I have been following Chuck Tingle on socials for several years now and was absolutely thrilled when Chuck announced a trad pub debut!
Camp Damascus had everything I’m looking for in a horror novel: religious trauma, queerness, found family, memory weirdness and a mystery with heart.
I’m looking forward to reading everything Chuck publishes in the future with Tor.

I found this generally entertaining and liked the commentary on the evils of conversion therapy and the bigoted views of the Christian church, but the character development was a bit sparse, and the pacing, in general, felt rushed, especially in terms of Rose's journey with her faith. It felt like we skipped at least four stages of grief and reckoning as she reevaluated her worldview - a worldview she has held staunchly for all 20 years of her life, having been indoctrinated into the cult-like evangelical Christianity of her community. As someone who lost my faith around the same age (but came from a much more loving/relaxed branch of Christianity), it seemingly took me a lot longer to come to terms with that loss than it did Rose, and I found her rapid 180 a bit jarring.

While this is technically adult horror, this book has a very YA feel - except for the pockets of rather extreme body horror/gore - largely due to our protagonist feeling closer to 15 or 16 than 20, though, taking into account her sheltered upbringing and memory loss I suppose this can be explained. Still, the fact remains that our main character feels squarely in her teens in terms of maturity and development and that colours her thought process and interactions throughout the novel.

From what I can tell by reading reviews, it seems autistic readers have generally found Rose to be a good autism representation, which is fantastic! I could relate to some of her habits and tendencies as a fellow neurodivergent (of the ADHD variety), but occasionally found her thoughts/dialogue awkwardly written, from the excessively formal speech to vacillating between using her parents' first names and calling them mom/dad with no rhyme or reason. Generally, I liked her, though, and enjoyed her journey throughout the novel (even if it felt rather rushed). She is also a lesbian, and I found her sapphic romance with Willow quite tender and sweet.

I have a few more spoilery questions, so I'll share them here:

Why did Rose's parents go to the effort of removing her door and filling in the holes and/or replacing the entire doorframe and then gaslighting her by insisting she never had a door in the first place? While they're clearly not wonderful people or parents, this is so random and absolutely unhinged behaviour, with no other examples of similar action on their part before or after. Was this inserted just to make us wary of them? For them to appear creepy? Because I feel like there were other, much simpler ways they could have engaged in gaslighting that would have been more believable but just as insidious.

How did this rogue Christian denomination, however wealthy, arrive at demon-enslaving technology? How did they discover the rift? Who invented the machine? How did they bring the demons and larvae over? How did they learn about their lifecycle and memory-wiping effects? I don't need every tiny detail explained, but this was a lot to accept, on top of the idea that demons are, in fact, real and do, in fact, care about punishing sinners (seemingly).

Also, how have they handled demons going rogue in the past? Rose's demon viciously murdering her crush at a party packed with teens/young adults in a way that can't be explained is, well, difficult to explain away. This can't have been the first time this has happened, right? How often do people in this town die in incredibly brutal ways suddenly with no explanation? Is everyone in on it except those who have gone through the program at Camp Damascus? And if so, are they seriously willing to let their own child potentially be murdered by a demon because SOMEONE ELSE has a homosexual attraction to them?? Because that's fucking wild, I'm sorry. Possibly even more than the parents paying half a million dollars to have their own child tethered to a demon and infected with demon larvae to demonic possession the gay away.

Overall, this had an interesting concept with engaging themes, but the execution was lacking for me, which is becoming a throughline as I read more of Chuck Tingle's work. I always come away wishing I'd been able to connect to his characters more deeply, have more of the nuances explained or revealed, and generally have the story delivered at a slightly slower pace to allow it to develop/settle properly.


Representation: MC is autistic and a lesbian, WLW relationship on the page (PG), gay secondary character

Trigger/Content Warnings: conversion therapy, homophobia, insects, religious indoctrination, religious bigotry, body horror, torture, blood, gore, murder, confinement, gaslighting

I knew this was a Chuck Tingle book, so I expected campy and raunchy. I didn't expect the book to feel so much like self-published fiction. It seemed like it needed an editor. Given Tingle's reputation, perhaps that it part of the appeal, but it did not work for me, and I don't feel it meets the quality standards of my library.

This is my first Tingle novel and absolutely will not be my last. It grabbed me from the start and didn't let me go until the last page. We will definitely be purchasing for the collection!

"Camp Damascus" makes the horror and trauma of religious conversion camps very, very real. I'll forever read and support anything by Chuck Tingle.

The concept? Immaculate. The overall execution? Not as captivating. There was a hope to see more of the actual camp (being on the campgrounds) but the promise of more intriguing stories is there because Tingle did a great job with his characters and themes.

Wow! This book was a wild ride and a departure from this author's other works, which are also wild rides, but in a different way. And yet, this tense horror story about a cult hiding the nefarious reasons why their gay conversion camp has a 100% "success rate" still follows Tingle's mission to prove love is real.

The autistic perspective of our heroine was also authentic and relatable to anyone with any flavor of neurodivergent reader.

I don't want to say anymore because I don't want to spoil the crazy journey this story takes us on.

Incredible book with wonderful characters and really important themes. Truly horrifying in parts and tearjerking in others. Chuck Tingle is a masterful and empathetic storyteller I am excited to read more from.

I watched with anticipation to see Genre Fiction’s Hero edited and published traditionally. When wholesome interpersonal relationships are on display, the book GLOWS. Bright like the emissions of a flamethrower. I really appreciate that the book doesn’t take the easy path that paints all Christians with the same brush. I appreciate the nuance of faith being portrayed in a number of different fashions, and that the acts of the individuals are treated individually. Shorthand would have been easy to take, but we receive complexity and nuance instead.

Ultimately, this book is true to the vision of the Chuck Tingle we get to see on social media. It shows that the way to defeat the Devilman is to prove that Love Is Real. Keep trotting, Buckaroos.

My most anticipated book and it did not let me down. Creepy, campy, engaging. After conquering the self-published short format market, I'm excited for Tingle's mainstream success!

"This is my parents' worst nightmare. Their gay daughter and her lesbian girlfriend in a spooky old farmhouse doing drugs with a metalhead." Camp Damascus is my first Chuck Tingle book and it won't be my last!

Rose is just a normal Christian girl, living out the typical teen lifestyle in Neverton, famous for Camp Damascus, a gay conversion therapy camp. Or at least she was normal until those nasty flies started spilling out of her body, she can't stop seeing a strange woman wearing the nametag "Pachid", and the funny feelings she gets around a girl she sees taking photos at the park. This was such a unique concept for an LGBTQIA+ horror novel! There were some great comical elements meshed with terror, and all wrapped around a very relevant message. With censorship and book bans gaining traction in 2023 mainly due to so-called religious values, this book took something that is actually happening to kids (conversion camps) and discussed it.

Rose's father, Luke Darling, had this particular diatribe to say about Rose's penchant for being curious about everything in life: "It's good to be thoughtful, but when the desire for more knowledge takes over your life, what you're really saying is even in the presence of God's light, I am not full. It's a sin, hon. That feeling you call curiosity is fine in small does, but when you turn it into a habit, it becomes gluttony. A hunger for knowledge is still hunger." Statements like this lead to the rise of ignorance and fake news being shared on social media everyday. Rose struggles with her evangelical upbringing in conceptualizing who she is as a queer person, however it's a privilege that she is able to have that opportunity of self-realization because there are many people who are not able to approach that place of self-awareness (or respect for themselves) for a myriad of reasons, and this is something important I think the book really drives home.

I couldn't stop reading the book and enjoyed the journey throughout! Thanks, NetGalley and Publisher for the ARC!

When I first heard about this book I honestly thought it was going to be like a summer camp slasher style horror story. Boy was I wrong, and not in a bad way. The book is focused on the POV of a 20 year old named Rose. She is about to graduate from high school because in her community the church is a very important thing and they take 2 years off during school to focus their learning on church teachings. Their church is a Christian church however, it's got a little bit more up it's sleeve than your typical American Christian church, at least in my experience. I grew up in the Lutheran church but I am no longer religious today (more agnostic at this point). Anyways, back to the point. As you have read in the summary, this town is also home to Camp Damascus which is considered to be one of the most effective gay conversion camps in the US. Well there is definitely a reason for that as you come to read. At first Rose is very conservative in her thoughts and actions. Always putting God at the forefront of her mind. And because of my experiences with church, it was a little off putting for me personally but I wanted to hang in there to see what was going to happen and I'm really glad that I did. Not long into the book, Rose sees what she thinks is a woman with strange blank eyes in the forest while at the local swimming hole with her friends. But the woman disappears into the trees before she can ask if anyone else saw her. The next time Rose sees this woman, she sees that she is not actually a human being. I don't want to give a lot of the plot away because I think going into this as blind as possible but things very quickly go downhill and get downright creepy. Despite my initial struggle in the first few pages, I ended up really enjoying this book. It is geared towards adults but at times it did feel a little more on the young adult side but overall I think any adult horror fan would enjoy this book if they gave it a chance.

I’d heard of Chuck Tingle, but Camp Damascus was the first novel I’ve read by him, and wow, it was a disgusting yet empowering journey. While rife with abuse, homophobia, and supernatural elements to make your stomach churn, this was a powerful reclamation of queer power and agency in the face of corrupt institutions.

Conversion camps are a tricky topic for me, and supernatural elements aside, that is what Camp Damascus deals with. This novel is earnest and straightforward in its messaging, and while that may not work for some, it worked for me. Protagonist Rose is both lesbian and autistic, and though she suffers (it is a horror novel), there’s more than despair to be found in Camp Damascus’ pages. Mind the content warnings, especially around religious trauma and homophobia if those are topics you’re sensitive to.

The on-point satire, disgusting imagery, and earnest emotions were worth sticking with. Overall, I enjoyed Camp Damascus a great deal and will be on the lookout for Tingle’s next foray into horror, Bury Your Gays.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.

This book turns the despair and rejection of gay conversion into a satisfying revenge tale. We meet Rose, who is happy with the strictures of her upbringing, until weird things start happening that don’t make sense to her orderly, logical mind. As she uncovers what is going on, and what happened to her, she’s forced to confront buried parts of herself that she didn’t even remember were there. Recommended for anyone who isn’t squeamish and is currently deconstructing the faith they were raised in.

A horror novel about a gay conversion camp run by a sort of Christion/sort of cult organization. Um... yes please.

We start off getting to know Rose, a fervently devout Christian, who loves her friends, her family, her community and of course the good works her church does, especially saving sinners from themselves up at Camp Damascus the only gay conversion camp with a 100% success rate.
I honestly found Rose a bit irritating at first. She was so very... well.. I guess brainwashed into perfection.... and I guess that was the point. But as the story got moving, and it was revealed how Kingdom the Pines operated and what their secrets were, it made sense.
I also wouldn't call this strictly a hardcore horror novel- it was definitely creepy, but more YA/action/fun/a little scary, which I preferred, as I'm not a fan of ten pages of detailed disembowelments.

This book was a joy, even through the pain. I loved the horror of it, and the hope. It was so nice to see a queer, autistic protagonist too! Definitely a favorite of 2023.

Not so much a review as we were sent this book to prep for our Scarred for Life Podcast interview with Chuck Tingle. Loved the book and loved getting to chat with Chuck.

This is a story about our inner (and outer) demons.

It’s taken me forever to review this book because I honestly don’t know what to say. I like weird books, but this was on another level & I’m still not fully sure that I “get” it. The writing style was offputting for me personally, but that’s just a personal preference issue. I think if you enjoy religious horror & don’t need to understand the logistics behind things, this will work for you!

Thank you so much @netgalley & @tornightfire

Thank you so much @netgalley & @tornightfire for the eArc!

I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. I have put this on my Christmas list in hopes that I will be able to check this out! This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it if I don't receive this for Christmas!

This book is alot of telling instead of showing. It makes Rose's story bland and ininteresting. It felt like a gay reimagining of a clock work orange .