Synopsis
The instant USA Today bestseller by Chuck Tingle about what it takes to succeed in a world that wants you dead.
“Brilliantly bloody, wildly fun, and extremely scary, Bury Your Gays brings a sledgehammer down on tired tropes and makes a masterpiece of their guts.”―Rachel Harrison, national bestselling author of Black Sheep
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.
Review
Thanks to NetGalley, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio for the ARC, I really enjoyed this one! Andre Santana does a great job with the audio, really giving the novel and characters life.
This was a first for me from the author, and I’m quite satisfied with the outcome. This is part commentary/satire of Hollywood, social media, and the all powerful algorithm, part supernatural, part slasher, and even part trauma story. The blend is unique, and I imagine probably quite hard to balance, but the author does it fantastically.
Misha is a screenwriter, doing his best to write characters and stories that he never got to see as a kid. Unfortunately, he is still beholden to the world that we live in, where characters are at best perhaps gay, rather than openly out. The author does a fantastic job of showcasing the conflict and intricacies within by having Misha himself being only “LA out,” but not officially out to his family or hometown. And that is where the trauma lies.
In the ever-growing scifi world we live in, with holograms and cloning and AI-altering, the author perfectly lines up a horror story that’s just farfetched enough to read as near future. When Misha’s boss sits him down, stating that the company wants his characters killed, rather than getting their excruciatingly earned and beautiful outing, Misha is understandably outraged. Even refusing and promising a lawsuit even after being (not so) more or less discreetly threatened.
The idea that the company he worked so hard for, made money for, would come after him was simply too absurd to put any faith in. So when characters from Misha’s filmography start popping up and interfering with his life, he assumes it’s nothing more than a cosplaying prank. Some well done cosmetics, a high quality costume, a well planned and tailored prank set to make Misha feel frightened enough to submit. Nothing more. But as his more outlandish characters start to appear, and the body count starts to grow, Misha learns it’s anything but a prank.
Is this a horror novel, is it horrific? Yes of course. There are interesting villains and kills, and the villain at large is something wholly unique. But what makes this book so good is what it’s actually saying.
The author ends this harrowing trial by flipping the script. This is not just a trauma story, we are not simply our past, nor are we our fears. Misha gets to give a beautiful speech in which he finally announces to the world what he should have years ago. Representation is important, but it’s not just about being seen. It’s not gay misfortune, it’s life, and love, and it’s joy and growth. And Chuck Tingle, through Misha and Zeke, is showing the world that in explosive fashion.
For more convincing, please check out: Charlie’s Review, George’s Review, Anna’s Review, Josh’s Review,
Leave a Reply