Bury Your Gays is an incredible mixture of horror, supernatural, sci-fi, and monsters with an LGBTQ protagonist set in the modern-day film and television industry. This is not my usual fare, but a good friend suggested it and I'm glad she did! There is gore, but it's worth it. The plot and writing are excellent with many twists and turns. And just when you think it's over, Tingle hits you with another part of the story and an incredible lesson. I'll be suggesting this one at work for anyone interested in getting out of their favorite genre stupor.

3.5 stars

When I first started this book I wasn't vibing with it at all. The first 15% was just about Hollywood and films and scripts and annoying people. Nothing "horror" was happening and I almost DNF'd it. I gave it one more shot and thankfully in the next chapter some horror finally started happening and then it hooked me in. Once we got to this point I was pretty invested in the story and really enjoyed all of the horror aspects. There was some good creepiness, some supernatural stuff, some body horror, some gore - basically what I'm looking for in a horror novel. However, when the story kept going back to Hollywood I would tune out for a bit as I didn't really care about the other storylines. Lastly, I didn't really understand what the "final boss" was (or what the point of it was) so the ending left me scratching my head a little. But overall, I thought this was fine. I really enjoyed the horror aspects of it.

Wow. I guess I'm a Tingler now?

The only exposure I've had to Chuck Tingle is through cackling at the titles of his erotica, but this book sounded intriguing and I've heard a LOT of positive things about Camp Damascus, so I figured I'd give it a try. I'm soooooo glad I did. The social commentary, the horror, the meta-ness, the character development... I loved it all so much. And the narration was INCREDIBLE! Next up, Camp Damascus and Straight. I already put the audiobooks on hold.

WHAT A RIDE. This was my first time being Tingled, and I did not leave disappointed.

First off, Misha’s journey in Hollywood is super relatable for anyone who’s ever chased a dream, and from the first page I was invested in this character. His big break is finally here with an Oscar nomination, but of course, nothing is ever that simple. The studio wants to kill off the gay characters in his series "for the algorithm," and Misha’s refusal sets off a chain of terrifying events. The premise alone had me hooked, and Tingle delivers on every front.

I am somewhat hard to please in this arena, not being the traditional horror fan but being a fan of nuanced horror- and this delivered. There’s a perfect blend of psychological terror and body horror that keeps you on edge. What really makes this book stand out for me is how it tackles heavier themes like queer representation in media, corporate greed, and the way AI has affected creatives. It’s a layered narrative that’s both entertaining and thought-provoking. I must say that I loved the meta references as well. I found they made the story even easier to immerse myself into, always feeling like I was "in" on something.

I was lucky to be able to listen via audiobook and THIS CAST. Impeccable. I think Bury Your Gays would be just as riveting on page, but the audiobook is unmatched and the listening experience was genuinely so fun for me. Although no one was pounded in the butt, not even once, this book is one you'd be lucky to add to your summer roster.

Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio, Tor Nightfire, Chuck Tingle, and Netgalley for granting me advanced audio access to this spine chilling (perhaps, tingling?) horror!

Every once in a while a book comes along that not only has its pulse on timely social issues, but is also incredibly funny, occasionally frightening, and wildly thought-provoking. Bury Your Gays is that book.

Bury Your Gays is about a jaded Hollywood screenwriter named Misha who is finally getting some well-deserved recognition in the form of his first Oscar nomination. But then he is asked to kill off his gay characters in the season finale of his show, and when he doesn't immediately agree, Misha finds himself in the crosshairs of some enemies he never expected.

There's gore and horror, but at its heart, Bury Your Gays is about creation: how a creator's experiences inform their art, whether they retain ownership of a creation once it's been released into the world. There's lots of interesting commentary about the historically unfair treatment of LGBTQIA characters in Hollywood, the burgeoning use of AI in creative fields, and the prevalence of corporate greed in the Hollywood machine. It's provocative and creative and incredibly engaging, and it features a complex, sympathetic main character that I just absolutely fell in love with. I loved the inclusion of scenes from Misha's past, which added so much to my understanding of his character.

I haven't read Camp Damascus, but now I can't wait to read it because I can just tell from Bury Your Gays that Chuck Tingle is a whole vibe. This was just a fun, captivating, and ultimately hopeful reading experience -- definitely not like anything I've read before. I highly recommend the audiobook, which is read mostly (and expertly) by André Santana, but features the voices of several well-known queer/horror writers. Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the complimentary listening opportunity.

This was my first Chuck Tingle book and definitely wont be my last! I dont normally read these genre but the description really had me interested and I'm glad I checked this one out. The entire novel is well crafted with twists and turns to keep the reader questioning the truth and endgame. The main character is engaging and someone you really root for and his horror creations he's facing are unique and unlike anything from current horror/thriller media.

I think this book has a great underlying tone regarding the overuse and overtaking of media by AI, from art to writing full books its clear that one of Tingle's points was to highlight this. Additionally its a great play on the overused (even in 2024) trope of killing off your gay characters or putting them through some other tragedy. While I cant break down all the nuances myself layered in this one I can absolutely recommend it. An excellent and fun read!

TW/CW: Language, homophobia, gory scenes, blood, violence, guns, drinking, toxic family relationships, anxiety, depression

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:
Misha is a jaded scriptwriter who has been working in Hollywood for years, and has just been nominated for his first Oscar. But when he's pressured by his producers to kill off a gay character in the upcoming season finale―"for the algorithm"―Misha discovers that it's not that simple.As he is haunted by his past, and past mistakes, Misha must risk everything to find a way to do what's right―before it's too late.
Release Date: July 6th, 2024
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 304
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
1. Cover is gorgeous ✔️✔✔✔
2. Writing is fantastic
3. Love Misha and Zeke
4. Queer rep
5. Asexual rep

What I Didn't Like:
1. Nothing

Overall Thoughts:
{{Disclaimer: I write my review as I read}}

Misha being forced to drop his two gay characters to replace them with a straight white male that's conservative is absolutely disgusting. The fact that Jack can't understand why Misha would be upset at what's happening.

Love that Dark Encounters is like a fictional version of X-Files but instead of Mulder and Scully with their sexual attraction it's two queer characters.

All the monster characters are creepy. The fact that they are coming out to reveal themselves to Misha.

I kind of had an idea that something had happened between Misha and Richie because Richie was trying to get Misha to come hang out with him alone at the reunion.

We then get a flashback to Misha sneaking over to the Richie's house and bringing valentine's box candy to his house, when Richie's brother, Justin comes downstairs to see the box. Pour mesha tries to cover their tracks by saying that the candy was on sale but Justin interrupts him asking Richie if he gay. Richie could have said something other than insulting Misha and making out like he was disgusted with Misha, but no he says that Misha is wanting him to do gay things. Then he punched him in the face at the insistence of of Justin. Not surprised that Misha in the future pretty much ignored Richie.

Misha's uncle is ridiculous when he finds out that Misha is gay rather than being supportive he goes out and gets his girlfriend brings her back and then forces Misha to sleep two days in his car so he can have fun with his girlfriend. What a piece of crap.

Ah this book just dropped a reference to Camp Damascus!

It's insane to me that Misha went to the Oscars despite his boyfriend and best friend being paralyzed in the house.

As soon as Misha comes out that he is gay suddenly the whole production company is embracing queerness. They even hire a person to replace Frank who is the typical stereotype flamboyant gay man. This made me really mad. First they shame him for even having gay characters and then wanting them to kiss to now it's totally okay to be gay. I understand that this is a play on how people work in Hollywood and in life when it's gaywashing.

Love the happy ending in this book.

Final Thoughts:
I thought this book was really good it had a lot of deep meaning within the horror and a story that was told about what it's like to be gay. It made me mad that Misha was forced to come out and admit to people that he was gay when he wasn't exactly 100% ready to. It speaks volumes about how people will force it out of you when what does it even matter. Your sexual orientation doesn't decide who you are as a person.

The writing was just fantastic in this book. I loved the characters.

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Thanks to Netgalley, Tor Nightfire, and, Macmillan Audio for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was looking for T. Kingfisher books on NetGalley when I stumbled upon this one, where she is credited as a narrator. Intrigued by a queer horror story with a title referencing the 'Bury Your Gays' trope, I decided to give it a try.

This campy queer slasher was chef's kiss perfection. If you can handle gore, body horror, violence, homophobia, and child abuse, going in blind is an excellent experience. I need all of my horror film-loving friends to read this so we can discuss it.

The audiobook was excellent.

My first Tingle read, but definitely not my last. A great horror novel with a lot to say on the treatment of Queer characters in Hollywood and in media.

Wow! What a read. Now let me start by saying that I clearly did not read the description of this book well enough before I started it so I did NOT know I was getting into a horror. I'm also not familiar with the author, which might've been another hint for me. All this to say, I am not a horror reader. It's just not my genre.

Regardless, this was an outstanding story. Bury Your Gays follows Misha, a screenwriter, who has been asked to kill off his gay character and introduce a new hetero character instead. He does not take kindly to this suggestion, quickly explaining the meaning behind the title. I can't say anything more because I don't want to give a single thing away!

Bury Your Gays was more than just a horror story. It covered some important themes like queer erasure, corporate greed, dangers of appealing to the algorithms, the dark culture of Hollywood, and the threats of AI.

I had the opportunity to read this as an arc from Netgalley as an audiobook. I do have a bit of feedback regarding the audiobook portion specifically. The narrator primary, André Santana, absolutely nailed it. Don't get too excited about the full cast (TJ Klune!!!) like I did, it isn't really a "full cast" like you see in audiobooks like Daisy Jones and the Six, they only made a brief cameo. The changing timelines were a little tough to follow as an audiobook, at least for me, and I may have enjoyed this a bit better if I had a physical/ebook copy to follow along for some parts. Really, these aren't big problems and I still rate it a full 5 stars! Off to recommend to all my friends!

thank you, netgalley, for access to the audiobook of bury your gays in exchange for my honest review.

this spooky story SNAPPED. exploring the horrors of queer erasure, data collection, artificial intelligence, all while keeping it camp and remaining earnest. the discussion about horror as a genre was so fun to read and reflect on in the context of my own fears. i learned things!! this was the book of realizing stuff.

so excited about this story and what it’s doing within the horror genre. tackling not only queer horror but technological horror as well.

“you know who the real villain is? unchecked capitalism and the desire for capitalist systems to monetize other people’s trauma.”

cleverly written, and the audiobook production value was hot, hot hot!

i loved this. one of my favorites of the year so far.

Horror really isn’t my thing, but I was intrigued by the idea of speculative fiction about the abuse of AI, and I couldn’t resist giving this a try. It was surprisingly poignant, and I especially loved the way it layered commentary on AI, rainbow capitalism, and the ways Hollywood chews people up and spits them out. It’s a little gory, but worth a read!

This was a really great queer horror story that also had an interesting critique of AI technology and the exploitation of the Hollywood industry.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a free advanced listener’s copy. I received this copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was everything I wanted from a Chuck Tingle title. It was weird and thoughtful and fun and a little gore-y. It all felt so timely and relevant while being fun and, somehow, timeless. For centuries we’ve talked about the fight between art and profit and Tingle brings this story into the 21st century in a satisfying and quippy way.

I enjoyed every plot twist and every joke in the midst of capitalist horrors. Please pick up this book, especially the audiobook in its fully casted and sound edited glory!

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the audio arc. My thoughts are my own.

I’ve been aware of who Chuck Tingle is for about 9 years, and even met him in 2019, so please tell me why I never read one of his books? Pre 2020 Jennifer was not willing to read erotica so that was probably why!

Misha is a screenwriter in Hollywood, he is in the closet at home in Billings, and not quite out in his LA life. He is being bullied by the company to bury his gays in the show he’s writing. We get flashbacks of Misha growing up in Montana, his life in LA with his bff and boyfriend.

As his characters come to life and start haunting him, we explore more into media, corporate greed, and how “gay is in.”

Knocking off .5 star because I am sorry but I hate hate parasite horror!

I absolutely loved the narrator. They did an amazing job keeping me in the story and the bits with the full cast and sound effects making it so much more immersive.

Screenwriter Misha has just been nominated for his first Oscar, and he thinks that he'll be making big strides in Hollywood. But when he's called into his boss's office, it's not for the reason he thinks. He's now being ordered to kill off his gay characters. Progress right? But then weird things start to happen, and Misha fears he might be the gay who's literally buried.

Okay, so this is my first every Chuck Tingle book, and I'm super glad that this is the one I started with. This horror novel had the right mix of camp and humor. Misha is a highly-relatable, fully realized character. I enjoyed every minute of this book. I honestly don't have anything bad to say about it. In fact, I didn't want it to end!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. While there are many narrators listed, André Santana narrated the bulk of this book, and he did a fabulous job bringing Misha to life. I can't recommend this book enough!

The first thing that struck me as off about this novel was the premise regarding queer trauma and the suits' insistence on killing the queer characters. By the time this novel was published, the entertainment media had moved on, thanks to the same capitalism that the viewpoint character decries. The novel thus felt dated as soon as it was published.

Despite the dated feel, at first I was curious about what would happen to Misha. However, as the novel progressed, it went ever further beyond the bounds of willing suspension of disbelief, until eye-rolling ending. Misha's childhood was also over the top.

This book was such a treat! Weird thing to say about a horror book, but it's true. I enjoyed this book on audio, and I might be biased in saying this but I feel like this was the perfect way to consume this book. I am not much of a horror fan, can't watch scary movies and typically don't read horror, but I found this to be so good. It was shockingly funny at times, while slightly gory in some parts, but overall I had a very good time reading this book. I thought the content was thoughtful. I found the "bury your gays" concept to be explained fully, something that I was not fully aware of. I loved all the queer representation in this book, and appreciated the main characters own growth within this story and theme. I also loved how the author took on the thought of utilizing artificial intelligence in screenwriting and what sort of impact that it could have. It read more like a book about social commentary with a side of horror, which was the perfect mix to me! I enjoyed this book very much, and look forward to reading more of this author in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

At the 5% point of this audiobook, Mischa had the internal thought "I had a feeling shit was going to get weird, but not this weird." and that was the best kind of foreshadowing. I knew immediately what I was in for, and I was right.

Shit got weird. But not in the "WTF am I reading, I feel icky" way. It was more the "there a certain level of believability.... I'm uncomfortable and questioning my reality" way.

Several underlying commentaries were happening here as well. The most obvious of them being queer erasure, but also the lengths that we would go to make an extra dollar and the dangerous unknowns of AI. I had expected this to be a fun romp in campy horror, which it was, but it also had me thinking in ways that I hadn't expected.

If I was forced to find something that I didn't like about the book, I'd say that the middle meandered a bit. Also, I never did figure out what the script sections were about... but this could certainly be an oversight on my part.

One item of note - the audiobook is listed as a full cast. I don't entirely agree with this as the majority of the book was single narrator with a few notable cameos. This by no means impacted my enjoyment, André Santana did a fantastic narration.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced listening copy of the audiobook. All opinions are my own, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

What a fabulous (in every sense) tale this was! I wasn't familiar with Chuck Tingle before, but will definitely seek him out again. This was a marvelous tale, full of wit and wisdom and magic and horror and snark, wrapped up in a package comprised of well-crafted characters and a unique world that was all too real in its underlying messaging. I thought the narration was excellent and really suited the story and characterizations. The pacing was spot-on, keeping me wholly engaged and entertained throughout. There were a few "wait - WHAT just happened?!" bits that I found odd at first but that flowed together seamlessly into the whole once things progressed. Even the multiply-narrated "cut scenes" fit with the whole feel of the book, although I was fairly flummoxed by them in the moment (particularly the bride one?). All in all it was a really well-told tale.

I was a little nervous going in when I saw the multiple narrators listed. I'm not generally a fan of cinematic audiobooks and prefer a single narrator to tell me the story. This book is about 90% narrated by a single person, however, with the other famous authors all added in during the "cut scenes" (I don't know what else to call them). He did a wonderful job and I thought really captured the heart and soul of the story and characters in his performance.