TITLE: Camp Damascus
AUTHOR: Chuck Tingle
PUBLISHER: Titan Books
ISBN: 9781803365114
PODCAST EPISODE: Episode 142
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
In the wilds of Montana is the isolated town of Neverton. This small community is occupied almost entirely by members of the Kingdom of Pine, a fundamentalist congregation seemingly focused more upon economic growth than religious worship. What the Kingdom of Pine is most well-known for is the gay conversion camp up the slope of the nearby mountains: Camp Damascus. Camp Damascus boasts a one-hundred percent conversion rate, but past campers have no real recollection of their time at the camp. Some don’t even know they went there at all.
CAMP DAMASCUS (Tor Nightfire, 2023) is the long-awaited book by the one and only Chuck Tingle. Chuck Tingle, self-proclaimed world’s greatest author, sometimes seems as if he is more of an urban legend than a person. He first broke into the world of publishing in 2014 with a self-published erotica short story on Amazon. Since then he has published over 300 of these short stories, called Tinglers, along with two fantasy novels, several choose-your-own-adventure books, a board game, and a horror novella. CAMP DAMASCUS is his first traditionally-published work.
Chuck Tingle himself reportedly grew up in Home of Truth, Utah, a commune that eventually dissolved after the death of its charismatic leader. To some degree, he seems to be writing what he knows in CAMP DAMASCUS. Rose, our young protagonist, has known no other world outside of Neverton and the Kingdom of Pine. She is doing her best to serve God, her parents, and her community - but her natural curiosity often leads her down paths that make her parents bristle. She loves science and facts, and sees them as ways to ground herself in a world that she never fully felt she fit into, being neurodivergent. Her autism is close to home for Tingle, with him weaving some of his own tics and tricks for managing social situations into her world. In many ways she’s the most authentic representation of autism that I’ve yet had the pleasure of reading.
CAMP DAMASCUS is an excellent example of what the horror genre has become over the past two decades. Readers might not be LGBTQ+ or neurodivergent, but in reading this book they’ll come to understand the complex reality of being part of these minorities. The chills and thrills in the book are manifold - but the monster within the book is something greater than the demons that litter its pages. This is a book focused more narrowly upon the cruelty that humans can inflict upon one another in pursuit of monetary and social gains. It’s a twisted fairy tale, and Chuck himself has written extensively about the inspiration that Peter Pan had upon the story.
I highly encourage all readers to pick up a copy of CAMP DAMASCUS. It’s a solid horror novel, which may be surprising to those who only know Chuck Tingle by his reputation and social media presence. This is a thoughtful read that will linger with the reader, and a fascinating examination of the corrupt influences that sometimes proliferate fundamentalist religious organizations, and the effect such corruption has upon the children who grow up within it. I look forward to new readers discovering the treasure that is Chuck Tingle.
AUTHOR: Chuck Tingle
PUBLISHER: Titan Books
ISBN: 9781803365114
PODCAST EPISODE: Episode 142
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
In the wilds of Montana is the isolated town of Neverton. This small community is occupied almost entirely by members of the Kingdom of Pine, a fundamentalist congregation seemingly focused more upon economic growth than religious worship. What the Kingdom of Pine is most well-known for is the gay conversion camp up the slope of the nearby mountains: Camp Damascus. Camp Damascus boasts a one-hundred percent conversion rate, but past campers have no real recollection of their time at the camp. Some don’t even know they went there at all.
CAMP DAMASCUS (Tor Nightfire, 2023) is the long-awaited book by the one and only Chuck Tingle. Chuck Tingle, self-proclaimed world’s greatest author, sometimes seems as if he is more of an urban legend than a person. He first broke into the world of publishing in 2014 with a self-published erotica short story on Amazon. Since then he has published over 300 of these short stories, called Tinglers, along with two fantasy novels, several choose-your-own-adventure books, a board game, and a horror novella. CAMP DAMASCUS is his first traditionally-published work.
Chuck Tingle himself reportedly grew up in Home of Truth, Utah, a commune that eventually dissolved after the death of its charismatic leader. To some degree, he seems to be writing what he knows in CAMP DAMASCUS. Rose, our young protagonist, has known no other world outside of Neverton and the Kingdom of Pine. She is doing her best to serve God, her parents, and her community - but her natural curiosity often leads her down paths that make her parents bristle. She loves science and facts, and sees them as ways to ground herself in a world that she never fully felt she fit into, being neurodivergent. Her autism is close to home for Tingle, with him weaving some of his own tics and tricks for managing social situations into her world. In many ways she’s the most authentic representation of autism that I’ve yet had the pleasure of reading.
CAMP DAMASCUS is an excellent example of what the horror genre has become over the past two decades. Readers might not be LGBTQ+ or neurodivergent, but in reading this book they’ll come to understand the complex reality of being part of these minorities. The chills and thrills in the book are manifold - but the monster within the book is something greater than the demons that litter its pages. This is a book focused more narrowly upon the cruelty that humans can inflict upon one another in pursuit of monetary and social gains. It’s a twisted fairy tale, and Chuck himself has written extensively about the inspiration that Peter Pan had upon the story.
I highly encourage all readers to pick up a copy of CAMP DAMASCUS. It’s a solid horror novel, which may be surprising to those who only know Chuck Tingle by his reputation and social media presence. This is a thoughtful read that will linger with the reader, and a fascinating examination of the corrupt influences that sometimes proliferate fundamentalist religious organizations, and the effect such corruption has upon the children who grow up within it. I look forward to new readers discovering the treasure that is Chuck Tingle.