Camp Damascus

Chuck Tingle is not only famous for not revealing who he is, for wearing a pink balaclava during public interviews and for his many niche gay erotica (no seriously, if you have the time, check out the covers/titles! They are wild!). But he’s also known for writing great horror books with important themes. So it was no surprise that I was very interested in reading Camp Damascus just to see how Tingle writes and it was absolutely worth it. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, but this book is for me just one big middle finger (pardon my French) to American Evangelical Christianity and conversion therapy camps. I utterly loved it and kudos to Chuck Tingle! He wrote a captivating story about Rose as she navigates her life while realizing that something is deeply wrong with her family and her own life. Not only did I get to read about creepy visions, plenty bug-filled moments and a story that swings from suspenseful to outright dark. But I also loved how Tingle blends sharp satire with horror and nuance.

I missed this kind of book! Not sure if I have read one like it before but this is a neurodivergent queer horror love story that is FULL of every descriptor I just used. It's finally a horror story that takes back horror as a cathartic experience instead of a reproduction of real life horror on the same victims that I don't need to see tortured again and again. This is the full fun of horror and a gruesome story without the anxiety to encounter whatever all to common everyday horror someone wanted to sprinkle in. At the same time, the book really has those ties into the real world that make horror as metaphor work. I am very very happy to have found this, read it in a day and extremely curious what the other (non porn) stories of this author will have to offer.

If you're aware of Chuck Tingle, you might expect a very different book since he's been mostly known for his silly and absurd gay erotica featuring anything from anthropomorphic dinosaurs, inanimate objects or abstract concepts. This however, is a sincere and incredibly crafted horror novel revolving around a gay conversion camp. While intrigued by the concept and admittedly curious if Tingle really wrote a "real book", I was not prepared for some of the best horror fiction I've ever read. (Not erotic horror by the way.) Cosmic horror aside, there is an heart-aching realness to the protagonists. This book is probably not for the faint of heart. There are plenty of supernatural stomach-churning moments, however, the horror depicted in this book that will stick with you the most is unfortunately all too real.