Chuck Tingle is a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

ous author, primarily of niche gay

erotica Erotica is art, literature or photography that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erot ...

. His stories mainly take the form of monster erotica, featuring romantic and sexual encounters with

dinosaurs Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

, imaginary creatures,

anthropomorphized Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

inanimate objects, and even abstract concepts. He self-publishes his works through

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

: primarily as

ebook An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

s, but also as

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...

s and

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

s. In 2016, his short story ''Space Raptor Butt Invasion'' was a finalist for the

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

s as the result of a coordinated campaign which he disavowed. In the following year's awards, he was a finalist for the Best Fan Writer award.

Personal life

Little has been confirmed about Tingle's identity, beyond the fact that "Chuck Tingle" is a pseudonym. A photo presented as a portrait of Tingle was found on a stock photo web site. 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. Tingle presents himself as a

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

grandmaster who was born in Home of Truth, Utah (a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

established in 1933 as a religious commune and abandoned in 1977), acquired a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in holistic massage at DeVry University (which does not offer such a degree), and now lives in

Billings, Montana Billings is the most populous Lists of populated places in the United States, city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, i ...

. Tingle is

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

. He is also

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

He has a son named Jon. In 2016, a person identifying himself as Jon stated in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session that he edits his father's work for publication and cares for him. Jon made a number of claims that have remained unconfirmed or been denied by Tingle himself, including that Tingle is a

savant Savant syndrome ( , ) is a phenomenon where someone demonstrates exceptional aptitude in one domain, such as art or mathematics, despite significant social or intellectual impairment. Those with the condition generally have a neurodevel ...

and that the anthropomorphism found in many of Tingle's works reflects "identity issues that he has been working through his whole life". Tingle displays distinct verbal tics, such as consistently referring to Jon as "son name of Jon" and calling his fans "buckaroos" or "ladybucks".

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''. 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". Tingle says he uses

Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe for Windows and macOS. It was created in 1987 by Thomas and John Knoll. It is the most used tool for professional digital art, especially in raster graphics editin ...

software to create his own book covers, 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 a benefit livestream for the British

transgender youth Transgender youth are children or adolescents who do not identify with the Sex assignment, sex they were assigned at birth. Because transgender youth are usually dependent on their parents for care, shelter, financial support, and other needs ...

support charity

Mermaids In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are ...

hosted by YouTuber

Hbomberguy Harry Brewis (born 19 September 1992), better known as Hbomberguy, is a British YouTuber and Twitch streamer. Brewis produces video essays on a variety of topics such as film, television, and video games; often combining them with arguments fro ...

. A few days later, Tingle published a book entitled ''Pounded in the Butt By the Handsome Sentient Manifestation of My

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

Stream''.

Hugo Award nominations

In 2016, Tingle's ''Space Raptor Butt Invasion'' was a finalist for the

Hugo Award for Best Short Story The Hugo Award for Best Short Story is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The short story award is available for works of fiction of ...

. This stemmed from a voting campaign by the

alt-right The alt-right (abbreviated from alternative right) is a Far-right politics, far-right, White nationalism, white nationalist movement. A largely Internet activism, online phenomenon, the alt-right originated in the United States during the late ...

"Rabid Puppies," a faction of the

Sad Puppies Sad Puppies was an unsuccessful right-wing anti-diversity voting campaign run from 2013 to 2017 and intended to influence the outcome of the annual Hugo Awards, the longest-running prize (since 1953) for science fiction or fantasy works. It wa ...

campaign that opposed diversity and "

political correctness "Political correctness" (adjectivally "politically correct"; commonly abbreviated to P.C.) is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. ...

" in the Hugo Awards. However, Tingle disavowed the campaign, saying via his Twitter account that it was the work of "devils" and that

Zoë Quinn Zoë Tiberius Quinn (born 1987) is an American video game developer, programmer, and writer. Quinn developed the interactive fiction game '' Depression Quest'', which was released in 2013. In 2014, a blog post by their ex-boyfriend sparked the ...

would accept the award on his behalf if he were to win. ''Space Raptor Butt Invasion'' did not win the award, and he subsequently published ''Pounded in the Butt by My Hugo Award Loss''. In 2017, he was a finalist for a second Hugo Award, this time for Best Fan Writer. He again did not win, and later published ''Pounded in the Butt by My Second Hugo Award Nomination.''

Mainstream publications

In July 2022,

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles. History Tor was founded by Tom Doherty, ...

signed Tingle to a two-book deal under its Nightfire horror imprint. The first book, ''Camp Damascus'', was published in July 2023. ''Camp Damascus'' reached number 32 on the ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' bestseller list on July 26, 2023. ''Camp Damascus'' explores themes of religious extremism, conversion camp, and neurodivergency. In a review for PRIDE, Derry Paver wrote, "This is the kind of horror literature that is both timeless and yet perfectly descriptive of the sad state of the world today for LGBTQ+ people." ''Camp Damascus'' was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel. ''Bury Your Gays'' was published in July 2024. Library Journal reviewed ''Bury Your Gays'' positively, writing:

Tingle’s (''Camp Damascus'') latest outing is another refreshingly original look at horror, this time mixed in with algorithmic art, commodification of identity, and coercive capitalism. His hallmark inventiveness with structure, trope, and genre come through clearly here and are balanced perfectly. Nods to fandoms that have experienced “buried gays” are sprinkled throughout the book, and love in all forms—platonic, romantic, and everything between—remains the way to beat evil. Terror comes as much from being forced into a stereotype as from being killed by a cinematic villain.

Selected works

Novels

* ''Helicopter Man Pounds Dinosaur Billionaire Ass (A Novel)'' (2015) * ''Buttageddon: The Final Days Of Pounding Ass (A Novel)'' (2015) * ''Straight'' (2021) * ''Camp Damascus'' (2023) * ''Bury Your Gays'' (2024) * ''Lucky Day'' (2025)

Romance novellas

* ''My Billionaire Triceratops'' ''Craves Gay Ass'' (2014) * ''Taken By The Gay Unicorn Biker'' (2014) * ''I'm Gay For My Living Billionaire Jet Plane'' (2015) * ''Glazed By The Gay Living Donuts'' (2015) * ''Bigfoot Sommelier Butt Tasting'' (2015) * ''Space Raptor Butt Invasion'' (2016) * ''Pokebutt Go: Pounded By 'Em All'' (2016) * ''Slammed In The Butthole By My Concept Of Linear Time'' (2016) * ''Bisexual Mothman Mailman Makes A Special Delivery In Our Butts'' (2020) * ''I Have No Butt And I Must Pound'' (2021) * ''Pounded In The Butt By My Handsome Sentient Library Card Who Seems Otherworldly But In Reality Is Just A Natural Part Of The Priceless Resources Our Library System Provides'' (2022) Harry Potter parody * ''Trans Wizard Harriet Porber And The Bad Boy Parasaurolophus: An Adult Romance Novel'' (2020) * ''Trans Wizard Harriet Porber And The Theater Of Love: An Adult Romance Novel'' (2021) Platonic * ''My Butt Is Comforted By The Realization That I’m Okay And Everything Will Be Alright'' (2017) * ''Not Pounded In The Butt By Anything And That's Okay'' (2018) * ''Not Pounded By Anything While I Practice Responsible Social Distancing'' (2020) * ''Absolutely No Thoughts Of Pounding During My Fun Day With This Kind T-Rex Because I'm Aromantic And Asexual And That's A Wonderfully Valid Way Of Proving Love Is Real'' (2021) Satire * ''Oppressed In The Butt By My Inclusive Holiday Coffee Cups'' (2015) * ''Pounded By The Pound: Turned Gay By The Socioeconomic Implications Of Britain Leaving The European Union'' (2016) * ''Domald Tromp Pounded In The Butt By The Handsome Russian T-Rex Who Also Peed On His Butt And Then Blackmailed Him With The Videos Of His Butt Getting Peed On'' (2017) * ''My Handsome Sentient Face Mask Protects Me Despite The Ridiculous Conspiracy Theories That He Won't Also He Pounds My Butt'' (2020) * ''Not Pounded By Romance Wranglers Of America Because Their New Leadership Is From The Depths Of The Endless Cosmic Void'' (2020) Self-referential * ''Buttception: A Butt Within A Butt Within A Butt'' (2015) * ''Pounded In The Butt By My Book "Pounded In The Butt By My Own Butt"'' (2015) * ''Turned Gay By The Existential Dread That I May Actually Be A Character In A Chuck Tingle Book'' (2016) * ''Living Inside My Own Butt For Eight Years, Starting A Business And Turning A Profit Through Common Sense Reinvestment And Strategic Targeted Marketing'' (2016) * ''Slammed In The Butt By My Hugo Award Nomination'' (2016) * ''Pounded In The Butt By My Constantly Changing Thoughts On The Ongoing Mystery Of Chuck Tingle's Real Identity'' (2016) * ''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 Book 'Pounded In The Butt By My Book "Pounded In The Butt By My Own Butt"'" (2017) * ''Pounded in the Butt By the Handsome Sentient Manifestation of My Twitch Stream'' (2019) Compilations * ''Scary Stories To Tingle Your Butt: 7 Tales Of Gay Terror'' (2015) * ''Space Raptor Butt Trilogy'' (2016) * ''Not Pounded By Anything: Six Platonic Tales Of Non-Sexual Encounters'' (2019) * ''Scary Stories To Tingle Your Lesbian Butt: Seven Tales Of Ladybuck On Ladybuck Terror'' (2020) * ''Pounded By The Classics: Seven Literary Tales Of The Tingleverse'' (2021)

Other

* "Select your own timeline" adventures: ''Escape From The Billings Mall'' (2020), ''Expedition to the Frozen Lake'' (2021) 4 others* Guides: ''Dr. Chuck Tingle's Complete Guide To Romance'' (2015), ''Sport'' (2016), ''The Void'' (2017), ''Film'' (2017), ''Time'' (2018) * ''Dr. Chuck Tingle's Adult Coloring And Activity Book For True Buckaroos'' (2017) * ''The Tingleverse: The Official Chuck Tingle Role-Playing Game'' (2019)

Other projects

In 2016,

announced an

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

collaboration with Tingle, with the working title ''Project Tingler.'' The game was finally named "Kickstarted in the Butt: A Chuck Tingle Digital Adventure" and a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

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. As of 2025, the game has not been released. During Donald Trump's 2016 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", 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''. In 2018, a

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

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 ''Welcome to Night Vale'' is an absurdist supernatural fiction podcast created by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. It is presented as a community radio show in the fictional American desert town of Night Vale, with the eccentric local radio ho ...

'', a horror-fantasy podcast. Each episode is 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 Mara Elizabeth Wilson (born July 24, 1987) is an American actress. As a child, she played Natalie Hillard in the film ''Mrs. Doubtfire'' (1993) and went on to play Susan Walker in ''Miracle on 34th Street (1994 film), Miracle on 34th Street'' (19 ...

). ''My Friend Chuck'', a podcast co-hosted by Tingle and writer/comedian McKenzie Goodwin, aired from 2019 to 2020. Tingle has been a strong advocate for

transgender rights The legal status of transgender people varies greatly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transg ...

. In 2020, he began publishing satires of the ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'' series featuring "Trans Wizard Harriet Porber" in response to

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( ; born 31 July 1965), known by her pen name , is a British author and philanthropist. She is the author of ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume fantasy novel series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has List of best-sell ...

's views on transgender topics. In 2022, he purchased the domain governorabbott.com and used it to protest

Governor of Texas The governor of Texas is the head of state of the U.S. state of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Texas and is the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces. Established in the Constit ...

Greg Abbott Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...

's policies impacting

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

individuals. In 2025 he called into an episode of ''

Everybody's Live with John Mulaney ''Everybody's Live with John Mulaney'' is an American live variety talk show that premiered on Netflix on March 12, 2025. Serving as a continuation of the series '' Everybody's in LA'', the show is hosted by comedian John Mulaney who also serves ...

'' that was themed about dinosaurs.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tingle, Chuck 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers American bisexual writers American erotica writers American LGBTQ novelists American non-fiction writers American satirists American writers with disabilities Autistic LGBTQ people LGBTQ erotica LGBTQ speculative fiction LGBTQ writers with disabilities Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Writers from Billings, Montana Autistic writers Year of birth missing (living people)