View source for Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

{{infobox1
|title= Camp Damascus
|author= Chuck Tingle
|reviewer= Alex Merrick
|genre= Horror
|summary= ''Camp Damascus'' by Chuck Tingle is a horror about love. Tingle writes a novel about gay conversion therapy that is both moving and horrifying. The horror comes from both the descriptive language and the fact that gay conversion therapy is still present in our day and age.
|rating= 3.5
|buy= No
|borrow= Yes
|pages= 256
|publisher= Titan Books
|date=July 2023
|isbn= 978-1803365114
|website= https://www.chucktingle.com/
|cover=1803365110
|aznuk=1803365110
|aznus=1803365110
}}
Love is love; although humans continue to be confused by this sentiment. Gay conversion therapy is ongoing. The UK government ruled out plans to make it a crime and, in the US, nearly 700 000 adults have received it. Although it is both a secular and a religious prejudice, Chuck Tingle, in his new horror, ''Camp Damascus'', peels back the skin of Christian ''pray the gay away'' camps to show the reader the horror lurking within.

''Camp Damascus'' is a novel about the world's most effective gay conversion camp. The protagonist, Rose Darling, is a god-fearing 20-year-old who, when sexually intrusive thoughts about the same sex flood her mind, starts seeing a demon. She also starts having flashes of a different life and of Camp Damascus. Tingle writes the pervasiveness of Christianity, especially the more fanatical sects, incredibly well. The author was born in Home of Truth, Utah, so you wonder whether his upbringing surrounded by Mormons and other spiritualists colours his worldview. The sect is called Kingdom of the Pine and Tingle highlights the subtle insidiousness Christianity, and all religions, can produce. The town is very insular, everyone knows everyone's business. It makes it impossible to live your own life, especially one trapped in a closet. Although the horror involves throwing up swarms of flies and flayed people being tortured, it is the church's ability to control its ''flock'' that is the most horrifying.

Rose Darling stands out amongst the flock, she is the proverbial black sheep. Rose is curious, and it is this curiosity that Tingle highlights as being anathema to a religion that relies on blind faith. It is this curiosity that drives her story forward, ''This predisposition for deep analysis might explain why we seem to be the only ones who've manage to remember our time.'' Tingle is not specifically stating that scientific curiosity outweighs the spiritual. In fact, his argument is that a balance between science and faith is key. ''Maybe a little faith isn't so bad…Find balance.'' Although he is making a secular point as faith does not directly relate to religious faith, he coaches this belief in religious undertones.

Just to be clear, this is not an anti-religion novel. Rose comes to understand that, ''it's not so much the faith [she's] upset about, it's the hate and fear disguised as concern and charity.'' Tingle understands that there is a place for religion in society. It gives people hope and can be a force for good, for example, when the UK government ruled out plans to make gay conversion therapy a crime, it was the Church of England that spoke out against this decision.

It is the action of control disguised as concern that Tingle does not agree with. Within the novel, Christians are using demonic forces to ''cure'' homosexuality. This can be read as a metaphor for the hypocrisy of some Christians. They are willing to go against Jesus' teachings when it comes to their own prejudices. They preach love and forgiveness but will hurt people if it furthers their own twisted view of Christianity.

Unfortunately, this fantastic message is let down by Tingle's often cringe inducing dialogue and descriptive language. There is a lot of telling and not showing throughout, ''I turn to face the birthday boy, giving him my full attention and making sure he believes I've genuinely accepted his apology.'' Although the language lets it down, it is still a well plotted novel with a fully formed central character.

Rose Darling is ''living, breathing proof that ''conversions'' are all smoke and mirrors… Nobody who's graduated the Camp Damascus program is ex-gay, they're just even more tormented than before.'' Conversion therapy just creates more pain, more secrets and more lies. Tingle's new novel, although hampered by his writing, is a good novel with an even better message.
 
If you want to read similar books, check out [[Burnt Tongues: An Anthology of Transgressive Short Stories by Chuck Palahniuk, Dennis Widmyer and Richard Thomas]] for some more outsider horror. Read [[My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix ]]for another all-star of the new Horror scene.
 
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