Bury Your Gays

Chuck Tingle is king of queer horror. He can be queen if he wants, I know he is non-dysphoric trans, but whatever kind non-authoritarian benevolent monarch title works, he is it. This novel Bury Your Gays and his other traditional published novel Camp Damascus are set in the same layer of the Tingleverse, and I should explain that if you don't know Chuck Tingle lore.

So, Tingleverse is a multi-layer reality, all infinite number of universes stacked on top of each other. The higher up a story is, the closer everything in the story is to our base reality. The lower, the stranger and more about butts and dicks and all that you see in his internet published short stories. But in all layers Love is Real. Outside the Tingleverse is the Void, which comes seeping in and brings monsters and horrors, and that is partially where the horrors in his horror novels come from. So, Camp Damascus and Bury Your Gays take place in the same layer, but it is a little down from our top layer so more weirdness can happen. The novels reference each other in really tiny ways but you don't need one before the other.

I don't want to give too much information on the plot because there are some nice surprises and it is best to just experience them. But it has a lot to do with "capitalism is terrible" and "generative AI is terrible" and "hollywood is often terrible" and writing horror as a way of overcoming childhood trauma. Like, the monsters in the book come straight from the protagonist's childhood experiences with homophobia by friends and family, that he wrote into film and television. And there is the big theme that queer joy is not a forced thing and we should be able to write whatever queer stories we want to write rather than whatever is profitable for big media or The Algorithm.

The ending climax made me laugh and cheer and cover up my smile with my hand. It was that good.

I have to admit I'm a bit unsure how to feel about this. I really loved the writing style and the characters. The tension was very high until it was revealed what the “antagonist” was… This is a trope I don't really enjoy in movies either and didn't enjoy much more here unfortunately… Which is a shame! Up to this point it had the potential of a five stars. I understand this is a me problem though and I definitely want to check out more by this author!

I just finished Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle and here are my thoughts.

Misha should be on cloud nine. He has an oscar nomination under his belt and his long time running show has excellent ratings. The studio wants him to do one teeny tiny thing... Kill off the gay characters in the season finale.

As a gay man half in the closet, he can't bring himself to do it. When he tells the studio no, that should be the end of it right? Except now, his written creations for the screen, are coming to life and if they follow their personas in the real world... He has 5 days before he dies. No matter where he goes, they are right there, stalking him.

Haunted by a past he wanted to forget, he must figure out how this is happening and how to save his career and his life.

When I read the synopsis of the book I was like huh.... Wasn't giving away much of what the book was about but it was in the horror genre and I love horror so I thought, why the heck not.... I am so glad I did.

It is heavy on the LGBTQ rep so if that isn't something you like, you may wanna give it a miss. I found it actually elevated the story because you can see how Misha ended up writing the things he wrote and why he became as closed off as he did. I know some people get weird about books that lean heavily in but I think this book really did an excellent job of balancing it out.

I loved that we got a glimpse of Misha's past and it explains how his experiences helped him write the characters that are now alive and stalking him. I thought it added some real depth to the story.

Narrator was great. I felt really invested in the book and I loved the creepy undertones that are weaved within the story.

It's not a long book so I finished the audio in a morning but it was so well done and I was blown away with the clever dialogue and epic storytelling.

I am a fan! I'm not gonna lie, I need more books like this.

4.5 stars

Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillanaudio for my gifted alc

Out now and well worth it (I mean come on! The cover alone did it for me)

#buryyourgays #chucktingle #horror #lgbtqrep #gayreads #booklover #audiobook #audiobooklover #audiobookreview #bookalorian #bookblog

Thanks to NetGalley, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio for the ARC, I really enjoyed this one!

This was a first for me from the author, and I’m quite satisfied with the outcome. This is part commentary/satire of Hollywood, social media, and the all powerful algorithm, part supernatural, part slasher, and even part trauma story. The blend is unique, and I imagine probably quite hard to balance, but the author does it fantastically.

Misha is a screenwriter, doing his best to write characters and stories that he never got to see as a kid. Unfortunately, he is still beholden to the world that we live in, where characters are at best perhaps gay, rather than openly out. The author does a fantastic job of showcasing the conflict and intricacies within by having Misha himself being only “LA out,” but not officially out to his family or hometown. And that is where the trauma lies.

In the ever-growing scifi world we live in, with holograms and cloning and AI-altering, the author perfectly lines up a horror story that’s just farfetched enough to read as near future. When Misha’s boss sits him down, stating that the company wants his characters killed, rather than getting their excruciatingly earned and beautiful outing, Misha is understandably outraged. Even refusing and promising a lawsuit even after being (not so) more or less discreetly threatened.

The idea that the company he worked so hard for, made money for, would come after him was simply too absurd to put any faith in. So when characters from Misha’s filmography start popping up and interfering with his life, he assumes it’s nothing more than a cosplaying prank. Some well done cosmetics, a high quality costume, a well planned and tailored prank set to make Misha feel frightened enough to submit. Nothing more. But as his more outlandish characters start to appear, and the body count starts to grow, Misha learns it’s anything but a prank.

Is this a horror novel, is it horrific? Yes of course. There are interesting villains and kills, and the villain at large is something wholly unique. But what makes this book so good is what it’s actually saying.

The author ends this harrowing trial by flipping the script. This is not just a trauma story, we are not simply our past, nor are we our fears. Misha gets to give a beautiful speech in which he finally announces to the world what he should have years ago. Representation is important, but it’s not just about being seen. It’s not gay misfortune, it’s life, and love, and it’s joy and growth. And Chuck Tingle, through Misha and Zeke, is showing the world that in explosive fashion.

I realize I'm in the minority here. I wanted to like it—I paid full price for it and went to the author's event, so the anticipation and excitement to read it were there. However, "Bury Your Gays" was a disappointing and frustrating read that failed to deliver on multiple levels. As a gay reader, I felt obligated to pick it up, but that same identity made the experience insufferable.

The plot takes bewildering left turns, introducing elements like robots, AI, and a secret studio, creating figments of imagination that seem entirely out of place. Including people made of robots further adds to the confusion, leaving the reader wondering, "What on earth is happening?" While I'm open to suspending disbelief, the world-building here is inadequate to support these fantastical elements. Also, the prose was unremarkable.

Perhaps most jarring is the outdated portrayal of coming-out stories. Set in a supposed future, the narrative feels stuck in 2002, rehashing themes that feel increasingly irrelevant in contemporary LGBTQ+ literature. This anachronistic approach undermines the futuristic setting and fails to resonate with this reader.

In conclusion, "Bury Your Gays" is a disjointed, confusing, and outdated attempt at LGBTQ+ fiction that misses the mark on multiple fronts. It's a reminder that even well-intentioned representation can fall flat when not executed thoughtfully.

Realistically, I think this book is closer to a 4, but my gay agenda wants to push the rating up. It's the kind of book I really needed as a teen. It's spooky, it's weird, it's bold, but most importantly, it demonstrates through its unapologetically gay lens how queer people can confront, challenge, and rewrite the narratives that have historically boxed them in.