While most eyes are on the bigger Oscar awards, Misha Byrne is thrilled, and humbled, to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Film. His piece, Little Mouse, is a thoughtful and enigmatic tale and a far cry from the type of work that pays his bills: writing queer horror for television and film. Misha’s scripts aren’t considered highbrow, but his studio (Harold Brothers Studios) and the studio head (Jack Mays) have always had his back and allowed him creative freedom. That is, until now.

Jack tells Misha that the studio board wants him to either kill off his two queer leads in the hit show “Travelers” or make sure they don’t come out as gay in the series finale. This, Misha knows, is the unfortunate trope of burying your gays --- killing off queer characters, rendering them disposable and unimportant, and erasing them for all intents and purposes. But, as Jack ponders this terrible ultimatum, some strange and dangerous things begin to happen to him and those he loves.

"Bloody, nightmarish and not without a sense of humor, BURY YOUR GAYS is a great read... Thought-provoking, gruesome, heartfelt and smart, this novel is a solid combination of dark vision and bright optimism."

Thus begins Chuck Tingle’s BURY YOUR GAYS, a scary-fun horror novel and a scathing indictment of the entertainment industry’s homophobia.

The frightening characters that Misha has penned over the years have starred in a handful of creepy projects. The Smoker, modeled after someone who inflicted harm on Misha as a child, asks for a light. If you don’t have one, your days are numbered and your death will be torturous. Mrs. Why is a very tall alien who shares the existential truths of the vastness of the universe with people who are stupefied by this information. And the sweet black lamb from the horror movie Black Lamb is a monster in disguise.

Of course, they are fictional. But Misha is now seeing them in real life. Even more terrifying, he is not the only one. At first, it seems like The Smoker is a deranged stalker, but he is threatening Misha’s best friend, Tara, as well. Misha knows he also must protect his boyfriend, Zeke, as these three ghouls seem to be alive and may be coming for him, too.

As Misha sets out to understand what is happening with the appearance of his characters and to try to find a way to stop them, he must confront the demands of the studio board, wrestle with his public identity, relive some of his traumatic past, and wrap his mind around some seriously advanced tech. Profit and art, the personal and the professional, reality and fantasy are in battle in BURY YOUR GAYS. Misha is racing against time but also against forces, known and unknown, some of which he realizes he has ignored for far too long. And he just might win an Oscar in the midst of the chaos!

As Tingle tells Misha’s story, he also tells the story of an industry willing to dehumanize, ignore and even actively harm LGBTQ+ people in pursuit of ratings, acclaim and money.

Bloody, nightmarish and not without a sense of humor, BURY YOUR GAYS is a great read (despite a bit of a shaky first chapter). Thought-provoking, gruesome, heartfelt and smart, this novel is a solid combination of dark vision and bright optimism.