Loved it! Chuck Tingle is a great writer and I will read everything he puts out. Loved the balance and blend of the genres used. Will absolutely be recommending this one. Thank you Tor, my favorite publisher, and Netgalley for the advanced read. I will be buying a copy for the home library.

Chuck Tingle's "Bury Your Gays" delivers a gripping and thought-provoking narrative that deftly blends horror with social commentary. Set against the backdrop of Hollywood, this novel explores the challenges faced by queer individuals in the entertainment industry while presenting a thrilling and eerie story.

The protagonist, Misha, is a seasoned scriptwriter on the brink of winning his first Oscar. However, when pressured by his producers to kill off a gay character in the upcoming season finale for the sake of "the algorithm," Misha finds himself in a moral quandary. As he battles with this decision, he is haunted by his past mistakes and faces a series of increasingly horrifying events.

Tingle's writing is sharp and engaging, with vivid descriptions that bring the Hollywood setting and its underlying darkness to life. The character development, particularly of Misha, is well-executed, making him a relatable and sympathetic figure. The supporting characters, while not as deeply explored, add depth and complexity to the story.

One of the novel's strengths is its exploration of the "Bury Your Gays" trope, a harmful narrative device where LGBTQ+ characters are frequently killed off in media. Tingle addresses this issue head-on, using Misha's internal conflict and external challenges to critique the entertainment industry's treatment of queer characters. The novel also delves into other relevant themes, such as corporate greed, AI ethics, and the power of creators.

The horror elements are effectively intertwined with the social commentary, creating a tense and immersive reading experience. The pacing is generally well-maintained, though some middle sections could have been tighter. The book's climax is both satisfying and thought-provoking, leaving readers with much to ponder about the real-world implications of the story.

The audiobook version, narrated by André Santana and featuring a full cast, enhances the emotional impact of the narrative. The performance is compelling, capturing the terror and urgency of Misha's journey.

Overall, "Bury Your Gays" is a standout horror novel that succeeds in being both entertaining and socially relevant. Chuck Tingle's ability to balance dark humor, horror, and meaningful commentary makes this a must-read for fans of the genre and those interested in LGBTQ+ representation in media.

This book was fun, with body horror and a main character losing his mind as he's hunted down by his own creations. It's engaging and seamlessly weaves in the commentary. I loved it. It didn't absolutely floor me and there were things that I didn't find as enjoyable. Zeke, Tara, and pretty much everyone who wasn't Misha felt one note. They served their purpose and nothing more. There were also moments when it felt as if I could put the book down and not pick it back up, but those moments were few and far in between.

In which Chuck Tingle goes to Hollywood.

Misha Byrne is a screenwriter, and he’s just locked in his first Oscar nomination. He’s also gay, and executive meddling is on the cusp of forcing him to kill off the two queer leads of his latest TV series. Nearly four seasons of wildly successful X-Files-esque television, and he’s finding his work being subject to one of the oldest tropes in fiction: bury your gays. For Misha, this is particularly egregious, as his favorite childhood show fell victim to the same treatment years before. However, if he doesn’t go along with the studio’s plans, he’ll be in breach of contract and lose his job, and potentially any chance of working in Hollywood again.

Then, things start to get weird at the studio lot. Raymond Nelson, one of the oldest working animators at the studio, is crushed by a piano in an ironic echo of a cartoon death. Not long after, Misha spots a character from one of his horror films while walking out of a bar. This omen warns him that he has only five day to live, a timeline that coincides with the night of the Academy Awards ceremony. Soon, more of his horror characters begin intruding into his life, and he’s forced to face the very real traumas that shaped his career (and are threatening his boyfriend). Will Misha succumb to studio pressure by Oscar night, or will he fall to a twisted version of one of his own creations?

Chuck Tingle is absolutely killing it in the horror genre, y’all. Bury Your Gays is littered with little nods to actual Hollywood staples, all while carefully avoiding name-dropping any specific real world studio. Tingle builds phenomenal tension and intersperses some clever screenwriting aspects between segments of the story. This is a brilliant follow-up to last year’s Camp Damascus, and further solidifies Chuck as a horror writer of note. My utmost thanks to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review. Bury Your Gays is out as of yesterday, 7/9/24. Go get it.

This review originally appeared here: https://swordsoftheancients.com/2024/07/10/bury-your-gays-a-review/

This book was such a fun and wild ride. It follows a semi-closeted horror filmmaker in LA. He starts noticing his characters around him and then they start to follow the rules of his films. Things just get progressively weirder from there. I don’t want to give away anything because this book is the kind of fever dream that just needs to be experienced.

This book is great for lovers of horror, both book and film.

This was one of my most highly anticipated books of the year and it definitely lived up to my expectations.

Q: What was your favorite television show as a kid?

If you’re one of those people who’s ever been completely incensed when a television show has been working for seasons towards putting a queer couple together only to have one (or both!) of those characters killed off or suddenly being magically straight as a plank, then you might completely identify with Misha, the protagonist of Chuck Tingle’s speculative fiction novel Bury Your Gays.

Yes, you read that correctly: speculative fiction novel. This novel is marketed as both horror and science fiction, but that’s a spectacular indicator a book is likely to end up in that nebulous category called speculative fiction. When you throw genre fiction into a blender and add a dash of, “What if we add in this variable here?”, then I consider that to be speculative fiction. I hate pigeonholing books like this further because I believe it lessens their appeal and reach. If you like body horror, over-the-top violence, poorly-veiled Hollywood references that were likely written that way on purpose, a protagonist who starts out the book righteously angry and just keeps on getting more justifiably angry, mysterious Hollywood execs who are only worried about money to an inhuman degree, Hollywood caricatures and stereotypes, coming out stories, award show shenanigans, horror villain origin stories, seeing the true damage of AI on the environment and on Hollywood manifested, and love an easter egg, then you’ll dig this.

Did I like it as much as Camp Damascus? No. I find Camp Damascus to be the better of the two novels, but that’s not down to Tingle’s talent as a writer. That’s all about my tastes as a reader. I have a harder time with books that have male protagonists just in general, and I also had expectations this book would lean further into body horror than it did. Combine that with me correctly guessing a good chunk of what happens in the back half early on and it just affected my overall enjoyment. Tingle is a really effective story plotter and has a great sense of energy, imagery, and atmosphere.

It’s a great novel and a lot of fun. You’ll enjoy getting to be as mad at Hollywood as Misha is and cheer him on as he fights to write what he wants.

TWs for: Child abuse/neglect, homophobia, hate speech, gore, very violent deaths, blood

I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Body Horror/Horror/LGBTQ Horror/LGBTQ Fiction/Science Fiction/Speculative Fiction

5/5✨

This was my first Tingle book and absolutely loved it. I was about to listen and read this title and let me tell you, the narrators were amazing!

This was so much more than a quirky story about how Hollywood always kills off the queer character. It represents the power of chosen family, being true to yourself to live your most authentic life, and doing what you know is right, even when the world says it is "wrong" by the masses.

The zany characters and vivid descriptions of the situations, horror, and environment really made this a top read this year! If you are looking for a unique and thrilling read with a dash of horror, this is your next read.

Narrated by: André Santana; Charlie Jane Anders; CJ Leede; Georgia Bird; Liz Kerin; Mara Wilson; Mark Oshiro; Sarah Gailey; Stephen Graham Jones; T. Kingfisher; TJ Klune

As always, thank you to NetGalley, Chuck Tingle, and Tor Publishing Group for the digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Ahh where to start with Bury Your Gays. While it took a minute for it to grab my attention, once it did, it didn't let go! I loved our main character Meesha, his boyfriend Zeke and his bestie Tara and the entire premise of the book. Screen Writer being forced to kill off his gay MCs or turn them straight is suddenly being targeted by his own imagined monsters turned real because he won't agree. This Queer adult horror is a packed full of monsters created from childhood trauma, gore , mind fudgery, being true to ones self , queer authenticity , an Ace to save the day and a completely satisfying ending. I look forward to the next horror Chuck Thingle thinks up !

4.5 stars

Misha has finally made it in Hollywood. His Oscar nomination makes it official. The executives at the studio think the next thing to elevate his career is to kill off the gay characters in the season finale of his current show. The algorithm says it’ll be great for his career, but Misha is tired of dead queers and traumatic storylines.

He refuses and quickly realizes that has put a target on his back. What’s more, weird stalkers dressed as monsters from his horror scripts are following him around, and they’re trying to kill him and his friends.

I chose to read this on the title alone, but there are so many elements that made me love it. Queer main character who isn’t fully out and has to make tough decisions about that. Aroace bff who is also a tech hacker genius. Mysterious monsters at the heart of an AI mystery. Fighting corruption. It’s a wild ride with a great plot and wonderful characters. Not quite a perfect 5 stars for me, but pretty darn close.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

I could not get into this at all. I did not like the writing style and felt the dialogue was very forced/fake. I also thought there were way too many characters to keep track of. I ended up DNFing a few chapters in.

Mr. Tingle you have outdone yourself!!
This book was soo good and spooky. I had no idea where this was going. You get psychological horror, technological horror/ethics, corporate greed, and queer erasure/representation and QUEER LOVE. All layered over one another into one fantastic book.

I finished this book in one day. I literally could not put it down.

Horror is very much an element of its time. Whether in movie or book form, it highlights social issues of the time its set. That is very much the case in Bury Your Gays. As we struggle with issues of AI, capitalism, and trauma porn in Hollywood productions today, Bury Your Gays turns those elements on its head to offer a horror take.

I really enjoyed this book and need to go back and read Camp Damascus. For those that have read Camp Damascus, there is a little nod to it in the novel. I don't know if I'll go much into Chuck's backlist, but I look forward to what he writes in the future.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another one of my most anticipated reads of the year, Chuck Tingle does it again. Bury Your Gays is the story of Misha, a TV writer riding the high of his first Oscar nomination. When he’s called into a meeting with a studio executive and told to kill off the gay protagonists of his show ‘or else’, Misha must make a pivotal decision: Bury his gays, or sacrifice his career for the integrity of his characters? What follows is a romp filled with humor, gore, and a lot of heart.

Until now, I only knew Chuck Tingle by reputation; “Pounded In The Butt By My Handsome Sentient Library Card Who Seems Otherworldly But In Reality Is Just A Natural Part Of The Priceless Resources Our Library System Provides” being one of my favorite titles. Clearly he has a talent for satire, but until Bury Your Gays, I haven’t read any of his “feature-length” novels. I came in with high expectations due to the hype for this novel, and I wasn’t disappointed in the least.

All in all, Bury Your Gays is an irreverent and heartfelt commentary about the state of visual media in the rise of AI technology, how corporate greed can distort progress, and the importance of seeing people like yourself on the big screen. I highly recommend to fans of horror comedy, and any victims of queerbaiting in television- looking at you, Supernatural fans.

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle is not only entertaining horror but also insightful and powerful fiction. From the very introduction, the reader is plunged into what it takes in Hollywood to not only be creative but to embrace your identity. The simmering horror blends the real world horror of being forced to assimilate to be successful and the price of capitalism but adds in the sheer horror of having your own creations attempting to kill you.
What makes this so powerful and emotional is how haunted Misha is by his past. The character is complex as he struggles with his identity and risks everything for his friends. What I found even creepier than the first half though was the resolution as Misha finds a way to survive but the new horror facing him is sugar varnished art that lacks realism. It is a great insight into how capitalism will change what is offered as art but always with a price. It also shows that great horror can actually show us what it means to be alive and how to find ourselves.
If you like Chuck Tingle and his previous horror, this one will take you to new places. It is insightful and powerful as it delves into Hollywood and the price of success, how art can challenge our beliefs and show us how to embrace our identity but also how difficult it can be to fight the status quo, how much of yourself you must rip out to keep your dream alive. This is horror with heart and the ending will truly make you think.

This was pretty good! I read Tingle's previous traditionally published book and enjoyed it, but I do think he did a great job improving on the tightness of his storytelling in this one. I appreciated following Misha as he navigated the menacing and convoluted world of Hollywood, though I do wish more time had been spent on the repercussions of ending the nanobots.

So, I didn't read Chuck's last novel, and I was, for a while, only familiar with him through the parody ebooks he was writing. I heard Camp Damascus was excellent, and I have it on-deck to read now after this. I loved this. Again, only being familiar with him through his reputation, back in the day, writing stuff like Pounded in the Butt by My Butt, I wasn't expecting something so introspective and exciting. It's fun, but it's also very angry, sharply focused on capitalism as a force for harm.

This book was unlike anything I have ever read. We follow Misha, a writer on a popular TV show who has been tasked with killing off his two gay main characters. He has also written several popular queer horror movies and starts to see some of his more terrifying creations come to life.

This was such a unique read - I had no idea what was going on and didn't expect any of what happened - this story shows how amazing Chuck Tingle is as a writer and how creative his stories are - It moved at a very quick pace and kept me guessing.

I think this story is a must-read for pretty much anyone

I had to sit with this book for a bit before I could review it. Not because I had issues or problems with the story but because I just wanted to revel in how much I enjoyed it and how much I loved the characters and more importantly how seen I felt in this book. Without giving any spoilers there is an inclusivity in this story that I really appreciated and don’t always see in mainstream fiction.

The scares were effective and had a realism to them that I think amped them up even more had they been in a more standard story. Even when outlandish things began to happen I was there the whole time.

This is an incredibly enjoyable read. When I say that I laughed, I cried, I am not being sarcastic or dismissive. I did laugh, often, as sometimes humor is the only way to deal with the horrors. And boy did I cry, I suspect at the point that most people reading this book did.

This is my first time reading Chuck Tingle and I can tell you it will not be my last.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for providing an ARC.)

This was SO GOOD!!!

A great message wrapped in a horrifying story. The suspense was wonderfully written and the body horror was as gruesome as you could expect. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Chuck Tingle you can do no wrong!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the ARC of this wonderful book.

With the season three finale of Travelers (a queer sci-fi show in the same vein as The X-Files) on the horizon, not to mention an Oscar nomination, Misha Byrne is slowly but surely proving to be a queer (albeit closeted) star in Hollywood. Intent on creating the show he dreamed of seeing in childhood, Misha is adamant in his blunt refusal to stray from his grand finale: a confession, and shared kiss, between the lead lesbian detectives, the culmination of a subtle three-season-long slow burn romance. Despite his success, the algorithm – and Hollywood – has determined that the thing that will make the most money for Harold Brothers Studios is queer tragedy, but Misha will not bury the gays, not when the LGBTQIA+ community deserves to be seen – and to experience queer joy.

When Misha decides that he will not be killing off his gay characters – fuck you very much – things get weird. A handful of ominous, eerie characters from his own works emerge in the form of freakishly accurate cosplaying stalkers bringing with them the past traumas from which they were created, and it is in these snippets – revealed through inspirational flashback chapters – that Tingle shines. Gritty, gruesome, and incredibly foreboding, Tingle seamlessly blends past, present, and dream in horrific, excruciating detail: it’s haunting, atmospheric, and downright eerie in execution as past trauma blends in with present fear in the form of chapter introductions written in screenplay format, as if Misha himself is nothing more than a role to be performed and dissected by Hollywood.

Tension builds slowly, each chapter brimming with foreshadowing and tension as we follow in Misha’s footsteps, navigating life through his eyes as he narrowly escapes death at the hands of his own creations: a mouthless, croaking, uncanny valley murderer; an innocent-on-the-outside eldritch horror; and, a mysterious and omnipotent sci-fi hivemind. Raw, real, and visceral, Misha’s fear, anxiety, and worry are palpable, propelling him to investigate cause and effect, aware, deep down, that this is the product of his own decisions, and that, somehow Hollywood is to blame.

Bury Your Gays is a terrifying countdown to Misha's death, a foreboding examination of art and technology in the entertainment industry – one that offers in-depth commentary and criticism on the impact of artificial intelligence and copyright.