A very solid four star read. Bury Your Gays has a great story flow, fascinating concept (definitely not one I've seen before), and some of the best cover art yet this year. Chuck Tingle is quickly becoming an auto buy author of mine. If you like horror and are a tad squeamish, this book would be perfect for you. We always need more queer horror in our lives.

A brilliant novel that effortlessly juggles many tones and themes at once, shifting easily between horrifying moments, fun thriller action, the dreariness brought about by capitalism in Hollywood, and queer stories that are raw, heart wrenching, and heartfelt. The cast is a ton of fun with heroes that are easy to root for and terrifying villains. The messages of the story are so important and I hope this proves to be an influential novel for queer media that follows it, at the very least I hope for many more LGBTQ books like this in the future!

This is a fantastic queer horror novel about what it takes to make it in Hollywood seen through the eyes of a gay screenwriter. And what it takes is much more than just talent or artistic abilities. Sometimes it takes blood.

Misha is a screenwriter who is nominated for an Oscar for a short animated film. His success has come from queer horror and he has a fairly successful television series.

But when a studio executive informs him that he has to kill his gay characters or make them straight, he refuses. Although he's outed in Las Angeles, he's not so much out in his hometown in Montana. He's struggled with being partially closeted and he feels his characters allow him to express himself.

But pretty soon, terrifying things start to happen to him and to his boyfriend and his best female friend. At first it appears that some of his most horrific creations are coming to life and trying to kill him. But there's something much more dark going on. Something you won't see coming at first, and this could affect more than just his world.

This is a great read with some twists that examines the lengths greedy corporations will go to make the most amount of money. And as Misha struggles with trauma from his past while trying to protect himself and loved ones from monstrosities come to life it's going to take very drastic measures to stop the unstoppable. And maybe at a cost he can't see coming.

Wildly inventive and brimming with subject matter that feels like it's ripped from headlines, this frightening and action packed novel will have you rethinking everything you think you know about what it means to be an artist and achieve success. I highly recommend it.

This is my first chuck tingle novel and I rather enjoyed it!!

It's at times creepy and terrifying as well as entertaining!

It kept me engaged. I enjoyed the characters and I will definitely be recommending it to some of my friends!

"Bury Your Gays" by Chuck Tingle is a delightful rollercoaster of campy horror and queer satire. Tingle masterfully blends tongue-in-cheek humor with gory details, creating a unique reading experience. The juxtaposition of A.I. and the arts adds a layer of depth, exploring the impending impacts of technology on identity and creativity. With its unabashedly queer narrative and sharp social commentary, "Bury Your Gays" is a must-read for fans of offbeat horror and LGBTQ+ literature alike.

"Horror offers a chance to recognize this truth, to explore dark places in a safe way," the fascination with themes of queer embodiment in horror is torn wide open in this new installment to the Tingleverse, by camp king Chuck Tingle.

The story is a fascinating one, a writer is being pushed by big wig executives to kill off his TV series FMC's after their coming out episode while simultaneously being haunted by the monsters of pictures past. This story is incredibly smart, fun, and a quick-witted take on the "bury your gays" phenomenon in entertainment. What I was not expecting was great dialogue around the ethics of AI, coming out, commodification of queerness/pink dollars, and a thoughtful discussion around horror as a playground to explore dark ideas in a safe way. When something as basic as your identity puts you at risk, why wouldn't you indulge in what this horrible world has to offer through the lens of your own imagination?

The characters are campy and fun, the insertion of screenplay excerpts successfully disorients the reader, and the nod to slasher films will put a grin on any seasoned horror fans face.

This is my first Tingle book and I will definitely be watching his career as he continues to map out his literary universe. 5 Stars.

Bury Your Gays started out with a bang and hooked me hard- I found it nearly impossible to put down. This book is beautiful and tragic and horrific and unsettling and very, very gay. The story slows quite a bit in the middle but picks back up and gets brutal and gory in the very best kind of way. Bury Your Gays covers things I personally find to be truly scary and horrific, particularly AI and how it can/will impact the world. Reading about that made me squirm in a way that books rarely do. Tingle's writing was engaging and raw and relatable. This book is crammed full of so many amazing quotes and one-liners. I lost count of how many times I had to pull out the highlighter.

I got particularly excited when I suspected a character was Ace and even more so when they confirmed they are AroAce not too much later! (YAY FOR REPRESENTATION!) However, I am extremely conflicted about this character's role in this story. I honestly cannot decide if I absolutely love it or if I'm extremely disappointed? Honestly, I think it's a weird mix of both.

A lot of important messages covered in these pages.

Chuck Tingle - I love you. You provide harsh commentary on our culture and society while lifting with humor and wit.
Misha finally gets his two main characters - lesbians with massive sexual tension, together in his series finale. But The Board does not approve - forcing Misha to "bury your gays" as society continually pushes. Refusing to cave, Misha becomes the target of his horror creations. They stalk him, using their abilities to his life and those close to him.
The commentary is so intense. The ending just nails the swaying of trends - and societal pressures.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Diving headfirst into the glitz, glamour, and ghastly underbelly of Hollywood, 'Bury Your Gays' had me on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, and rooting for Misha all the way! This gem by Chuck Tingle is a rollercoaster through Tinseltown's twisted trails, blending real-life terrors with the kind of spine-chilling scares that have you double-checking your locks at night. Misha's journey – a bold stand against the monstrous machinations of studio execs and the actual monsters haunting him – is a masterclass in courage and camp. The book is a love letter to horror aficionados, complete with a treasure trove of nods to classics and cult favorites like 'The X-Files', alongside a cheeky wink to Tingle’s own 'Camp Demascus'. It's a tale that not only entertains but resonates deeply, especially in its unflinching look at the fear surrounding the visibility of LGBTQ+ characters in media. So, if you're craving a story that marries the eerie with the extraordinary, and the profound with the peculiar, look no further. This book doesn't just bury its gays; it immortalizes them in the annals of horror lore. Bravo, Chuck Tingle!

#HorrorLGBTQ #HollywoodHaunts #TingleTerror

So…Chuck Tingle is legit.

This was a really good book! It manages to be sad, funny, hopeful, kind of hopeless at times (opposite day!), and legitimately creepy. I was shocked to find out what was really going on, but even more horrified to know that there are folks out there in a certain industry that would absolutely do this if they had the power.

The book is a rollercoaster ride of both emotion and action and I simply loved it.

I am completely on board with whatever thrills and chills Tingle decides to bring us next!

• ARC via Publisher

I am a recent reader of Chuck Tingle. I heard about him through a book club, and then he also came to a local bookstore with Catriona Ward. I really enjoyed the themes brought up in Camp Damascus, and assumed I would like Bury Your Gays. I also hope I'm referring to Tingle correctly, I read some of his blog posts, and went with ease versus technically correct for the purposes of the review. The book will be released later this year.

While Tingle's books on the surface may seem fairly straightforward, their horror genre roots give ode to a lot of subtext. Kudos for immediately throwing in an Easter egg for those aware of the online lore about who Chuck is underneath the mask. If you know, you know. I "chuck"led every time I saw that particular character's name. There was also a lot of foreshadowing and details to pay attention to as the book went along.

The book combines horror with an examination of the LGBTQA community as well as an examination of AI and its' ramifications. I am going to try to avoid spoilers in this review, but the past and present blur in this book, as we see how what has happened in Misha's past plays an ongoing role in his present life. The villains in this novel were really well written, and pretty much the scariest "monsters" I can think of. Mrs. Why particularly sat with me. It doesn't take gore to make someone terrifying and to be feared. There is also plenty of gore for those who look for that in a horror novel. There's also an ace character we see who plays a vital role in the novel, and I can't think of the last time I saw an ace character in a book. The book works through trauma and grief, as well as trying to reshape the narrative on LGBTQA characters, that they don't always have to end up dead at the end of the plot, and that that's the only way to portray gay people and relationships on screen. The novel really hits home that there should be more happy endings. I hope my review does it justice, and encourages others to pick up this book when it's on shelves.

Please be advised I received an Advance Readers Copy (ARC) of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Misha is a mostly closeted gay man working as a screenwriter in LA when he starts to notice his characters are haunting him, trying to kill him and his loved ones if he doesn’t kill off the gay characters in his current television show.

Tingle has taken the fear of AI and its use in capitalism, specifically Hollywood, and created a terrifying novel about authenticity and standing up for what you believe in. Somehow this story was hilarious while also playing on a very real fear of technologies advances being used for financial gain. I loved everything about this story.

Chuck Tingle, you did it again.

"Like the laboratory technician said: there are no feelings here. There's only profit."

"You know who the real villain is? Unchecked capitalism and the desire for capitalist systems to monetize other people's trauma"

Did I expect an anti-AI/algorithm story told through the lens of a queer character with some gore thrown in? Absolutely not.
I loved the story so much and all the pop culture references! I loved being on this journey with Misha and getting a happy ending.
I just loved everything about this book from the obvious messages about the use of AI in the entertainment industry to the discussion of queer representation and when it's just a money grab versus a heartfelt story, even if it isn't entirely happy like in the case of queer horror. PLUS a Camp Damascus mention?? Ahh

While I think I enjoyed Camp Damascus more I'm truly loving Chuck's entry into more mainstream publishing and writing. This is an excellent exploration of the hypocrisy in modern media representation and the allusions to a specific major tv show do not go unnoticed.

Chuck Tingle has once again delivered a horror novel with a poignant and heartfelt twist. Seamlessly blending together a story of learning to love and accept yourself, the ways in which Hollywood treats queer people and creepy gross monsters, Tingle manages to take a topic that can feel overwhelming to even think about and morphs it into a triumphant victory.

As someone who studies film, I know the bury your gays very well because I've seen it so much in the media I watch. I love how this book took that trope and flipped it on its head. Tingle made an entertaining story while also critiquing that trope and I loved it. The pacing was great and so were the characters. It was a fun read and I want to read more from this author

I have read another one of this authors books in the past so I was excited to pick this one up! Thank you for sending it to me! I liked the story overall but it could have had more character development. Overall- it was okay.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

TW: Ch1ld Neglect, Body Horror, G0re, H0mophobia

🖤 Meta Storytelling
🖤 Queer Horror
🖤 Queer Representation Including a Gay MMC and Ace FC
🖤 Simultaneously Funny, Thrilling, and Moving

This rating may be a little biased because I do truly love Chuck Tingle and the work he does, but I was joyfully surprised at how much this book connected with me!

Bury Your Gays is a queer horror novel that follows Misha, a queer screenplay writer in Hollywood. When 'the board' insists that he should kill off the queer characters in his hit TV series, he decides to stand against them. After making his decision, he thinks people dressed as characters from his previous queer horror films are stalking him...

I won't dive too deep into the story as I don't want to spoil any interesting twists, but know that this story certainly takes a few meta turns, as you would expect with a Chuck Tingle piece!

Misha has a few moments from his childhood that have really affected him (and his writing), and I was very touched by a few of these traumatic moments from his youth. They were written very well, and though I had never experienced moments exactly like his, I certainly relived them with Misha because of how REAL the emotions and scenarios felt.

This story grapples with some very real topics (like, hiding your queerness or the negative effects of queerbaiting specifically referencing a certain popular TV series), and I think it does so very well, sandwiching it with the ways that Misha wrote about these issues as he was working through them as an adult.

The twists were (mostly) unexpected, the horror was genuinely creepy, and I really appreciated the commentary on queer culture and the inclusivity of asexual/aromantic people in that conversation.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5

Almost immediately, Tingle sets readers up in this tense storyline of whether the narrator is unreliable and keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I appreciated the connection between the antagonists and the narrator as well as the additional layer of the "bury your gays" trope we've all seen/read at least once it our lives. I base my opinion of a horror novel on how much it feels like an actual scary movie and this novel had the extra layer of dealing with Hollywood and scary movies. Very rarely does a horror novel feel like a scary movie and cause a visceral reaction within me, but "Bury Your Gays" did that for me. It's probably my favorite read so far of 2024 and I'm recommending it to all of my horror book friends.

Misha Byrne has finally made it. An Oscar nomination for his short film and the rest of his career is going great. But the executives at the studio want him to kill off the gay characters in his streaming series. He refuses, but at what cost? And these monsters coming after him and his friends? They look awfully familiar…

This is my second Chuck Tingle book after CAMP DAMASCUS and, again, it’s lots of fun, wrapped up with real horror. Mrs Y is absolutely terrifying and is honestly my idea of what hell might be like. It all got a bit crazy, but I enjoyed it. Recommended.