Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

Release Date: July 9, 2024
Horror, Sci-Fi

Content Warnings: Homophobia, graphic violence

Themes: LGBTQIA+, anti-capitalist, Hollywood, AI art

Synopsis: Misha knows that chasing success in Hollywood can be hell.

But finally, after years of trying to make it, his big moment is here: an Oscar nomination. And the executives at the studio for his long-running streaming series know just the thing to kick his career to the next level: kill off the gay characters, "for the algorithm," in the upcoming season finale. 

Misha refuses, but he soon realizes that he’s just put a target on his back. And what’s worse, monsters from his horror movie days are stalking him and his friends through the hills above Los Angeles. 

Haunted by his past, Misha must risk his entire future—before the horrors from the silver screen find a way to bury him for good.

My Thoughts: Chuck once again proves that love is real with Bury Your Gays. It was poop-your-pants scary, funny, and philosophical. The real horror here, is how REAL this story could be with the advancement of technology and greed.

The main character Misha is well developed and has a tragic backstory that will have you rooting for him the whole time. Although the other characters don’t have much depth, I’m ok with it because this story is about Misha.

Additionally, I can probably count on one hand how much Ace representation I’ve seen in any media, so I was extremely happy to see an Ace character here.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Net Galley and Tor Nightfire for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Pounded By The Feels After Reading A Review Copy Of “Bury Your Gays” By Chuck Tingle And Marveling At The Layers Of Emotion, Trauma, Humor, Humanity And Genre-Self-Awareness In It That Make It So Much More Than “Just” The Clever Horror Book It Could Have Been.

I’ve read a lot of Chuck Tingle’s work. So many Tinglers with wild, fully consensual sex with mythical creatures, dinosaurs and concepts, “Camp Damascus” and its chilling horror, and a lot of social media posts and essays from the writers. So I figured I had some idea what to expect from the latest one.

Nope.

“Bury Your Gays” is about an out-to-his-friends screenwriter, Misha, who’s been nominated for an Academy Award and who’s just been told he has to kill off the gay protagonists in his hit TV show just as they’re building toward the ending of their will-they-won’t-they story arc. In the words of the old trope, he has to bury his gays.

He rebels and plans to write an even gayer finale when characters from horror movies he’s written start to appear in his life, which would be terrifying enough even if they weren’t killing people to get to him. And he wrote them to be unstoppable…

I’ll get one possible complaint out of the way. No one really has a character arc besides the main character. His friends are there to help and be threatened and don’t change much.

But the story is about Misha’s arc, his history, his fears, and how he transmuted them into his writing.

It’s ALSO about (deep breath): Gay erasure and artificial intelligence and art and Hollywood and the ethics of using likenesses post-mortem and small town bigotry and child abuse and asexual representation and technology invading art and the fear of gay stories with happy endings and the importance of wearing a tie to the Oscars and a truly horrifying horror monster.

Tingle has written a devastating sendup of how queer people are treated in entertainment that’s also scary as hell and still funny and heartfelt. That is an impressive accomplishment and I suspect he’ll be accepting more awards of his own.

Wear a tie.

I read this book in one sitting. I did not plan to read this book in one sitting, but I could not put it down, accepting that my lunch break was now an extended reading break. Bury Your Gays was just that good.

It starts simple. Screenwriter Misha has been told by his exec that the season finale of his show must out, then kill the two leads. He needs to bury his gays because the board has determined it's where the money is. Misha says no. Then starts getting stalked by his (definitely fictional, right?) characters from other shows. Either Misha developed some incredible supernatural powers in that meeting, or something more sinister is at work...

Bury Your Gays illustrates why queer people should be allowed to tell the stories they want to tell, instead of being made to use queerbating, tragic tropes, or fake relentless optimism in the name of corporate Pride. It's a story about the queer struggle to find oneself in a world that makes it so, so hard. There's a lot of love for the queer community poured into this book, and oh does it shines. I especially adored the ace rep - and the concept of ace rep as a plot point. I shall not explain further. However, I am more scared than ever of the corporatization of Pride.

Bury Your Gays also criticizes capitalism's monetization of tragedy and exploitation of workers. It explores what happens when ethics are ignored in the name of an ever-growing profit margin, to the point where the bottom line becomes a near-sentient thing. It leans into the horrors of AI and data-mining by combining the two and going all the way with it. Chuck Tingle has acknowledged all my fears of black block algorithms and also made them ten times worse. Truly a feat! I will be sleeping with my router off!

It's a masterpiece of horror, both visceral and psychological. Since the main character is a horror writer, the story is very genre aware. There's a lot of fun to be had in the tale of "writer being followed by the monsters he wrote," and certainly no small amount of terror. It gets gory here and there, with plenty of suspense in between. Hints are laid out for the reader, enough where I was occasionally able to predict what was coming just a page or two before it landed. My jaw dropped multiple times! The writing is descriptive enough to pull you right in (and gross you out!), and it's paced near-perfectly. There's all these little moments sprinkled in that elevate the whole story, from fun references of other work to subtle clues you'll only catch on a reread.

This book will be living in my head rent-free from now on. It's about so many things and yet has interwoven them all perfectly. Fans of classic horror movies will love this story. Those of us fed up with AI generated trash will love it. Anyone who joined a WGA picket line will love it. Asexuals fed up with lack of representation will love it. People who watched multiple seasons of Supernatural will love it. Is that you? Go pick up Bury Your Gays. Be scared, be sad, be angry. But also validated, loved, and joyful.

Bury Your Gays by @chucktingle is a horror novel about Misha Byrne, he’s a not so out gay, Hollywood screenwriter of queer C-List horror movies and a popular paranormal TV series. One day, Misha is pressured by his producers to kill off the lesbian pairing he’s been working towards in his tv series for the mysterious money making “ algorithm”. As he figures out whether to kill off his gay characters, he’ll find himself being haunted by familiar creatures and in his own “bury your gays” story.

I loved this book. As someone who lived through the height of the bury your gays and queerbaiting of the 2000s/2010s with shows like Supernatural, The 100, Teen Wolf, Sherlock, etc. I knew exactly what tropes Chuck Tingle was playing with and what characters he was alluding to in this book. I think this is a really cathartic book for folks who lived through that fandom era and yearned for queers to be the hero of their own stories. I would have loved to have used this book back when I was writing my capstone for Gender Studies because it was all about this topic. Also the aro/ace rep with Tara is *chef’s kiss* like she is so great and I love how even when other queer identities are represented she’s like where are the asexuals?? Like yes! We’re always getting left out! Overall, just a fantastic book that I literally read in a few hours because I couldn’t put it down. Chuck Tingle is def an auto-read now.

3.5 stars
Tingle is quickly becoming a must read for me. What doesn’t this book have, it’s got the gore, the humor, the action, the heart, and so much more. I can’t wait for his next book now, but also to have this beautiful copy on my shelf!

So after receiving this ARC from NetGalley and TOR Nightfire, running around excitedly in my house, and (maybe) breathing into a paper bag I got down to work. See, ever since I read Camp Damascus I knew that whatever Chuck came out with next, I needed to be on it.

And good person that Chuck is, this novel is phenomenal. Like hey. I can’t ruin it. But I can say that description? I can promise you don’t know everything’s that’s coming and that’s just gonna have to be a-okay. Funky fresh original plot and it’ll hook you from the start. This will be out in July. Don’t miss it!

"Bury Your Gays" is a rollercoaster ride through the tumultuous world of Hollywood, AI in art, trauma, and queer representation, all wrapped up in a spine-tingling horror narrative. Misha, a seasoned scriptwriter, finds himself thrust into a nightmare scenario when pressured by studio executives to kill off a gay character in his show. Refusing to bow down to corporate demands, Misha becomes the target of his own creations, facing terrifying monsters from his filmography.

Chuck Tingle masterfully balances humor, horror, and poignant reflection, creating a story that grips you from start to finish. The novel dives deep into issues of representation, trauma, and the commodification of art, all while delivering a pulse-pounding narrative that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

One of the standout aspects of "Bury Your Gays" is its exploration of queer horror. Tingle deftly navigates various forms of horror, from existential dread to psychological terror, all while championing diverse queer narratives. The characters are vivid and compelling, with protagonist Misha leading the charge as a protagonist you can't help but root for.

However, the novel isn't without its flaws. The occasional shift in perspective to a script format may throw some readers off, and certain scenes feel overly prolonged, leading to pacing issues. Despite these minor drawbacks, "Bury Your Gays" remains a thought-provoking and exhilarating read.

Fans of Chuck Tingle's previous works will undoubtedly find much to love in this book, while newcomers will be drawn in by its rich exploration of queer horror and compelling characters. Overall, "Bury Your Gays" is a triumph of storytelling and a testament to Tingle's talent as a writer with a unique and powerful voice in fiction.

I had no idea what I was getting into with this one, oh boy.

Like every other jilted ex-Supernatural fan, I knew this was going to be a must read. The lead's name is Misha, like. Come on. I was not disappointed, lots of little SPN nods throughout (especially the "agents") that angered me all over again.


I'm not a horror reader, but I couldn't put this one down. I had to know what was actually going on and how the hell Misha was going to get out of it.

The gore was gross as hell, but not too much for me to have to stop and I'm a huge baby. I loved the journey Misha went on, particularly the little heartfelt moments he found himself having in the midst of all the horrible-ness.

A stark look at the way queer people's stories are commoditized and exploited when they'll make a profit and ignored or buried when they won't, Bury Your Gays kept me guessing and enraptured from the start. A gross, endearing win from Chuck Tingle.

I’ve read one Chuck TIngle title prior to this, and while it wasn’t my personal thing, I really appreciated Mr. Tingle’s commitment to plot, and skilled writing. I remember the whole exchange between CT, Neil Gaiman, and Patrick Rothfuss and am still waiting, with countless others, I’m sure, to read The Wise Man’s Butt, so when I saw this title, I was excited to read it. I started it the same day (I have way too many books on my tbr list right now, with earlier publication dates, but this is the book that got read. In less than a day. Why? Because I couldn’t put it down.

So many messages in these pages. It’s not perfect (too much was unexplained for my taste) but it’s perfectly readable.

I’m looking forward to reading future novels, and am planning to read the author’s Camp Damascus soon.

Recommended.



Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the DRC

I read Camp Damascus when it came out last year (and loved it), so I was already excited for whatever horror Chuck Tingle was going to come up with next, but when I found out about his inspiration for Bury Your Gays, I was going to be there with bells on. Tingle is unapologetic and genuine in everything he writes and that absolutely holds true here, as well. There's definitely some fun and interesting bits of writing that felt very meta.

Misha, Zeke, and Tara were delightful. I also did not expect some of the twists that happened and loved that the book kept me on my toes. I look forward to whatever next nightmare Chuck Tingle cooks up.

One aside I will say, as with Camp Damascus, this book has some very gory moments, including body horror. Chuck Tingle does not back down from the type of horror he is going for in any way.

Wow, what a love letter this is. It's also scary, funny, touching, and thrilling–sometimes all at the same time. It's got twists! It's got horror! It's got action! It might make you teary-eyed! Would it be a good thing or a bad thing if someone's already picked up the rights to it?

Also, I completely missed the name thing 🤦🏻‍♀️

"Bury Your Gays" is a book uniquely fitted for the modern era of Hollywood, perfect for anyone interested in the story of Hollywood writers, the recent strike, and especially a queer lens on that.

Misha Byrne makes a huge mistake when he doesn't take a note and gives a nice "f you" to the titular "bury your gays" trope. The Hollywood bigwigs and the "algorithm" doesn't care for that. Then, Misha's horror creations start stalking him. The plot only gets more interesting and exciting from here.

The company, the people, the stories, and the ideas the book is aiming at aren't necessarily subtle. In my opinion, however, that only makes the story more interesting! Tingle's story is great at fleshing out his characters, symbols, and ideas which makes for a satisfying and also very propulsive read!

I'm still a novice in the world of queer horror, but this really made me want to dive deeper into the genre!

Perfectly captures the bury your gays trope and turns it on its head in unsuspected ways. Definitely some truly graphic and gross moments which I LOVED. Chuck Tingle is a treasure and this is an instant classic.

This is my first Chuck Tingle book and I'm so glad it was available through Netgalley. I'm not a huge horror reader (I do enjoy it. Just not often) so I wasn't sure what to expect here. This book is so much more than that. It talks about being true to yourself and corporate greed and AI and so much. I'm glad I finally got to read a Tingle book, now off to read some more!

Bury Your Gays is another great hit from Chuck Tingle.

There’s a little bit of something for everyone, there’s horror, there’s action, there’s great monologues and story telling not only in the book but from the main character.

Loved seeing the science behind the why (or Mrs Why) and the backstory that led us to the present day. AI is a big scare for me, and this book reaffirmed it.

Shit, what to say about a book as fantastic, scary, sad, happy, and brutally honest as Bury Your Gays is! Tingle takes everything that is wrong in the movie and writing industry and crafts a moving and haunting story that follows the inner turmoil of a successful screenwriter, Misha. When told that he must bury his beloved characters, Misha goes on a horrifying journey that drudges up the past, present and future as he fights for what he holds dear in his life.

Tingle proves yet again that he is a master of horror and of proving that love is real and everyone deserves to have a voice!

Bury Your Gays is my favorite of his and that didn’t come easy because Camp Damascus and Straight were both brilliant.

On a side note, if you’re listening Chuck, I hope that we get more from 2 characters…one that involves smoke and one that is unusually tall…I won’t give away any more but, those characters will forever haunt my dreams!! Also, Misha has more to tell, I can feel it….

Thank you NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group and Chuck Tingle for allowing me the opportunity to read this brilliant book!

In this captivating read, the author masterfully weaves a narrative that is both engaging and thought-provoking. Through a blend of richly developed characters and a meticulously crafted plot, the book offers a unique exploration of its central themes, inviting readers to immerse themselves in the story's depth and complexity. The narrative is paced perfectly, balancing moments of intense action with thoughtful reflection, ensuring that readers are hooked from the first page to the last. The author's ability to evoke emotion and create a vivid, immersive world is truly remarkable, making this book a must-read for anyone looking for an exceptional literary experience.

Beyond its compelling storyline, the book stands out for its insightful commentary on the human condition, weaving philosophical questions into the fabric of its narrative. The author's skillful use of language not only enriches the text but also elevates the reader's experience, offering new perspectives on familiar themes. Whether it's the intricate dynamics of relationships, the exploration of identity, or the confrontation with ethical dilemmas, this book tackles complex issues with sensitivity and intelligence. It's a testament to the power of storytelling to illuminate the nuances of life, making it a valuable addition to any book lover's collection. Regardless of genre, this is a work that resonates on multiple levels, affirming the enduring impact of well-crafted literature.

First off- gotta say, being aroace myself it's always lovely to see some representation. So my sincerest of thank yous to the author for that.

Now for the bulk of my review.

The amount of expys in this novel might be a turnoff for some readers. Especially since other existant IPs are namedropped like Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

One thing I think that Tingle fails at though is trusting intelligence from his readers. There is enough evidence provided about certain aspects of the story that don't need for characters to essentially call out- "hey! That thing that happened to that guy was super coincidental right? Isn't that weird!?" That's a thought that a lot of attentive readers are already going to have themselves.

That's not to say that authors are mind readers but with the amount of prodding and hinting at the twist, it would be remiss to assume the readers would be surprised by this novel.

If he had maybe put a little more faith in his readers there might have been more oomph to the twist but as it stands- it can be seen from several miles away. You'd have to try *not* to see what's happening.

The breadcrumbs dropped are too big, too obvious, though there is still merit in twists towards the end of the novel.


Tingle has no room for subtlety on who and what he is criticizing (the protagonist's name is Misha for Pete's sake). That's an undeniable strength for the novel. Tingle lampoons the worst practices and trends of the entertainment industry.

Bury Your Gays is one of the rare instances of a well-constructed satire for the modern age. It's just unfortunate that the satirical construction of the novel initially lies upon a shaky foundation- unstable and untrustworthy of readers' understanding.

The fourth quarter of the novel though? Excellent. The commentary on algorithms, capitalism, and the unfortunate reality of our entertainment industry is biting and true.

Despite all these gripes of mine, this is still horror with heart. A story that we need to hear and follow through with.

Bury Your Gays is a remarkable exploration of what could potentially happen (and somewhat, what has already happened) when capitalists get their hands on technology that's beyond their scope to control. There's a great bit of nuance to this story, delivered in easy to digest prose. There's, of course, a lot of commentary on the treatment of LGBTQ+ identities (especially asexual folks). And all of this is wrapped up in Tingle's classic spine-tingling horror voice. Not one to miss!

This book was on my most-anticipated list for 2024; Camp Damascus was one of my favorites in 2023. Thank you, Tor Nightfire, for the advance copy.

Creepy, fun, and insightful! There are a lot of themes examined in Bury Your Gays: queerness and horror, AI and algorithms, corporate co-opting of Pride, showbiz...

To be honest, the journey was slightly rocky at first. There's a strong start, then occasional confusing passages and some slow parts. It really kicks into gear about a third of the way in, leading up to an ending where things come together in a satisfying but not "neat" way. Queer joy doesn't necessarily mean there is no conflict, trauma, and/or struggle!

There's a passage in the first third that explains the purpose of horror in such a beautiful way that I had to share it with a friend and I'm saving it for the next time I talk with someone who dismisses horror as a genre. And Tara, the aro-ace character in the end--no spoiler, just wish I could high-five the physical manifestation of that particular section.

(Since this is an ARC it may be fixed in the final version) My very minor complaint is that the phrase "my boyfriend" repeats, often awkwardly, when the character's name or pronoun would fit better. It almost seems like it was intended to be fixed later with find-and-replace.

When this book releases in July trot on over to your local bookstore and pick up a copy!