Welcome to Litsy!

My book club‘s pick for October, I really liked it! I‘m so interested in the author too, a character themself!

I may have gotten excited when making these rec lists! I just really like these books. Similar to my own TBR, I chose a few spooky levels ? #hauntedshelf @BookwormAHN

Scary & real are titles that either have magical realism or fall more into a "fiction" genre but have some fantasy element #reclist #blackcatcrew

More info in comments too

https://bookmarksthat.wordpress.com/2025/09/21/challenge-hauntedshelf-my-tbr-boo...

This was a horror novel, and it had plenty of good gross gore, but it also did a good job of touching on systemic homophobia. There were some very sweet parts, too. I read it in a hurry for book club, and it is fast-paced, so I breezed right through it.

The author has come a long way from writing dino porn. Whoever they are, they are actually quite talented.

I loved this book. Chuck Tingle is so good at writing horror that deals with an issue impacting the queer community. And the evils of capitalism. Hollywood out but closeted back home, screenwriter Misha is trying to write a real queer season finale to one of his shows but comes up against the powers that be. Like all his previous monsters from his queer coded movies. This was at times creepy and funny. It talks about the importance of rep. Pick!

As others have said, Chuck may not be the greatest writer, but I‘ve still enjoyed his more serious work, this being the second after Camp Damascus. I was fortunate to go to an event last year at a local book store where he put on a bit of a show and then later got to meet him. He is hilarious in person and I‘d highly recommend going to one of his events. He‘s got another one coming up in August for his new book, Lucky Day. I‘ll be there.

While it wasn‘t the most exciting month for reading, this was definitely my favorite.

You need to be prepped going into this, it is a Gay Horror Book, set in Hollywood. Our MC is a screenwriter who is mostly in the closet, but he has a boyfriend. Zeke, my boyfriend. The one thing I couldn't get past was how often his boyfriend was pointed out. The writing is not great, but the story is original and propulsive, I really grew to like and root for our MC. I thought the horror elements were brought in well, if a tiny predictable
4/5

This was a fun, wild ride! It had some creepy moments, some laugh-out-loud moments, and a lot of statements about society. And I want to say that I am one of those people that watch the Oscar nominated shorts. I seek them out, and go to theater to see them. Also, I have this thing with the word “vast.” I love it, and take note of it in every book I read. Cont in comments…

Horror meets Hollywood is this #ToB25Longlist book and it was fun reading it. Towards the end it spun a bit out of control and I lost track of what was happening but over all I am always happy to read this kind of books thanks to the #ToB! And I‘ll have nightmares of that worm 😱😱

See @squirrelbrain we‘re in sync again 💕

📷 The flu 🤒

It‘s amazing to me that a book the contains a few scenes of brutal body horror (even I cringed, and I can handle a lot) is overall rather lighthearted and funny. I really enjoyed this one and wasn‘t necessarily expecting to going in. #TOBlonglist

While I connected with the struggle of coming out, it's now 2024, and I found it hard to believe that a man in his 30s who works in Hollywood would still be closeted. Additionally, I wasn't particularly satisfied with the resolution to the mystery, which I sometimes found illogical. I was also unclear about the chapters that began like a screenplay featuring our protagonist; that aspect was never explained. Despite that, I still enjoyed the ride.

Now *this* is why I love #ToB so much!

This is a book / author I‘d never heard of and wouldn‘t have thought of reading. I wasn‘t sure at the start - the dialogue felt stilted and the storyline a bit simplistic but I soon became completely engrossed.

A Hollywood screenwriter refuses to kills off his gay characters, and weird s*** starts to happen. There‘s body horror / psychological horror but also a warm heart to the story.

This was probably the winner among my horror reads for the past season. It feels more serous and mature than Camp Damascus, which was a pretty solid work in its own right. There were some pretty creepy ideas and moments in this work and the story was solid throughout! The growth and span of Tingle‘s work is pretty amazing in itself if you‘re not familiar with his full bibliography!

Audio. First chapter had me hooked and didn‘t let go as revelations were given. I enjoyed this more than I thought. This is my first real horror and it was really good. With increasing stakes and gore levels… What stuck out was the point on horror; it‘s a safe way to show that life has horrors. Let alone that this whole story is about burying your gays as a trope and why it‘s important to fight against gay tragedy and instead hope.

Some Hollywood-set horror/satire seemed appropriate for a trip to LA. My first by this author, I have high hopes based on Litsy reviews.

This book was insane and had fantastic representation. Misha is a famous Hollywood writer. He's done a bunch of horror movies and is presently working on the season finale of his TV show when he is ordered to kill off one of his gay main characters by the head of the studio. When he flatly refuses, some of his characters come after him 🏳️‍🌈
This book is just creepy and fun, and I loved all the allusions to the old TV shows.
#Aardvark

Here are my #HauntedShelf recommendations 🐈‍⬛
I Was A Teenage Slasher is about a teenager who gets forced into becoming a slasher.
Bury Your Gays is about the movie industry's tendency to kill off the gay characters and the price one writer will have to pay to change it.
You Like It Darker is the latest collection of short stories by Stephen King.
#BlackCatCrew

Another thoroughly entertaining horror thriller about an author who is instructed to change the finale of his tv series. This leads to him questioning his beliefs and who is truly running the studio. Some great commentary and truly gruesome kills. An auto-buy horror author for me! 5⭐️

Bury Your Gays is a poignant horror story illuminating the artifice of queer representation in mainstream media. I found the descriptive violence to be quite gruesome at parts, but the author-protagonist rejects a tragic ending for his characters and himself by trusting and communicating with his found-family. The main character coming out publicly is a central element of the conflict resolution.

It‘s my birthday and I‘ll buy new books before I get tattooed if I want to !

Iiiiit‘s Aardvark day!! 💃🏽🪩🕺🏿

I picked 2 new books & 1 I wished I could have gotten last month but didn‘t have the space 😄🤩♥️

#aardvark #aardvarkbookclub @AardvarkBookClub

I love @AardvarkBookClub !! Picks are live!!

Of course I‘m psyched for the Tingle! And that cover. 😍😍 #Aardvark has the best horror picks! I was a little torn about Catalina, but I‘m hoping it will be good. I picked up the Keeland from last month, too. #fomo

Yes - if you like monster of the week horror! Yes - if you root for queer joy! Yes - if you like tiny robots! Yes - if you wish you could rage against the algorithm! Yes - if you like Hollywood insider baseball! Yes!

4/5⭐ I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A solid adventure at the intersection of horror, queerness, social commentary, and storytelling. I got hooked into the story and characters pretty early. I read through the book fairly quickly because the momentum caught me up and I just had to know what happened next.

Full review: https://hissingpotatoes.com/2024/07/10/review-bury-your-gays-by-chuck-tingle/

#bookspin

I just recently finished both of these books and absolutely loved them! Chuck Tingle once again completely impressed me! If you're looking for a couple of quirky, unique books to read for Pride Month, give these a shot! ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💜🩷

PS- the fact that Chuck Tingle now writes legitimately awesome queer horror books gives me the giggles, especially when you compare it with some of his earlier shorter works! 🙈

Happy Pride Month! 🥳🎉❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🩷

I decided to start this year's Pride Month out right by jumping right into Chuck Tingle's new book! 🤭

Okay, so we have already established that I have picked up many MANY books so far at this conference! But I really wanted to highlight the ones I am the most excited about! 🥰📚💕 #bookhaul