#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #128: Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

This week I have a copy of one of the most surprising titles of the year and I gave it a STAR in Library Journal. Details below, but first, here is how you enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here to see giveaway #127. Our winner was Lauren from Carteret County [NC] Public Libraries. Now on to today's giveaway.

Chuck Tingle is famous for his small press and self published titles as much as he is for his anonymity. He has legions of fans. I highly suggest you visit his website because it is a work of art and will tell you so much about him. Here is a short version of is bio:

Chuck Tingle is a mysterious force of energy behind sunglasses and a pink mask. He is also an anonymous author of romance, horror, and fantasy. Chuck was born in Home of Truth, Utah, and now splits time between Billings, Montana and Los Angeles, California. Chuck writes to prove love is real, because love is the most important tool we have when resisting the endless cosmic void. Not everything people say about Chuck is true, but the important parts are.

From my Goodreads  review:

Three Words That Describe This Book: neurodiverse MC, cinematic, religious cults 

Draft review: Rose, a senior in high school, is a member of the Kingdom of the Pines, a church with deep ties to her local community and a national reputation for running Camp Demascus, a LGBTQ conversation camp with a 100% success rate. While hanging out with friends, Rose sees a decaying woman at the edge of the wood, wearing a red polo and nametag, as if she is at work, and she is staring straight at Rose. Engaging, curious, kind, and proudly neurodiverse, Rose carries the story as Tingle meticulously introduces distrust and confusion, even going so far as to sew unease with single word choices, building a discomfort so pervasive that readers feel it engulf Rose, layering on more and more pressure until it literally bursts, threatening to destroy everything Rose holds dear. Bonkers in all the right ways, Camp Demascus is highly entertaining, cinematic and filled with awesome monsters (both human and supernatural), all of which will lure Horror fans to its pages, but what holds it all together is the immense love at the heart of the novel.

Verdict: Tingle has a huge cult following, and his mainstream debut does not disappoint. Suggest to fans of Horror featuring religious cults and authors like V. Castro or Hailey Piper who take well worn tropes and explore them through their marginalized perspectives, creating something breathtaking and wholly new.

This book got a star because it blew me away. I had no idea what to expect from Tingle, who is so tongue in cheek all of the time, I wondered what would happen in his mainstream debut. Well I had no need to worry. 

First, he blew me away with his technical skill. Here is an example. Very early in the story the word "Eldritch" was used by the main character. It was quick and made sense in the sentence. You could have easily missed it, but I noted its use because I thought it was a mistake. And guess what. It was NOT a mistake. In fact, it was a brilliant foreshadowing of a plot twist. Bravo sir.

Second, the story is, as I said above, bonkers in all the right ways. The demons, the plot, the horror, the action, all of it great and just askew enough from what you normally read in Horror to feel breaktakinglly fresh.

Third, one of his tagline is "Love is real," and my goodness does he show this in the story. It is all centered on love and that was beautiful. But this is not to say this book doesn't have violent and visceral action sequences because it does and they are great. It also doesn't mean that there is not real terror and hate here. There is. But in the end, it is love for the win.

Thank you to Tor Nighfire for the ARC for me to give away. Camp Damascus comes out July 18th and you need to order it now!

Also, this is my final giveaway during Pride month and I think it is the perfect way to mark the end of this wonderful month.

Good luck. Remember, you enter once you are entered going forward.