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Chuck Tingle
Chuck Tingle writes unique stories that often explore themes of identity and acceptance. His works include the horror novels Bury Your Gays and Camp Damascus, as well as the fantasy novel Lucky Day.
Camp Damascus
Synopsis
Camp Damascus, nestled in the Montana wilderness, is the world's most effective gay conversion camp. Parents send their children from around the world to experience the program's 100% success rate. But this story isn't about that. This story is about Rose Darling, a God-fearing young lady who can't stop puking up flies. It's about her parents who ignore her visions of an eerie woman with sagging, pale skin who watches from the woods. It's about the desires deep inside Rose that don't seem to make any sense, and her waking nightmares that are beginning to feel more like memories. And maybe, just maybe, it's a little bit about Camp Damascus after all.
Vibe
Genres
Characters
Rose DarlingProtagonist
A devout teenager in Neverton, Montana who starts vomiting up flies and having visions of a pale woman watching from the woods.
Martina (Camp Damascus)Supporting
Rose's close friend, toward whom Rose starts to recognize feelings she doesn't fully understand.
Saul (Camp Damascus)Supporting
A former counselor at Camp Damascus who, like Rose, retains more memories of what happened there than most alumni.
Luke DarlingSupporting
Rose's father, a strict enforcer of the family's devotion to the Kingdom of the Pine church.
Lisa DarlingSupporting
Rose's mother, caught between the family's faith and her daughter's growing unraveling of it.
Frequently asked questions
Did Camp Damascus win any awards?
Camp Damascus was a finalist for the 2023 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel (won by Tananarive Due's The Reformatory) and a finalist for the 2023 CALIBA Golden Poppy Award in the Octavia E. Butler category (won by Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede). It was initially nominated in the Bram Stoker Award's Young Adult category before the Horror Writers Association reclassified it as an adult novel.