#camp damascus

[neil-gaiman]

My copy of @drchucktingle's book Camp Damascus has arrived! (The publishers were kind enough to send me an advanced copy when I mentioned that I had ordered a copy but time was not kind to me as it was Finish Good Omens and Wrap Things Up Before the Strike world, and I had no personal reading time. So I'm really looking forward to settling down to read it.)

[torpublishinggroup]

GET BOOKT

A guide of books to gift the people in your life and yourself!

For the people looking to put a different kind of magic into their holidays…

The Fragile Threads of Power by V. E. Schwab

For the genre connoisseur with a love for high concepts in short form… 

Africa Risen edited by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, & Zelda Knight (now in paperback!)

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Bookshops & Bonedust by @travisbaldree

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For those who love (or possibly are 👀) gay werewolves

Wolfsong by TJ Klune

For the mutual who devoured the epic highs and lows of Riverdale and craves more…

The Luminaries by Susan Dennard, now in paperback!)

━ ˖°˖ ☾☆☽ ˖°˖ ━

For your brave and luckless friend, constantly trapped in transit purgatory and upset about it…

The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw & Richard Kadrey

For the true buckaroos trotting beside you…

Camp Damascus by @drchucktingle

For the friend who says “but have we considered burning it all down?” on an alarming and refreshingly regular basis…

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

━ ˖°˖ ☾☆☽ ˖°˖ ━

For the friend who has a hot date on Friday night (with their book)...

Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Starter Villain by @jscalzi

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Not enough books? We agree. Check out our other GET BOOKT guide.

[drchucktingle]

autistic expression in a neurotypical art gallery

this morning i thought i would talk about AUTHOR VOICE specifically when it comes to AUTISM. as autistic author i have learned to turn the dial up and down when writing characters. rose from CAMP DAMASCUS is basically exactly where i rest on spectrum and this shows in a few ways

in roses internal monolog you will see that she uses phrases like ‘my friend’ to talk about folks where neurotypical buckaroos might just use first name. or with her parents she will think of them in FIRST NAME instead of ‘mom’ or 'dad’. this is way many autistic buds THINK

to explain this trot I will say it is not a way of disrespect or anything like that, it is simply that these terms are TECHNICALLY all correct and interchangeable. socially, autistic buds often learn to mask by pinpointing WHEN to use these words that logically the same to us.

in CAMP DAMASCUS i left these things in to create character, but if you go back in my writing you will see it. in TINGLERS this is because they are honest in PUNK ROCK way. unfiltered expressions. in earlier novels its admittedly just because i did not realize it was unusual yet

point is, ROSES internal dialog in camp damascus is neurodivergent and i CHOSE not to change her thought process in this way, because we are BOTH autistic. this can be a risk because some neurotypical buckaroos will read it and just think ‘what a strange way. this is bad writing’

camp damascus reviews are actually very good it is a very well received book by any measure, but you will see some folks kind of making fun of these traits (i do not think they would do this if they knew it was authentic autistic way BUT we cannot educate EVERYONE on this trot)

POINT IS i am now faced with an artistic choice in later books. do i write with my AUTISTIC voice even though some neurotypical readers find it awkward? in technical sense some readers WILL think each book is better if i eliminate my autistic tendencies in later edits

my advice is this: character voice IS SO IMPORTANT, but a big part of writing is finding the place between YOUR voice and your CHARACTER voice where both are authentically existing in some way. like acting, you are always bringing something of yourself even when you 'disappear'

when writing BURY YOUR GAYS i did not plan to make misha on the spectrum, but misha is part of me and i am on the spectrum. what i have realized over time is that ALL OF MY CHARACTERS will have these traits in some way because i wrote them, and i will never disappear completely

so when edits came for BURY YOUR GAYS and misha, i took that dial and i turned it farther towards neurotypical than i did with rose, BUT I DID NOT TURN IT OFF COMPLETELY. in literal sense, i left some of those ‘my friends’, because i will always bring MY VOICE to my art as well

i am proud of being on the spectrum. while my voice may not hit every convention of ‘good writing’ it is authentically ‘MY writing’ and i think that is more important than any outside checklist for ‘correct literary expression’. and guess what THE RESULTS ARE IN, MY BOOKS DO WELL

so if you are an artist getting feedback or reviews, consider which parts you can LEARN FROM and grow and change, and which parts are just AUTHENTICALLY YOU. because while your honesty may defy conventions and seem unusual to some folks, IT IS OFTEN WHAT MAKES YOUR ART SING

feel free to turn that dial marked 'YOUR TRUE VOICE' up and down when it makes sense. i do this all the time. but i have long since decided i will never turn that dial OFF completely. your voice is your POWER buckaroo, dont be afraid to sing with it

[owlmylove]

Chuck Tingle Interview with Publishers Weekly

[secondimpact]

[text ID= "Sexual deviance," I whisper under my breath, repeating the words of my mother on the day I left. "The daughter thinks she's in love with a beautiful, sweet girl who accepts her exactly the way she is. How do you help her?"

The words are so soft that nobody can hear me, but I give it a moment of consideration all the same.

I didn't have an answer at the time, but by now an understanding has grown within me. It's not about the solution, because the question is flawed. There's nothing deviant about me.

If I had to reply, though, I'd consider the new family I've suddenly found myself with, the ones who accept me exactly as I am. I'd consider the way I feel right now in the passenger seat of this car, simmering with joy despite the horrific and dangerous mission I'm about to embark upon.

The answer is simple.

I'd love her. (italicised for emphasis) /ID]

[xerox-candybar]

I did this! I DID THIS!!!

In middle school and high school, I prepared conversation topics to facilitate social interactions at parties (and I sometimes even wrote them down) and then in my twenties I explained this to a therapist and she said I was weird!!!

I’m less than 50 pages in, but I am so grateful for this unique and likable narrator. I wish I could have shown this to myself ten, twenty years ago. I’m literally tearing up right now.

Edited to add: this is from Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle. I was so happy to see this I added it in the tags but not in the original.

[tooquirkytolose]

Happy Campers :)

(oooh you wanna read Camp Damascus, ooh you wanna read Camp Damascus so baadd!!)

[lucky-numberme]

"I think a lot of my work is dealing with the gravity of agnosticism— of saying 'I don't know', of staring into the endless cosmic void and standing bravely before it."

— Chuck Tingle, Chuck Tingle and Riding the Lonesome Train, Talking Scared podcast

[emotionalsupportaudino]

I'm going to fight Dr Chuck Tingle with my fists and I will lose

"Slowly disconnecting from your community--from your family--is difficult, and while it seems like unearthing their sinister motives and dark secrets might make the process easier, it will never entirely quell the pain. "I've been avoiding this dark ache by keeping my mind busy whilemy body couldn't be, but it hasn't gone away. The sadness is still there, lurking in the corner like a pale demon in a red polo, just waiting to finally be acknowledged. "That acknowledgement could arrive after several decades, or it could happen tonight, but the time will come. Eventually I'll have to fully contend with this simple fact: the love I was promised is conditional."

WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT, SIR? WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO DO THIS TO ME AGAIN AFTER THE "THEY JUST DON'T CARE" BUT FROM STRAIGHT?

Anyway, go read Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle . If you like horror you're gonna love it. If you're queer, deconstructed from religion, or neurodivergent, you're gonna feel seen.

I've already written down so much to talk to my therapist about when she's back from vacation.

[punkahudsonia]

I am about one third of the way into Camp Damascus and I feel so goddamned seen. As a neurodivergent Queer girl from Montana, as the survivor of an especially heinous and weird sect of Christianity, as a child whose sin and salvation was curiosity, as someone who had to survive all her frameworks crumbling under the weight of their untruths, I feel so goddamned fucking SEEN

And to know that I can trust @drchucktingle to tell this kind of story, to acknowledge all the ways my growing up was a kind of horror story, to scare and unsettle me and do it in a way that honors his Queer protagonist and all of us who were once in her shoes? You better fucking believe that this proves love.

[mbrainspazart]

Thought I could handle a spooky little horror novel—did not expect 'em to come at me with the existential horrors of being a queer child of american evangelicals 😰

[neil-gaiman]

My copy of @drchucktingle's book Camp Damascus has arrived! (The publishers were kind enough to send me an advanced copy when I mentioned that I had ordered a copy but time was not kind to me as it was Finish Good Omens and Wrap Things Up Before the Strike world, and I had no personal reading time. So I'm really looking forward to settling down to read it.)

[quiltingwitch]

Making a jacket I can wear for pride, inspired by the singular ✨Chuck Tingle✨

The color choices were inspired by pride flags. I tried to fit in as many as possible, and I have room on the rest of the jacket to add more in the future. Rather than representing my specific identity I aimed to include as many gender and sexual identities as I could fit. We are all blooming together.

Chuck Tingle’s writing often reminds me to express my joy and creativity out loud, and helps to focus me on creating art through love. I’m so grateful and glad to live in a place where I can celebrate myself and my community. This jacket is an expression of that emotion.

A highlight of my summer- I wore my pride garden jacket to the Camp Damascus book tour, and got my bandana signed! It is now my favorite decoration in my sewing space 💖

[drchucktingle]

VERY COOL

bit.ly/CampDamascus

[torpublishinggroup]

This advertisement is for a new horror novel called Camp Damascus, from two time Hugo Award finalist Chuck Tingle. 

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

Rose is a teen growing up in the God-fearing town of Neverton, Montana. Whenever she has an impure thought she pukes flies. 

Camp Damascus is the self-styled most effective conversion camp in the US of A.

Nestled high up in the mountains above Neverton, a life free from sin awaits. 

[tundrakatiebean]

This made me start sobbing so hard

[image description: a quote card from kindle quotes reading “My birth family never understood these subtle movements, either ignoring them completely or reacting with downright contempt. However, my chosen family doesn't seem to mind. In fact, they're quite happy to dance along.” Chuck Tingle Camp Damascus