Camp Damascus
2023
- fiction, horror
- horror
- lgtbi
- lgbtq horror
- lgbtq conversion therapy
The story
From beloved Internet icon Chuck Tingle comes a searing and earnest horror debut about the demons the queer community faces in America, the price of keeping secrets, and finding the courage to burn it all down. Welcome to Neverton, Montana: home to a God-fearing community with a heart of gold. Nestled high up in the mountains is Camp Damascus, the self-proclaimed “most effective” gay conversion camp in the country. Here, a life free from sin awaits. But the secret behind that success is anything but holy. They'll scare you straight to hell.
What it’s like
Sun-bleached mountain dread and a brisk, sardonic voice that turns sincere without warning, with the prose staying close to its characters through short, punchy scenes and flashes of dark comedy that keep cutting against rising unease. The setting is a small Montana town that presents itself as wholesome, all church-hall brightness and pine-scented summers, while the camp in the high country feels increasingly wrong, its hymns and rules hanging over every scene like a held breath. The pacing escalates steadily, and the horror leans on fear and cruelty more than lingering gore: violence arrives in sudden, sharp bursts rather than extended description, but the conversion-therapy abuse at its core is hard to sit with. The emotional arc follows queer characters refusing silence, shedding the shame they were taught, and fighting back. It suits a late-night read, a stormy weekend, or anyone who wants horror with a defiant, angry heart. Best for readers who can handle intense, emotionally raw material and want queer rage and resilience at the centre, not gentleness.
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