Mr. Tingle you have outdone yourself!!
This book was soo good and spooky. I had no idea where this was going. You get psychological horror, technological horror/ethics, corporate greed, and queer erasure/representation and QUEER LOVE. All layered over one another into one fantastic book.

I finished this book in one day. I literally could not put it down.

Horror is very much an element of its time. Whether in movie or book form, it highlights social issues of the time its set. That is very much the case in Bury Your Gays. As we struggle with issues of AI, capitalism, and trauma porn in Hollywood productions today, Bury Your Gays turns those elements on its head to offer a horror take.

I really enjoyed this book and need to go back and read Camp Damascus. For those that have read Camp Damascus, there is a little nod to it in the novel. I don't know if I'll go much into Chuck's backlist, but I look forward to what he writes in the future.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another one of my most anticipated reads of the year, Chuck Tingle does it again. Bury Your Gays is the story of Misha, a TV writer riding the high of his first Oscar nomination. When he’s called into a meeting with a studio executive and told to kill off the gay protagonists of his show ‘or else’, Misha must make a pivotal decision: Bury his gays, or sacrifice his career for the integrity of his characters? What follows is a romp filled with humor, gore, and a lot of heart.

Until now, I only knew Chuck Tingle by reputation; “Pounded In The Butt By My Handsome Sentient Library Card Who Seems Otherworldly But In Reality Is Just A Natural Part Of The Priceless Resources Our Library System Provides” being one of my favorite titles. Clearly he has a talent for satire, but until Bury Your Gays, I haven’t read any of his “feature-length” novels. I came in with high expectations due to the hype for this novel, and I wasn’t disappointed in the least.

All in all, Bury Your Gays is an irreverent and heartfelt commentary about the state of visual media in the rise of AI technology, how corporate greed can distort progress, and the importance of seeing people like yourself on the big screen. I highly recommend to fans of horror comedy, and any victims of queerbaiting in television- looking at you, Supernatural fans.

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle is not only entertaining horror but also insightful and powerful fiction. From the very introduction, the reader is plunged into what it takes in Hollywood to not only be creative but to embrace your identity. The simmering horror blends the real world horror of being forced to assimilate to be successful and the price of capitalism but adds in the sheer horror of having your own creations attempting to kill you.
What makes this so powerful and emotional is how haunted Misha is by his past. The character is complex as he struggles with his identity and risks everything for his friends. What I found even creepier than the first half though was the resolution as Misha finds a way to survive but the new horror facing him is sugar varnished art that lacks realism. It is a great insight into how capitalism will change what is offered as art but always with a price. It also shows that great horror can actually show us what it means to be alive and how to find ourselves.
If you like Chuck Tingle and his previous horror, this one will take you to new places. It is insightful and powerful as it delves into Hollywood and the price of success, how art can challenge our beliefs and show us how to embrace our identity but also how difficult it can be to fight the status quo, how much of yourself you must rip out to keep your dream alive. This is horror with heart and the ending will truly make you think.

This was pretty good! I read Tingle's previous traditionally published book and enjoyed it, but I do think he did a great job improving on the tightness of his storytelling in this one. I appreciated following Misha as he navigated the menacing and convoluted world of Hollywood, though I do wish more time had been spent on the repercussions of ending the nanobots.

This book was unlike anything I have ever read. We follow Misha, a writer on a popular TV show who has been tasked with killing off his two gay main characters. He has also written several popular queer horror movies and starts to see some of his more terrifying creations come to life.

This was such a unique read - I had no idea what was going on and didn't expect any of what happened - this story shows how amazing Chuck Tingle is as a writer and how creative his stories are - It moved at a very quick pace and kept me guessing.

I think this story is a must-read for pretty much anyone

I had to sit with this book for a bit before I could review it. Not because I had issues or problems with the story but because I just wanted to revel in how much I enjoyed it and how much I loved the characters and more importantly how seen I felt in this book. Without giving any spoilers there is an inclusivity in this story that I really appreciated and don’t always see in mainstream fiction.

The scares were effective and had a realism to them that I think amped them up even more had they been in a more standard story. Even when outlandish things began to happen I was there the whole time.

This is an incredibly enjoyable read. When I say that I laughed, I cried, I am not being sarcastic or dismissive. I did laugh, often, as sometimes humor is the only way to deal with the horrors. And boy did I cry, I suspect at the point that most people reading this book did.

This is my first time reading Chuck Tingle and I can tell you it will not be my last.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for providing an ARC.)

This was SO GOOD!!!

A great message wrapped in a horrifying story. The suspense was wonderfully written and the body horror was as gruesome as you could expect. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Chuck Tingle you can do no wrong!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the ARC of this wonderful book.

With the season three finale of Travelers (a queer sci-fi show in the same vein as The X-Files) on the horizon, not to mention an Oscar nomination, Misha Byrne is slowly but surely proving to be a queer (albeit closeted) star in Hollywood. Intent on creating the show he dreamed of seeing in childhood, Misha is adamant in his blunt refusal to stray from his grand finale: a confession, and shared kiss, between the lead lesbian detectives, the culmination of a subtle three-season-long slow burn romance. Despite his success, the algorithm – and Hollywood – has determined that the thing that will make the most money for Harold Brothers Studios is queer tragedy, but Misha will not bury the gays, not when the LGBTQIA+ community deserves to be seen – and to experience queer joy.

When Misha decides that he will not be killing off his gay characters – fuck you very much – things get weird. A handful of ominous, eerie characters from his own works emerge in the form of freakishly accurate cosplaying stalkers bringing with them the past traumas from which they were created, and it is in these snippets – revealed through inspirational flashback chapters – that Tingle shines. Gritty, gruesome, and incredibly foreboding, Tingle seamlessly blends past, present, and dream in horrific, excruciating detail: it’s haunting, atmospheric, and downright eerie in execution as past trauma blends in with present fear in the form of chapter introductions written in screenplay format, as if Misha himself is nothing more than a role to be performed and dissected by Hollywood.

Tension builds slowly, each chapter brimming with foreshadowing and tension as we follow in Misha’s footsteps, navigating life through his eyes as he narrowly escapes death at the hands of his own creations: a mouthless, croaking, uncanny valley murderer; an innocent-on-the-outside eldritch horror; and, a mysterious and omnipotent sci-fi hivemind. Raw, real, and visceral, Misha’s fear, anxiety, and worry are palpable, propelling him to investigate cause and effect, aware, deep down, that this is the product of his own decisions, and that, somehow Hollywood is to blame.

Bury Your Gays is a terrifying countdown to Misha's death, a foreboding examination of art and technology in the entertainment industry – one that offers in-depth commentary and criticism on the impact of artificial intelligence and copyright.

Title: Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle
Publication Date- 07/09/24
Publisher- Tor Publishing
Overall Rating- 5 out of 5 stars

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: There are so many good things to say about this story. I have also read Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle and there is one small connection between the books but you don’t need to read one to read the other by any means. It’s basically just an easter egg if you have read them both.

Some things I loved about this story: first and foremost it’s refreshing and creative. Chuck Tingle is able to think and write about queerness in such a dynamic and personal way adding engaging and realistic commentary.

I really loved the idea of an author being haunted by their own stories. We get to meet many of the characters that our MC has created for film as they come back to haunt and stalk him. The horror elements are unsettling and actually scary at times. I found myself so lost in this story and excited/ worried about where it was going to go next.

There is a lot of commentary on queerness and media, I will let the book speak for itself on that one. There is also some commentary on AI and writing in the film and TV industry. It’s not just about killing off gay characters in stories but killing them before you get a happily ever after. Media is really struggling to show happily ever afters for lots of groups of people. This books also discusses how important it is that we feel represented in media and validated/ empowered by others stories. Those stories much be shown.

Please read this book. It’s both serious and fun, creepy and haunting. I loved it.

**4.5-stars**

Bury Your Gays is a novel that's perfectly-aligned with a new trend in my reading for 2024, and that is reading books set in, or revolving around, the television and movie industry. I wasn't sure what to expect when I first picked this up. I've heard great things about this author's 2023-release, Camp Damascus, but I've never actually read their work before. My final judgement = I need more Tingle!!!

In this story we are following Misha, a long-time Hollywood script writer who has just been nominated for his first Oscar. It's as he is on the precipice of this great event that he gets called into a meeting with a studio executive and told that he needs to kill off two popular gay characters from his Travelers series. Misha is alarmed. He doesn't want to do that; not at all, but he's told if he doesn't he may be let go.
Thus, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows hit our MC pretty much simultaneously. His back is to the wall and he is struggling to make a decision. What is he going to do?

The synopsis doesn't really go into too much of the action here, therefore, I don't want to either. All I will say is that I was pleasantly surprised to discover this involves one of my favorite Horror tropes, and that's dark fictional characters coming to life and interacting with their creators.

I loved how Tingle decided to tell Misha's story. In the current timeline, we get to know a bit about his work and personal life, but we also get glimpses into Misha's past through sections aptly referred to as, Inspiration. These sections were among my favorites. It's there we learn the pivotal moments and people from Misha's life that helped to shape his writing. These sections felt intimate and had a lovely Coming of Age quality to them that I found incredibly captivating.

In additional to the fantastic character work and strong writing, I thoroughly enjoyed the social commentary and reflective exploration of issues within this novel. In particular, I found it to be thought-provoking in the area of intellectual property rights, the power of creators and their rights to their work. I also enjoyed how Tingle touched upon the greed within the system, and the development and use of AI in writing and the arts.

You'll never think of the algorithm the same again...

I did listen to the audiobook and cannot recommend that format highly enough. It's a full cast audio with sound effects that truly help bring this crazy story to life. I would recommend this to every Horror Reader, but particularly to Social Horror lovers, or those looking for strong Queer stories. Also, if you were a fan of The X-Files, something about this one just brought that to mind for me; maybe the light SF concepts, or the villains...

Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. The audio production was chef's kiss! This book is smart, original, engaging and eerie. I walk away with a full heart, looking forward to more from Tingle!

I would be remiss to let Pride Month end without spotlighting a queer horror novel. And who better to spotlight than Chuck Tingle? Last summer he found success with Camp Damascus and this summer he’s bringing another horror novel to your shelves: Bury Your Gays. Arriving July 9th from Tor Nightfire, this novel examines queer realities through a media lens. Brimming with references, heart, and some gnarly monsters, Bury Your Gays is one you won’t want to put down—I didn’t.

I’ll admit when I first started this book I thought it was a short story collection. I don’t know why. I am choosing to blame a combination of the second chapter being called “Inspiration” and the stellar audiobook cast. I guess in my mind each voice actor was going to read a story? I digress; it is a novel, inspirations and all. A meta novel in ways, yes, but I love that. My own bias toward stories about writing aside, this aspect serves the plot. It fits the characters. That’s what good narrative decisions do.

So, about that plot. Our main character, Misha, is a writer. He writes screenplays rather than books, but he does specialize in queer horror. Sound familiar? He’s also still largely closeted; only out with those close to him who are safe. Misha’s inner world is kept private with one exception: his monsters. Throughout the book the reader sees how the traumas he experienced growing up impacted his writing. More interestingly, we see the monsters themselves. Somehow, someway, they’ve left the silver screen.

That inspiration chapter that threw me off a little at first wasn’t from Tingle’s POV, but Misha’s. And that’s not the only bit of meta storytelling happening in Bury Your Gays. This is a book dealing with art as numbers, as trends, as dollars. It is a book dealing with rainbow capitalism and the prevalence on queer trauma. Basically, this is a queer horror book about queer horror. The way Tingle discusses and plays with tropes and especially genre to make his points and tell a compelling story was genius. It is clear he understands.

More to the point of that understanding, it’s clear how much he cares. The references coded in these pages, from character names to plot points, gave new life to the characters sacrificed on the altar of the trope the book is named for. To “bury your gays” means to kill off your queer characters—often right after they’ve come out, found happiness, got that kiss (or more). The idea being you can have queer characters but only if they die. I recognized names here that brought me back to fandoms and ships from a decade ago. It brought me back to the pain of losing these characters in these ways and wondering why it hurt me so much.

In short, Bury Your Gays is a love letter and memorial. It is a razor sharp analysis and critique of how, where, when, and why queer stories are told. A story of who they are told by. And it does all of this with terrifying monsters, oppressive forces, and a ticking clock. The horror genre itself is part of this love letter, really. I am truly amazed just how much Tingle managed to say without this book feeling dense or like a TED talk. I buddy-read this with a friend and we both read the last half in one day. The tension and the way the pieces started falling into place was too good to stop. We had to know where this was going and what was going to happen next. I highly recommend this to horror fans, clearly, but even to those who don’t read horror but found some of these words resonant: this book is for you.

Happy Pride!

Chuck Tingle has come a long way from his days of writing parody monster porn, and BURY YOUR GAYS has truly solidified him as a legit horror author. BURY YOUR GAYS is not only an incisive satire and examination of Hollywood, performative corporate allyship, the bottom line, and the way that all these things have a negative effect on LGBTQIA+ art and creators. It is also a genuinely scary horror novel, with lots of terrifying imagery, some well done suspenseful moments, well rounded characters, and a true hopeful heart at its center. I really enjoyed this book, and I am so happy that we have Chuck Tingle in the literary horror world.

This queer horror story blew me away. It equal parts freaked me out and made me want to cry. This was deep & had so many layers to it. The way Hollywood was described & the monsters within was *chefs kiss*, and I loved the way the author dissected the many undertones of popular horror films. Night of the Living Dead isn’t really about zombies, it’s about racism. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is full of pro-vegetarian subtext, and They Live is more about rampant consumerism than aliens. This book will have you analyzing a lot of horror culture & seeing queer characters and films in a new light.

“Zombies, Leatherface, and space invaders aren’t real, either,” I counter. “But racism, factory farming, and unchecked corporate greed are.”

This was horrifying, gory, unique, and profound. If you’re a fan of the horror genre then I absolutely urge you to add this to your TBR! This publishes on July 9! Thank you Tor Nightfire for this advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

So I came into this a full roaring buckaroo ready for my second moment in Mr. Tingle”s Tingleverse. I Think I might be enlisting as “Head Buckaroo of Defense” Protect this man at all costs. I felt seen and heard and loved in a horror novel. I expected as much but was blown away. This is Queer erasure from inception to death. 100% Pure love.

A book based on the media trope known as "bury your gays" sounds bleak and fatalistic but when it's written by an author who truly believes love can conquer all, we get a horror book that doesn't skimp on the terror and doubles down on hope.
who is this book for?
Readers who love...
-QUEER AF HORROR STORIES
-The importance of art and creation as authentic human expression
-The power of creators
-The power of love and friendship
-Books set in Hollywood and cracking the veneer--that fake glossy shine
-Fighting against corporate greed, capitalism, and AI
-Dual narratives/past and present
-A main character to fall in love with, Misha is so REAL
-Some genuinely creepy super villains--gave me X-Files vibes

🌈 Bury Your Gays 🌈
Pub date: July 9, 2024
This one was ✨amazing✨. The Hollywood setting of this one was so dang fun! All the “insider” views, while horrifying, hit me in the feels. It probably hits way too close to home for many people. I had no idea where the book was gonna take us but when we got there 🤯 Another amazing and perfect summer horror

Misha, a queer horror screenwriter, rebels against his production company when they insists that he kills off his gay characters in the season finale. Misha’s dream is to reveal them as out and proud couple, but the producer’s algorithm date reveals they’d get bigger numbers in their demise.

In a big F.U. to his producers, Misha decides he is not going to kill them off when suddenly some of Misha’s former fictional characters come to fruition and wreak havoc on his life. So much death. Is Misha losing his mind because none of this can be real?

Determined to get down to the bottom of these supernatural and disturbing occurrences, Misha demands answers from his boss and gets an answer he was not expecting.

My thoughts:
☁️☁️☁️
Oh. My. God. This was so GORY, HORRIFYING and deliciously wicked! I LOVED it and could not put it down! So CREEPY and weird! TWISTED and terrifying! Superb SUPERNATURAL story and fantastic ending!

Y’all have got to read this SURPRISING horror!

Fans of Stephen King, Rachel Harrison and Dean Koontz need to pick this up ASAP!

If you are anything like me, you want to know the main question: Is there going to be justice for our gay faves here? Vengeance for Lexa kom Trikru? Ah, I cannot tell you that, but I can tell you this: There is an actual gay character named Lexa. In case you need this even more now that I gave you that helpful tidbit.


We meet Misha, who is a TV and movie writer who has just been told that he has to kill off his show's main characters- and newly-sailed-ship- Agent Lexa(!!) and Agent Naomi. He is very firmly and clearly giving this a hard "no". But the studio is not budging, and Misha starts to see just how far they're willing to go to get what they want. In fact, they have just used AI to reanimate a deceased actor who is now up for an Oscar for "his" new, completely posthumus movie. It's completely relevant to today's AI debate, and also according to one of the characters, "horrifically ghoulish and probably the end of the world”. I concur.

Anyway, there's a reason that this synopsis is so short, and that is because you should go into it as blindly as possible. So do that! And know that when you do, you're going to encounter a lot of great, well-developed characters, a lot of action and surprise and twists, and most of all, incredible commentary on all kinds of topics, including what matters to studios (hint: it isn't human beings).

Bottom Line: Spot-on commentary with an incredibly exciting plot and characters I loved, this was an absolute hit!

This is the first Chuck Tingle book I have read, though I know he has quite the prolific repertoire. I went into this book thinking I was going to get a queer horror story with equal amounts of gore and hysterical antics. This book was exactly that, but also so much more. Chuck takes the old cliche of queer characters in horror and twists it on its head, revealing a story that is inspiring and revelatory. It's tough to even categorize a story like this as any one thing. Bury Your Gays is simultaneously a horror, thriller, comedy, romance, allegory, and literal criticism of queer stories produced by the capitalism-driven Hollywood machine. Its about relationships to our friends, our partners, our work, our art, and everything in-between.