'Misha is a jaded scriptwriter who has been working in Hollywood for years, and has just been nominated for his first Oscar. But when he's pressured by his producers to kill off a gay character in the upcoming season finale―"for the algorithm"―Misha discovers that it's not that simple. As he is haunted by his past, and past mistakes, Misha must risk everything to find a way to do what's right―before it's too late.'
The phrase Bury Your Gays will mean a lot to people who spend some time learning about media, especially for the queer community. A writing trope that began thanks to the Hays Code and their mandate that all forms of homosexuality must be portrayed as evil, and those who engage in it must be punished, fiction has become filled with examples of queer characters being killed off. Even today, with very different approaches to queer representation, where you can find mainstream film, television, and other entertainment that puts queer characters and their stories at the forefront you still often find numerous examples of queer love and life being seen not only as expendable, but needing of punishment. As such, a book by a notable queer author, who has engaged in parody, pornography, and the profound across their career certainly makes you pay attention.
Bury Your Gays is the latest book from Chuck Tingle that leaves the more humorous side of his writing behind, engaging in 'serious' writing. It tells the story of Misha, a writer who has managed to make it big in the world of LA film and television, having created a number of hit horror films, and being the lead writer of a popular television series. He's even in consideration for an Oscar for a short film he made. His star is very much on the rise, and he's a voice that the studio he works for wants to keep; as such, he's somewhat taken aback when he's called in for a meeting with the head of the studio and is told that he needs to remove the kiss in the season finale. Not only is Misha angry that he's being told what direction to take his story, but he's outraged because the lesbian love story he has spent years building to is about to be cut down. He's presented with two choices, make them straight, or out them and kill them.
As any good writer who has a clear vision of their story and the nerve to stick to their convictions would do Misha tells the studio to go to hell, refusing to bury his queer characters. Knowing that he could face serious legal action for this due to a breach of contract, Misha has a week to either do what the studio wants, or to hold true to his heart. However, his week is not filled with opportunities to think deep on the issue or to try to write his way out of the problem, as strange events begin to happen to Misha. When people dressed as some of the monsters he's created in the past start to show up in his everyday life, tormenting him and making threats, Misha's already frayed emotional state gets worse, leading to him being smeared in the tabloids as an unstable writer. But when things become harder to explain away, when more bizarre and horrific things start happening, Misha must face up to a truly terrifying realisation, his monsters are real, and they're coming for him.
Bury Your Gays is a number of different books rolled into one. It's a horror story about a man being chased by some truly twisted monsters, creatures that are out to kill him in terrible ways and aren't afraid of hurting others to do so. It's also a critique about queer erasure in media and how outdated values and misconceptions are still held in place by those in power in the quest for wealth. It's a story about trauma, how it shapes you as a person and how that can be transformed into art. It's about rainbow capitalism and how false support and empty representation can be meaningless. And it's a warning about AI being used in creative fields in order to replace writers and artists to cut costs and further maximise profits. All of this, wrapped up in a story about a man having to deal with his past traumas, his feelings of self doubt about being openly queer, and his desire to help others in similar situations.
This all sounds like a lot, and it is a lot to fit into one book, especially one that's only 350 pages, and you'd expect it to feel messy and bloated, yet Tingle manages to not only make it all work, but to make it work wonderfully. Bury Your Gays is an incredibly easy read, despite the often heavy subject matter because first and foremost you're made to care about Misha. One of the ways in which Tingle does this is with a number of flashbacks to key points in his life, moments of trauma that shaped who he is today. We see him learning to understand his queerness, in a time and a community where it was unacceptable. We see how these moments caused him pain that would ripple on for decades to come. This pain not only becomes the seeds of his creativity, with creations from his career tying directly back into these moments, but it also shows why he's afraid to live openly.
These are moments that I think most queer people will recognise. There are numerous moments from my life that stick out in my mind, moments tied to having to deal with homophobia and transphobia, long before I became an openly queer trans woman. They left a mark on me because it was people around me telling me that those feelings I had were wrong, that I shouldn't talk about them, that they were something that I should feel ashamed about. It kept me in the closet for a long, long time, and I recognised a lot of that struggle and pain in Misha. It's uncomfortable, and these scenes are often more horrific than those with monsters and ghosts in them, but that's because it's true, and it's tied to a lot of real trauma. I think with Chuck Tingle having become famous for books such as My Pool Gets Me Wet in a Completely Platonic Way and Now We Are Close Friends, and This Handsome Sentient Bowling Pin Splits My Ass Also He Is A Ghost you can easily come to think of him as a writer who can only do comedy, but these scenes prove that he's more than got the skill to deliver heartfelt, hard hitting scenes too.
There's a lot more that I could say about Bury Your Gays, a lot more story and characters that I can talk about for a lot longer than I already have, but doing so would spoil a great deal of the book. Bury You Gays is a twisting narrative filled with surprises, so it needs to be experienced yourself, and as such I won't say much more about it other than if you love queer fiction, biting commentary, pop culture references, and horror, then this is absolutely a book for you. Don't miss out.
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