# Chuck Tingle
**Chuck Tingle** is the pseudonym of an anonymous American author of absurdist queer erotica and, since 2023, of horror novels, known for hundreds of self-published short works called "Tinglers" with titles such as *Pounded in the Butt by My Own Butt* and *Space Raptor Butt Invasion*[1](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html). His first traditionally published novel, the queer horror story *Camp Damascus*, appeared from Tor Nightfire in July 2023[2](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781250874627). He describes himself as a [USA Today](https://www.edgepedia.org/usa-today) bestselling author, a two-time [Hugo Award](https://www.edgepedia.org/hugo-award) finalist, a [Locus Award](https://www.edgepedia.org/locus-award) winner, and the recipient of the 2025 Loud Hands Award for Autistic Storytellers[3](https://www.chucktingle.com/about.html).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Identity | Pseudonymous and anonymous; appears in a bubblegum pink bag reading "LOVE IS REAL" over a white karate gi, with sunglasses[1](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html) |
| Erotica output | More than 300 self-published absurdist erotic shorts ("Tinglers") since 2014's *My Billionaire Triceratops Craves Gay Ass*[1](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html) |
| Hugo recognition | Finalist for the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Short Story for *Space Raptor Butt Invasion*, nominated amid a far-right slate campaign; lost to Naomi Kritzer's "Cat Pictures Please"[4](https://lithub.com/how-a-self-published-writer-of-gay-erotica-beat-sci-fis-sad-puppiesat-their-own-game/) |
| Horror novels | *Camp Damascus* (Tor Nightfire, July 2023), *Bury Your Gays* (2024), *Lucky Day* (Tor Nightfire, 240 pp., 2025), and *Fabulous Bodies* (2026)[2](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781250874627) • [5](https://webmail.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/lucky-day) • [6](https://barorint.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Baror-International-Spring-2026.pdf) |
| Stated biography | Born in Home of Truth, Utah; lives in Los Angeles, California; claims a doctorate in "holistic massage" from DeVry University, which offers no such degree[3](https://www.chucktingle.com/about.html) • [1](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html) |
| Readership | 529 distinct works on Goodreads with an average rating of 3.87 across about 104,500 ratings; *Bury Your Gays* holds 4.02 from about 35,400 ratings[7](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10788353.Chuck_Tingle) |
| Representation | Literary agent DongWon Song at Howard Morhaim Literary[2](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781250874627) |
## The Tinglers
Tingle began self-publishing erotica through Amazon in 2014 with *My Billionaire Triceratops Craves Gay Ass* and has since released more than 300 of the shorts he calls "Tinglers"[1](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html). The covers are stock-image collages, and the titles take on a [Mad Libs](https://www.edgepedia.org/mad-libs) quality, generally beginning "Pounded in the Butt by...", with the blank filled by whatever supernatural creature, sentient object, or personified concept strikes his fancy[1](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html). Examples range from mythical beasts (*Open Wide For The Handsome Sabertooth Dentist Who Is Also A Ghost*) to abstract concepts (*Turned Gay By The Existential Dread That I May Actually Be A Character In A Chuck Tingle Book*), topical commentary (*I Freed This Handsome Cargo Ship From The Suez Canal And Now He's Stuck In My Butt*), and recursive metatextual entries such as *Pounded In The Butt By My Book "Pounded In The Butt By My Own Butt"*[8](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/sep/22/chuck-tingle-dinosaur-erotica-books-hot-tigers-handsome-boats-john-mulaney-netflix-talkshow-everybody-live). One commentator argues that the joke is delivered primarily in the title and blurb, with the action of the story fairly self-evident from there[9](https://refereeingandreflection.wordpress.com/2019/09/10/pounded-in-the-butt-by-a-handsome-dd-reskin/).
The catalog has widened over time. His early stories centered on cisgender men and gay sex, and later stories added trans characters and asexual relationships[10](https://www.yorkvision.co.uk/features/interview-proving-love-is-real-with-chuck-tingle/30/03/2021). He has also published outside the erotica line, including the humor book *Chuck Tingle's Complete Guide To Romance* (2015), which reviewers describe as a mix of genuine advice and obviously terrible advice, including a chapter of spells[11](https://smutreport.com/2022/12/09/review-dr-chuck-tingles-complete-guide-to-romance-by-chuck-tingle-2015/).
## The persona
The persona is central to the work. In a 2023 Publishers Weekly interview conducted over Zoom from his Los Angeles home, Tingle wore a gray T-shirt, a white karate gi, sunglasses, and a pink bag over his head, and insisted he was not doing a bit: "most of the time, I am being sincere, and that just gets a dang laugh"[1](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html). He speaks with a halting, twangy prosody and a private vocabulary in which people in general are "buds" and his fans are "buckaroos," and he describes himself as a buckaroo on the autism spectrum[1](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html).
His stated biography holds that he was born in Home of Truth, Utah, raised in a conservative environment, and lives with his adult son Jon, who helps manage his career; he tells a story in which his son awarded him a printed "doctorate" after he completed a holistic massage degree[10](https://www.yorkvision.co.uk/features/interview-proving-love-is-real-with-chuck-tingle/30/03/2021) • [12](https://nothingintherulebook.com/2018/04/30/creatives-in-profile-interview-with-dr-chuck-tingle/). Publishers Weekly notes that [DeVry University](https://www.edgepedia.org/devry-university) offers no such degree[1](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html). When asked his age, he requests that it be printed as "unknown," citing "legitimately mysterious circumstances" around his birth[1](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html). His stated mission is to "prove love is real," which he calls the most important tool for resisting the endless cosmic void[3](https://www.chucktingle.com/about.html). Commentators disagree about whether the persona is an earnest individual or a fictional creation in the manner of J.T. LeRoy, used to satirize current events and to talk about empathy for neuro-atypical people[13](https://reactormag.com/excellent-writing-advice-from-erotica-author-chuck-tingle/).
## The 2016 Hugo nomination
Tingle was catapulted to wider prominence in 2016, when a far-right group of science fiction and fantasy authors nominated him for a Hugo Award in an attempt to troll a ceremony they perceived as rewarding diverse authors at the expense of straight white men[1](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html). He responded by collecting donations for victims of online abuse and asking the games writer [Zoë Quinn](https://www.edgepedia.org/zoe-quinn) to attend the ceremony in his stead[1](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html) • [13](https://reactormag.com/excellent-writing-advice-from-erotica-author-chuck-tingle/). *Space Raptor Butt Invasion* lost the Best Short Story category to Naomi Kritzer's "Cat Pictures Please"; Kritzer thanked him from the stage for "his outstanding performance art"[4](https://lithub.com/how-a-self-published-writer-of-gay-erotica-beat-sci-fis-sad-puppiesat-their-own-game/). He later wrote a Tingler titled *Pounded By My Hugo Award Loss*[8](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/sep/22/chuck-tingle-dinosaur-erotica-books-hot-tigers-handsome-boats-john-mulaney-netflix-talkshow-everybody-live). Both his Nightfire editor, Kelly Lonesome, and his agent cite the episode as their introduction to his work[1](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html).
## Horror novels with Tor Nightfire
**Camp Damascus** (July 2023) was Tingle's full-length, traditionally published debut, an "eerie but empowering queer horror story" set in the Montana town of Neverton, home to a Christian sect whose conversion therapy program gives the book its name[2](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781250874627). Its autistic lesbian narrator, Rose Darling, begins vomiting bugs and seeing demonic apparitions whenever she feels desire toward women[2](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781250874627). The novel was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel and received starred reviews from Library Journal and Booklist[14](https://lesbianromancereads.com/2026/08/24/camp-damascus-review/).
**Bury Your Gays** followed in 2024, a horror story in which a Hollywood screenwriter's work comes to life, touching on the struggle of preserving LGBTQ history[15](https://www.librarything.com/a/13702330/Chuck-Tingle) • [16](https://cdnc.heyzine.com/files/uploaded/v3/2cf75364ca2005ee5063a677bbe5137d3bb1e541.pdf). **Lucky Day** (2025) follows Vera, a former statistics professor and survivor of the "Low-Probability Event," a catastrophe that killed nearly 8 million people worldwide; one reviewer described it as half "The X-Files," half "Poker Face," with an organizing metaphor drawn from quantum physics[5](https://webmail.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/lucky-day). **Fabulous Bodies**, about an influencer who is also a grave robber, appeared in 2026; an agency catalog called it "easily his best book yet"[6](https://barorint.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Baror-International-Spring-2026.pdf) • [17](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/chuck-tingles-latest-butt-centric-work-of-erotic-fiction-is-about-warhammer-40-000-of-all-things/). A further horror novel, *Rainbow Capital*, about a struggling actress drawn into a queer-focused investment startup in Santa Monica, was announced for preorder[18](https://www.chucktingle.com/).
He has continued releasing Tinglers alongside the novels; a 2026 entry, *Pounded In The Butt By The Physical Manifestation Of Spending An Irresponsible Portion Of My Income On Warpounder 40k Miniatures*, drew on his own history of playing [Warhammer 40,000](https://www.edgepedia.org/warhammer-40-000) and Warhammer Fantasy Battle[17](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/chuck-tingles-latest-butt-centric-work-of-erotic-fiction-is-about-warhammer-40-000-of-all-things/).
## Other projects and recognition
Beyond fiction, Tingle released the tabletop role-playing game *The Tingleverse: The Official Chuck Tingle Role-Playing Game* in 2019[15](https://www.librarything.com/a/13702330/Chuck-Tingle). In 2017 researchers trained DeepTingle, a text prediction and classification system built on his collected works, described as a very specific, internally consistent but externally eccentric dataset[19](https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.03557). He reached a broader television audience in 2025 when, as a caller on the dinosaur-themed week of [John Mulaney](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-mulaney)'s Netflix talk show *Everybody's Live*, he introduced himself as an author of dinosaur erotica and described his Hugo nomination[8](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/sep/22/chuck-tingle-dinosaur-erotica-books-hot-tigers-handsome-boats-john-mulaney-netflix-talkshow-everybody-live).
His awards, as listed on his own site, include USA Today bestselling status, two Hugo Award finalist nods, a Bram Stoker Award nomination, a [Goodreads](https://www.edgepedia.org/goodreads) award nomination, Locus Award and Dragon Award wins, an Audie Award win, Golden Poppy finalist standing, and the 2025 Loud Hands Award for Autistic Storytellers[3](https://www.chucktingle.com/about.html). His work has been featured in Publishers Weekly, The New York Times, Slate, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and NPR, among other outlets[3](https://www.chucktingle.com/about.html).
## Themes
Reviewers consistently identify sincerity beneath the absurdity. The Guardian describes his public manner as guileless earnestness, and Reactor notes that the Chuck persona has been expanded into a way to talk about empathy and understanding for neuro-atypical people[8](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/sep/22/chuck-tingle-dinosaur-erotica-books-hot-tigers-handsome-boats-john-mulaney-netflix-talkshow-everybody-live) • [13](https://reactormag.com/excellent-writing-advice-from-erotica-author-chuck-tingle/). Academic analysis of the Tinglers observes that the extraordinary physical forms of his romantic leads, from dinosaurs to cyborgs to sentient machines, go entirely unremarked upon in the text; as deconstructions of pornography and its tropes, the stories make a point of upsetting hierarchies that prioritize the human body[20](https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/E0/05/74/43/00001/Elliott_J.pdf).
## References
1. [Chuck Tingle Goes Mainstream...ish, Publishers Weekly (April 28, 2023)](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html)
2. [Camp Damascus review, Publishers Weekly](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781250874627)
3. [About, chucktingle.com](https://www.chucktingle.com/about.html)
4. [How a Self-Published Writer of Gay Erotica Beat Sci-Fi's Sad Puppies at their Own Game, Literary Hub (August 26, 2016)](https://lithub.com/how-a-self-published-writer-of-gay-erotica-beat-sci-fis-sad-puppiesat-their-own-game/)
5. [Lucky Day review, Washington Independent Review of Books (September 19, 2025)](https://webmail.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/lucky-day)
6. [Baror International Spring 2026 catalog](https://barorint.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Baror-International-Spring-2026.pdf)
7. [Chuck Tingle author page, Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10788353.Chuck_Tingle)
8. [Sexy dinosaurs, hot tigers and handsome ... boats? Welcome to Chuck Tingle's world of weird erotica, The Guardian (September 22, 2025)](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/sep/22/chuck-tingle-dinosaur-erotica-books-hot-tigers-handsome-boats-john-mulaney-netflix-talkshow-everybody-live)
9. [Pounded In the Butt By A Handsome D&D Reskin, Refereeing and Reflection (2019)](https://refereeingandreflection.wordpress.com/2019/09/10/pounded-in-the-butt-by-a-handsome-dd-reskin/)
10. [Interview: Proving Love is Real with Dr. Chuck Tingle, York Vision (2021)](https://www.yorkvision.co.uk/features/interview-proving-love-is-real-with-chuck-tingle/30/03/2021)
11. [Review: Dr. Chuck Tingle's Complete Guide To Romance, The Smut Report (2022)](https://smutreport.com/2022/12/09/review-dr-chuck-tingles-complete-guide-to-romance-by-chuck-tingle-2015/)
12. [Creatives in profile: interview with Dr Chuck Tingle, Nothing in the Rulebook (2018)](https://nothingintherulebook.com/2018/04/30/creatives-in-profile-interview-with-dr-chuck-tingle/)
13. [Excellent Writing Advice from Erotica Author Chuck Tingle, Reactor (January 1, 2020)](https://reactormag.com/excellent-writing-advice-from-erotica-author-chuck-tingle/)
14. [Camp Damascus Review, Lesbian Romance Reads (2026)](https://lesbianromancereads.com/2026/08/24/camp-damascus-review/)
15. [Chuck Tingle, LibraryThing](https://www.librarything.com/a/13702330/Chuck-Tingle)
16. [The Word on Reading (Bury Your Gays feature)](https://cdnc.heyzine.com/files/uploaded/v3/2cf75364ca2005ee5063a677bbe5137d3bb1e541.pdf)
17. [Chuck Tingle's latest butt-centric work of erotic fiction is about Warhammer 40,000, PC Gamer (June 25, 2026)](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/chuck-tingles-latest-butt-centric-work-of-erotic-fiction-is-about-warhammer-40-000-of-all-things/)
18. [Chuck, chucktingle.com](https://www.chucktingle.com/)
19. [DeepTingle, arXiv:1705.03557](https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.03557)
20. [University of Florida thesis on Tingle's erotic parodies](https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/E0/05/74/43/00001/Elliott_J.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Genre fiction categories › Audience, identity, and theme fiction › Gay male fiction*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license