Chuck Tingle
Pen nameDr. Chuck Tingle
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Genre
Years active2014–present
Website
www.chucktingle.com

Chuck Tingle is a pseudonymous author, primarily of niche gay erotica.[1][2] The stories mainly take the form of monster erotica, featuring romantic and sexual encounters with dinosaurs, imaginary creatures, anthropomorphized inanimate objects, and even abstract concepts. He self-publishes his romance works through Amazon, primarily as ebooks, but also as paperbacks and audiobooks.[3][4][5][6]

In 2016, his short story Space Raptor Butt Invasion was a finalist for the Hugo Awards, the result of a coordinated campaign which he disavowed. The following year he was a finalist for the Hugo for Best Fan Writer.

Personal life

Little has been confirmed about Tingle's identity, beyond the fact that the name "Chuck Tingle" is a pseudonym.[7] A photo presented as a portrait of Tingle was found on a stock photo web site.[3][8] When appearing in person, Tingle maintains his anonymity by wearing sunglasses over a pink sack on his head, which has "love is real" written on it in black marker.[9]

He presents himself as a bisexual[10][11] taekwondo grandmaster who was born in Home of Truth, Utah (a ghost town established in 1933 as a religious commune and abandoned in 1977[8]), acquired a PhD in holistic massage at DeVry University (which does not offer such a degree),[12] and now lives in Billings, Montana. His Facebook account and website state that he has Autism[13][14] and has a son named Jon.[7]

In 2016, a person presenting as Jon stated in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session that he edits his father's work for publication and provides day-to-day care for him.[7] Jon made a number of claims that have remained unconfirmed or denied by Tingle himself, including that Tingle is an autistic savant, and that the anthropomorphism in many stories reflects "identity issues that he has been working through his whole life".[15][7][12]

Tingle has a distinctive style of conversation, such as consistently referring to Jon as "son name of Jon" and his fans as "buckaroos" and "ladybucks".[10][12] He claims this is affected for privacy reasons.[14]

Career

Tingle began self-publishing erotic fiction through Amazon's ebook service in 2014, with the titles My Billionaire Triceratops Craves Gay Ass, Pounded by President Bigfoot, and Taken by the Gay Unicorn Biker. His work includes erotic encounters with personifications of inanimate objects, such as I'm Gay for My Living Billionaire Jet Plane and Creamed in the Butt by My Handsome Living Corn. Other titles feature abstract concepts as sexual partners or involve metatextual references, such as Angry Man Pounded by the Fear of His Latent Gayness over a Dinosaur Transitioning into a Unicorn, Slammed in the Butt by My Hugo Award Nomination, and Pounded in the Butt by My Book "Pounded in the Butt by My Book 'Pounded in the Butt by My Book "Pounded in the Butt by My Own Butt"'" (referring to a series of previous publications). Tingle often incorporates current news stories or public figures into his titles, using sound-alike or look-alike names, such as Domald Tromp's Ass is Haunted by the Handsome Ghost of His Incriminating Tax Returns and Billionaire Elons Mugg Takes the Handsome Planet Mars in his Butt.[16][17][7]

Tingle refers to his stories as "Tinglers". Although they typically feature apparently cisgender male couples, stories also feature bisexual, lesbian, and trans characters. He stresses the consensuality of the encounters, and the stories end happily with "an optimistic, philosophical moral about love and togetherness".[12]

Tingle says he uses Photoshop software to create his own book covers,[18] which usually feature a photo of a muscular, bare-chested man juxtaposed with an image of the entity whose sexual escapades are featured in the story.

In 2019, Tingle was one of the special guests featured on YouTuber Hbomberguy's charity livestream for the UK trans children's support group Mermaids. A few days later, Tingle published a book titled Pounded in the Butt By the Handsome Sentient Manifestation of My Twitch Stream.[19]

2016 Hugo nomination

In 2016, Tingle's Space Raptor Butt Invasion was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in the prestigious Hugo Awards for science fiction.[20] This stemmed from a voting campaign by the alt-right "Rabid Puppies" group, a faction of the Sad Puppies movement that objects to modern social trends in science fiction.[12][21][22][23] However, Tingle disavowed the campaign, saying via his Twitter account that it was the work of "devils",[12] and that if his book were to win, video game designer and anti-harassment activist Zoë Quinn would accept the award on his behalf.[24][25] His story did not win, and he subsequently published Pounded in the Butt by My Hugo Award Loss.[26] In 2017 he was a finalist for a second Hugo Award, this time for Best Fan Writer.[27][28] He did not win, and later published Pounded in the Butt by My Second Hugo Award Nomination.[29]

Mainstream publication

In July 2022, Tor Books signed Tingle to a two-book deal under its Nightfire horror imprint. Camp Damascus was published in July 2023, with Bury Your Gays scheduled for release in 2024.[30] Camp Damascus reached number 32 on the USA Today bestseller list on July 26, 2023.[31]

Selected works

Novels

Romance novellas

Harry Potter parody

Platonic

Satire

Self-referential

Compilations

Other

Other projects

In 2016, Zoë Quinn announced that they were developing an erotic adventure game with the working title Project Tingler, in collaboration with Tingle.[33] The game was finally named "Kickstarted in the Butt: A Chuck Tingle Digital Adventure" and a Kickstarter campaign was started in October 2016 asking for $69,420 to fund the project. The game raised over $85,000 from 2,450 backers in a couple of weeks.[34] As of 2023, the game has not been released.

During Donald Trump's presidential campaign, Tingle created the web site TrumpDebateFacts.com, which purported to fact-check various imaginary Trump claims, mostly attempts to hide Trump's supposed non-human origins (such as "I am not a poorly disguised mass of crabs wearing the skin of bloated human"). Tingle also released a number of satirical novellas featuring Domald Tromp [sic], including Slammed In The Butt By Domald Tromp's Attempt To Avoid Accusations Of Plagiarism By Removing All Facts Or Concrete Plans From His Republican National Convention Speech.[35]

In 2017 a group announced DeepTingle, a computerized text prediction and classification system based on a database of Tingle's fiction, providing a means to "foreground and confront the norms embedded in data-driven creativity and productivity assistance tools".[36]

In 2018, a podcast titled Pounded in the Butt By My Own Podcast, based on Tingle's works, debuted in association with the producers of Welcome to Night Vale, a horror-fantasy podcast.[37] Each episode is essentially an audiobook version of one of Tingle's novellas often read by an alum of the Night Vale podcast (including Cecil Baldwin and Mara Wilson).[38] Another podcast, My Friend Chuck, co-hosted by Tingle and writer/comedian McKenzie Goodwin, aired from 2019 to 2020.[39]

Tingle has been a strong advocate for transgender rights. Starting in 2020 he began publishing satires of Harry Potter featuring Trans Wizard Harriet Porber, which became some of his more popular books. In 2022, he purchased the domain governorabbott.com and used it to protest Texas Governor Greg Abbott's policies impacting transgender individuals.[40]

References

  1. ^ Salandra, Adam (November 8, 2015). "Meet The Man Behind "Space Raptor Butt Invasion" And Other Insane Gay Erotica On Amazon". NewNowNext. Viacom International. Archived from the original on July 13, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  2. ^ Jones, Ralph (January 5, 2015). "I Got Erotica Master Chuck Tingle to Workshop My Dinosaur Erotica". Jezebel. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on July 16, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  3. ^ a b Mancuso, Vinnie (March 2, 2015). "Meet Dr. Chuck Tingle, the Author Behind Amazon's Most Absurd Gay Erotica". Observer.com. Observer Media. Archived from the original on July 14, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  4. ^ Votta, Rae (January 29, 2015). "Everything you need to know about gay dinosaur erotica". The Daily Dot. Daily Dot Media. Archived from the original on July 27, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  5. ^ Harvey-Jenner, Catriona (March 2, 2015). "There is now Gay Erotica about #TheDress in the world". Cosmopolitan. Hearst Magazines UK. Archived from the original on August 13, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  6. ^ Kramer Bussel, Rachel (April 23, 2015). "In the wake of "50 Shades of Grey," what's even better than sex? Ridiculous sex". Salon. Salon Media Group. Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  7. ^ a b c d e Barnett, David (May 19, 2016). "Dinosaur porn or Rabid Puppy pastiche? The strange story of Chuck Tingle". The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  8. ^ a b "Pounded in the butt by the mystery of Chuck Tingle, Amazon's weird erotica king". The Daily Dot. April 25, 2016. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  9. ^ Shatto, Rachel (August 10, 2023). "Chuck Tingle On His Chilling & Powerful New Novel 'Camp Damascus'". Pride. Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  10. ^ a b Tingle, Chuck [@ChuckTingle] (August 14, 2019). "it is interesting that buckaroos would think i do not know how to write on ladybucks being attractive when i have loved sweet barbara for years even had son with her. i feel for other ignored buckaroos loving both buds and ladybuds. erasing of the bibuckaroo way is REAL issue" (Tweet). Retrieved August 16, 2019 – via Twitter.
  11. ^ Tingle, Chuck [@ChuckTingle] (August 14, 2019). "CONSIDER THIS i have been writing tinglers for half decade now and talking about my wife whole time. i have NEVER ONCE seen my way referred to as bi author only sometimes critized [sic] as 'confused'" (Tweet). Retrieved August 16, 2019 – via Twitter.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Romano, Aja. "The secret behind internet erotica icon Chuck Tingle: his own life may be the best story he's ever written". Vox. Archived from the original on October 20, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  13. ^ "Chuck Tingle". www.facebook.com. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  14. ^ a b "Questions". Chuck Tingle. Archived from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  15. ^ "IamA Jon Tingle, son of bestselling romance author Chuck Tingle who is responsible for titles like Space Raptor Butt Invasion and Pounded In The Butt By My Own Butt. I edit and help him publish his books. AMAA! : IAmA". November 25, 2016. Archived from the original on November 25, 2016. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  16. ^ "Chuck Tingle". www.amazon.com. Archived from the original on January 28, 2015. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  17. ^ Votta, Rae (June 20, 2015). "Here's the guide to Amazon's best niche erotica you didn't know you needed". The Daily Dot. Daily Dot Media. Archived from the original on July 20, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  18. ^ Mancuso, Vinnie (February 3, 2015). "Meet Dr. Chuck Tingle, the Author Behind Amazon's Most Absurd Gay Erotica". Observer.com. Archived from the original on July 5, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  19. ^ Tingle, Chuck [@chucktingle] (January 26, 2019). "after joining videogame stream of @Hbomberguy i have learned all about website name of twitch and this has inspired new tingler POUNDED IN THE BUTT BY THE HANDSOME SENTIENT MANIFESTATION OF MY TWITCH STREAM perfect for reading aloud with online buds https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N5GK2T8/ pic.twitter.com/fPHtqfoxks" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. ^ Barnett, David (April 26, 2016). "Hugo awards shortlist dominated by rightwing campaign". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Archived from the original on April 27, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  21. ^ Marcotte, Amanda (August 23, 2016). "The alt-right attacks sci-fi: How the Hugo Awards got hijacked by Trumpian-style culture warriors". Salon. Archived from the original on November 3, 2016. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
  22. ^ II, Vann R. Newkirk (September 2, 2016). "How N.K. Jemisin Won the Hugo Award". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
  23. ^ Schaub, Michael (April 27, 2016). "How did 'Space Raptor Butt Invasion' by Chuck Tingle become a Hugo finalist?". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 11, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  24. ^ Hathaway, Jay (May 5, 2016). "Chuck Tingle counter-trolls the Gamergaters who nominated his erotica for a Hugo Award". The Daily Dot. Daily Dot Media. Archived from the original on July 13, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  25. ^ Feldman, Brian (May 6, 2016). "'Pounded in the Butt' Literary Genius Chuck Tingle Trolls Right-Wing Sci-Fi Nerds". Select All. New York Media. Archived from the original on November 13, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  26. ^ Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia. "Chuck Tingle celebrates Hugo loss with new 'Pounded in the Butt' ebook". the Daily Dot. Archived from the original on July 5, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  27. ^ "2017 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. December 31, 2016. Archived from the original on August 12, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  28. ^ Kaila, Hale-Stern (April 4, 2017). "Here Are the 2017 Hugo Award Finalists but Spoiler Alert Chuck Tingle Should Win Every Award". www.themarysue.com. Archived from the original on June 13, 2020. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  29. ^ Kehe, Jason (April 6, 2017). "The Hidden, Wildly NSFW Scandal of the Hugo Nominations". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  30. ^ Dunn, Thom (July 29, 2022). "Chuck Tingle to go mainstream with new books published by Tor Nightfire". Boing Boing. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  31. ^ "Best-selling Booklist". USA Today. July 26, 2023. Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  32. ^ Cramer |, Phoebe. "Chuck Tingle Goes Mainstream...ish". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on May 19, 2023. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  33. ^ "Zoë Quinn on Life Since Gamergate and Her Erotic New Video Game – Waypoint". August 24, 2016. Archived from the original on November 5, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  34. ^ Andriessen, CJ (September 3, 2017). "This trailer for the Chuck Tingle game is going to pound you in the butt". Destructoid (published September 3, 2017). Archived from the original on August 5, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
  35. ^ Romano, Aja (September 29, 2016). "Donald Trump is the ultimate cosmic horror, according to America's favorite erotica author". Vox. Archived from the original on June 4, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  36. ^ Khalifa, Ahmed; Barros, Gabriella A. B.; Togelius, Julian (May 9, 2017). "DeepTingle". arXiv:1705.03557 [cs.CL].
  37. ^ Hathaway, Jay (March 14, 2018). "Chuck Tingle Interview: From Erotic Author to Podcast". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
  38. ^ "Pounded In The Butt By My Own Podcast". Archived from the original on July 5, 2018. Retrieved July 4, 2018.
  39. ^ "My Friend Chuck". Archived from the original on October 2, 2019. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  40. ^ "Erotica Author Chuck Tingle on His Epic Governor Greg Abbott Troll". The Advocate. March 3, 2022. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.

External links

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