One of the Best Pop Horror Books of the Year Is by … This Guy?

If you've heard of Chuck Tingle, it's likely due to the wild titles of his extremely niche, parodic, self-published gay erotica, many of which have gone viral since Tingle became involved in the culture wars within the science-fiction community in the 2010s. And if that's so, you may be surprised to learn that Tingle has, over the past few years, evolved into one of the better horror/technothriller authors around. The mainstream publishing success of the author of This Handsome Sentient Baseball Hits a Home Run Into My Butt is one of the most unlikely, inspiring, and downright sweet underdog stories in book publishing, an industry not known for its abundance of sweet underdogs. Tingle's first taste of mass-culture fame came in 2016, when one of his short stories was nominated for a Hugo Award. The Hugos, presented every year at the World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon), are among the genre's most prestigious prizes.