Don’t Let the Corpos Win: Chuck Tingle Addresses Queerness and AI in Hollywood, A Review of Bury Your Gays

 Hello, buckaroos. I’m about to take you on a wild ride, because this book not only hits all the horrors of …. Well, horror, but also reminds us that not everyone is on the same journey in our queerness (and how difficult that can be). 

Before we get started, some trigger warnings: descriptions of child abuse, murder, homophobia, corporate rainbow washing.

What does the phrase “Bury Your Gays” mean? It’s the term for the television/movie trope that anyone whose gender or sexuality is considered diverse will not have a happy ending or will be “killed off” (whether that is appropriate to the plot or not). Chuck Tingle takes us into a world very similar to ours, where being queer of any flavor is looked down on or swept under the rug (and worse, including discriminatory regulation to keep us from being our true selves). Welcome to Hollywood, buckaroos. 

Picture by me. Fans of Tinglers will understand my choice of sticky note.

Misha has finally made it to the big time - he’s been nominated for an Oscar for a live action short film about a mouse, a little passion project that he never expected to make it big. Previously, he’s written some horror movies with villains such as The Smoker (a monster who demands a light and if you refuse… well, suffice it say the consequences are dire and Mrs. Why (a gangly creature that forces her victims to see a horrible secret from the end of the universe, leaving them unable to function). He’s also the writer for the hit television show Travelers, whose lead characters are two female agents who are heavily queer coded. The start of this novel has Misha being told that the characters cannot confess their love to each other and have both of them live. Misha refuses, and he begins to be stalked by the creatures he has previously created.

This novel also takes place when AI has finally begun to be used to take the likenesses of others and use them for movies (a huge billboard for a new blockbuster movie starring someone who had passed way before the movie was started sets the stage for this). There have been two major strikes with SAG-AFTRA (which is the union for actors, DJs, stunt artists, voice actors, and other performers, headed up as of this writing by Fran Drescher of The Nanny fame) because studios have begun talks to use AI to replace these professionals in our media, including using their likenesses and voices, in order to cut costs. 

I could write VOLUMES about how wrong it is to replace creativity with AI as opposed to using it for jobs that could be automated without losing the human element (like smarter robot vacuums that don’t try to murder you, but mop your floor and alert you to structural issues you might miss). Suffice it to say that this is an ongoing argument with a lot of industries, and it doesn’t help that it has become the biggest buzzword in corporate speak since calling your employees your family (and is just as toxic, in some respects).

Tingle addresses both the ethics of using AI to create art and what could happen when we begin to turn everything over to it, including all our decision making. We open ourselves up to being run by an algorithm that doesn’t care about emotions or humanity unless it feeds some sort of bottom line. This is AI without the Three Laws of Robotics, without control or regard. 

Beyond addressing the ethics of unregulated AI, Tingle works very hard to show a person who has not yet come out of the closet. Misha goes home for a high school reunion (something most of us avoid like the plague), where he can’t be truthful with his former friends about his relationship with Zeke. Zeke, by the way, represents what a positive, healthy relationship looks like. Although he is disappointed, he doesn’t push Misha to come out. He gives him space to deal with it, but remains present for him throughout the whole ordeal. Everyone needs a Zeke in their life. 

Chuck Tingle also represents all spectrums of queerness, calling out the lack of asexual awareness in a lot of spaces (including popular media). We have pansexuals, gays, and lesbians a’plenty. We got transfemme and transmasc galore. You want NBs? There are twenty. But who cares. No big deal. WE WANT MORE…. Asexual representation that is. (Please don’t sue me, Disney.) Misha’s best friend Tara is asexual, with a fantastic sense of fashion. She is also nearly the entire IT department for the studio that Misha works for. I. Love. Her.

Altogether, Bury Your Gays is not just a fantastic romp of a horror novel. It’s also a thoughtful examination of what it means to be queer when it becomes a matter of policy and politics, and the evils of unchecked stealing of people’s images, voices, and works by AI. It’s an excellent follow-up to Camp Damascus, as well as all of the rest of the Tingleverse.

I was very lucky to get to see Chuck Tingle live for this book launch. I’m going to include a few select pictures from that event (at the library, even!), to leave you with a bit of an idea of how awesome they are as a person. 

Remember, buckaroos, when you are ready to come out of the closet, there are Cryptids out there ready to take your hand and help you however you need, even if it is just a hug and a good book recommendation. 

The screen reads: “Tonight we are going to create a beautiful, powerful even that only exists because each of us brought some part of ourselves here and manifested a wholly unique, once on this timeline experience.” So eloquent, and so very beautiful.

Your favorite Cryptid Librarian with the Tingle themself. Such a wonderful and authentic being.

Remember, buckaroos, LOVE IS REAL. Photo by A. Mooney-Soto, my sibling in Chaos