Bury Your Gays

Maybe I don't hate horror novels after all. I didn't hate [a:T. Kingfisher 7367300 T. Kingfisher https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1642281799p2/7367300.jpg]'s first two efforts in the genre, and I actually liked [b:A House with Good Bones 60784409 A House with Good Bones T. Kingfisher https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1664972416l/60784409.SY75.jpg 95849240]. I rated Chuck Tingle's mainstream debut [b:Camp Damascus 61884782 Camp Damascus Chuck Tingle https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1664285565l/61884782.SY75.jpg 97258162] highly for its clever layering of religious fundamentalism and homophobia over more traditional scary stuff. So maybe I can add Tingle to my short list of auto-read horror authors. Bury Your Gays employs genre staples like creepy figures, jump scares, and gory violence. But it is also a satiric critique of Hollywood, a warning about the existential dangers of late-stage capitalism, a coming out memoir, a tribute to the many faceted types of queerness, a sweet love story, and an ode to ride-or-die friendship. The MC, his BFF, and his boyfriend are so well-developed that I feared for my emotional well-being if any of them were killed (no spoilers). Do all horror novels contain multitudes like this? Or is Chuck Tingle a genius? (Both things can be true.) The screenwriter MC even offers a spirited defense of his genre when someone describes it as “a celebration of death.” You don't wanna feel [fear] all the time, but it's a muscle that needs to be exercised. There are scary things in the world, that's just a fact, and if you pretend they're not all around us then you're in for a rude awakening. Horror offers a chance to recognize this truth, to explore dark places in a safe way. I'm not about to dive into Steven King's entire backlist, but I can see the genre's appeal. Especially if there are more books like this one that make me laugh and cringe on the same page.