, as the sinister machinations of the Hollywood establishment set the stage for a battle between creativity and profit, setting up one of the core themes of the story: is art something worthwhile for its own sake, or is it merely another product to be commodified and exploited?