This is book is so much fun, LET'S TALK ABOUT IT.

If you don't know what Bury Your Gays is referring to, here's the TVTropes page about it. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BuryYourGays

The book itself does well to explain the trope that is at the heart of it all, but I think having a background idea of just how prevalent the trope has been is good for going into this.

This story focuses on Misha Byrne, a Hollywood writer who came up writing horror movies and is currently wrapping up a season of a TV show where he's ready for his two main female leads to profess their love for each other. However, The Studio wants him to kill them off in the name of Ratings.  Thus kicks off a weird, meta-filled, horrifying, gory odyssey as Misha grapples with his own identity in the face of absolute, all-encompassing, all-powerful capitalism. Oh, and it tackles the struggle of AI "art" as well. No big deal.

As a book that is full of meta-textual references to gay culture, there are references galore that are fun to pick out if you get them. There were also a few things I didn't totally get, and some sections of the story itself that I think were a little too meta for me and lost me for short periods of time. I feel like my husband, who loves horror films and writes screenplays, will probably get a lot more out of some parts of the meta horror & screenwriter elements when he finally reads this. 

The character work of Misha was pretty great. We get flashbacks to some big parts of his past that inform the decisions he makes in the present, and he has two important relationships - a best friend and his boyfriend - that also ground him. I could have used a little bit more development of Tara and Zeke, though; I didn't feel deeply for them despite Misha's relationships and how those drive some of his actions later on.

I wish I could talk about more elements, but anything else I say would fall into the spoiler zone - or, at least, ruining some fun surprises zone. Misha is a compelling character to follow, and the journey he takes is fun and funny and horrifying all at once. The book satirizes so much about Hollywood while also exposing just how insanely awful it is at the same time. 

Chuck Tingle has always had a lot to say about society through his work (YES, that includes his erotica). Camp Damascus explored one aspect of queer life in our world, and Bury Your Gays explores another. It feels like he's doing a lot of self-reflecting and expunging of his thoughts and feelings onto the page, and honestly I'm all here for it. 

LOVE IS REAL, FRIENDS! HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!