Title: Straight
Author: Chuck Tingle
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 84 Pages
Category: Horror
Rating: 3.5 Stars
At a Glance: Straight is not for the sensitive reader. It’s a bit spendy for its length, and it could have used a proofreader, but its goal was the happy ending for a group of queer friends, and in that, its mission was accomplished.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: When a strange tear in the cosmos appears within Earth’s annual path, the consequences are disastrous. For one night a year, the vast majority of humans now undergo a frightening mental change, transforming into hateful, rage-fueled zombies who will stop at nothing to satiate their desire for brutality.
While not much is understood about this horrific mass hysteria, the demographic it effects is very specific: cisgender straight people.
A few years after the first of these tragic events, four friends from across the queer spectrum look for safety in solitude, hunkering down in a remote desert cabin for what is now known as Saturation Day. With a vaccine available for straight people to curb their violent episodes, some predict the worst is over. Others aren’t so sure.
As night falls, it becomes clear that survival isn’t guaranteed this Saturation Day.
Review: With hundreds of titles to his credit, author Chuck Tingle has made the “tingler” into a veritable cottage publishing industry. His “trot” is simple: to prove love is real. While Straight is the first of his books I’ve read, it won’t be the last thanks to his upcoming Camp Damascus. Especially now that I have firsthand experience with his brand of horror.
Straight has a message wrapped within a nightmare that occurs one day a year, in a post-“virus” world where cisgender heterosexuals become murderous zombies. In truth, it’s not an actual virus as much as it is a cosmic anomaly, which isn’t explored in depth but suits the purpose of the story. The stars misalign for twenty-four hours, for lack of a better description, and the world goes straight (pun intended) to hell. The prey is the LGBTQ+ community.
There is a vaccine available to mitigate this otherworldly phenomenon, so infer from that what you will about humans and the capacity to do something small to benefit and protect the greater good. It’s not 100% effective, though, which still allows for a certain level of peril. Performative allyship, friendship and community go hand-in-hand to create the atmosphere, conflict, message, and resolution Tingle conveys. It’s all revealed in bloody, shifty, and gruesome ways.
This book is written for an LGBTQ+ audience who face hate and discrimination every day, from various fronts. It was meant to make me (not the target audience) think, it was meant to make me feel, and it succeeded at that and then some. Straight is not for the sensitive reader. Its goal was the happy ending for a group of queer friends, and in that, its mission was accomplished.
You can buy Straight here: