Chuck Tingle
Chuck Tingle is a pseudonymous author, primarily of gay niche erotic short stories.[1][2][3] The stories 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 works through Amazon.com, primarily as ebooks, but also as paperbacks and audiobooks.[4][5][6][7] He and his short story Space Raptor Butt Invasion have each been a finalist for Hugo Awards, the result of coordinated campaigns which he has disavowed.
Chuck Tingle | |
---|---|
Pen name | Dr. Chuck Tingle |
Language | English |
Nationality | American |
Genre | |
Years active | 2014–present |
Website | |
chucktingle.com |
Personal life
Little has been confirmed about Tingle's identity, beyond the fact that the name "Chuck Tingle" is a pseudonym.[8] He claims to have been born in Home of Truth, Utah, a small isolated southern Utah ghost town established in 1933 as a religious commune and abandoned in 1977.[9][10] He has described himself as bisexual.[11][12]
Tingle presents himself as a taekwondo grandmaster from Billings, Montana, who acquired a PhD in holistic massage at DeVry University (which does not offer such a degree).[13] A photo presented as a portrait of Tingle was found on a stock photo web site.[4][10]
In 2016, a person presenting as Tingle's son Jon stated in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session that Tingle "is an autistic savant, but also suffers from schizophrenia."[8] Jon stated that he edits his father's work for publication, and provides day-to-day care for him.[8] Tingle's Facebook account confirmed that Jon was his son[8] and that Tingle was autistic.[14] Tingle has said that his wife is drowned in an automobile accident,[15] but Jon stated that Tingle is divorced from his mother, and the woman who died was his caregiver.[13] 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",[11][13] but this does not carry over to the edited fiction as published.
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][8]
Tingle refers to his stories as "Tinglers". Although they typically feature apparently cisgender male couples, stories also feature bisexual, lesbian, and trans characters. Tingle stresses the consensuality of the encounters, and the stories end happily with "an optimistic, philosophical moral about love and togetherness".[13] The person presented as Tingle's son Jon stated that the anthropomorphism in many stories reflects "identity issues that he has been working through his whole life", which have manifested as him "'becoming' other people or things."[13]
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 dinosaur or other unlikely entity whose sexual escapades are featured in the story. Vox author Aja Romano has speculated that Tingle's work may be a deliberate satire on poorly written self-published erotic fiction.[19][20]
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.[21] 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.[13][22][23][24] However, Tingle disavowed the campaign, saying via his Twitter account that it was the work of "devils",[13] and that if his book were to win, video game designer and anti-harassment activist Zoë Quinn would accept the award on his behalf.[25][26] His story did not win, and Tingle subsequently published Pounded in the Butt by My Hugo Award Loss.[27] In 2017 Tingle was a finalist for a second Hugo Award, this time for Best Fan Writer.[28][29] He did not win, and later published Pounded in the Butt by My Second Hugo Award Nomination.[30]
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.[31]
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.[32] Quinn raised over $85,000 from 2,450 Kickstarter backers weeks later. As of 2020, 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 the book Slammed In The Butt By Domald Tromp's [sic] Attempt To Avoid Accusations Of Plagiarism By Removing All Facts Or Concrete Plans From His Republican National Convention Speech.[33]
In 2017 a group announced DeepTingle, a computerized text prediction and classification system based on a database of Tingle's fiction, for the purpose of "foreground[ing] and confront[ing] the norms embedded in data-driven creativity and productivity assistance tools".[34]
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.[35] In it, various alumni of the Night Vale podcast (including Cecil Baldwin and Mara Wilson) read from Tingle's novellas to the reaction of a live audience.[36] In 2019, another podcast debuted, My Friend Chuck, co-hosted by Tingle and writer/comedian McKenzie Goodwin.[37]
References
- Salandra, Adam (November 8, 2015). "Meet The Man Behind "Space Raptor Butt Invasion" And Other Insane Gay Erotica On Amazon". NewNowNext. Viacom International. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- Jones, Ralph (January 5, 2015). "I Got Erotica Master Chuck Tingle to Workshop My Dinosaur Erotica". Jezebel. Gawker Media. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- Sirucek, Stefan (April 8, 2015). "Introducing our new sex columnist, Dr. Chuck Tingle!". Death and Taxes. SpinMedia. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- Mancuso, Vinnie (March 2, 2015). "Meet Dr. Chuck Tingle, the Author Behind Amazon's Most Absurd Gay Erotica". Observer.com. Observer Media. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- Votta, Rae (January 29, 2015). "Everything you need to know about gay dinosaur erotica". The Daily Dot. Daily Dot Media. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- Harvey-Jenner, Catriona (March 2, 2015). "There is now Gay Erotica about #TheDress in the world". Cosmopolitan. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- 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. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- Barnett, David (May 19, 2016). "Dinosaur porn or Rabid Puppy pastiche? The strange story of Chuck Tingle". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
- "Creatives in profile: interview with Dr Chuck Tingle". April 30, 2018. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
- "Pounded in the butt by the mystery of Chuck Tingle, Amazon's weird erotica king". The Daily Dot. April 25, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
- Tingle, Chuck [@ChuckTingle] (January 25, 2015). "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. |date= mismatches calculated date from |number= by two or more days (help)
- Tingle, Chuck [@ChuckTingle] (January 25, 2015). "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. |date= mismatches calculated date from |number= by two or more days (help)
- Romano, Aja. "The secret behind internet erotica icon Chuck Tingle: his own life may be the best story he's ever written". Vox. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
- "Chuck Tingle". www.facebook.com. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
- "Author Chuck Tingle Is the Puerile Genius 2017 Needs". InsideHook. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
- "Chuck Tingle". www.amazon.com. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
- 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. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- Mancuso, Vinnie (February 3, 2015). "Meet Dr. Chuck Tingle, the Author Behind Amazon's Most Absurd Gay Erotica". Observer.com. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
- Romano, Aja (May 26, 2016). "Satirical erotica author Chuck Tingle's huge troll of conservative sci-fi fans, explained". Retrieved October 8, 2016.
- Romano, Aja (June 27, 2016). "Chuck Tingle's "Pounded by the Pound" is the satirical Brexit erotica we need right now". Retrieved October 8, 2016.
- Barnett, David (April 26, 2016). "Hugo awards shortlist dominated by rightwing campaign". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- Marcotte, Amanda (August 23, 2016). "The alt-right attacks sci-fi: How the Hugo Awards got hijacked by Trumpian-style culture warriors". Salon. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
- II, Vann R. Newkirk (September 2, 2016). "How N.K. Jemisin Won the Hugo Award". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
- Schaub, Michael (April 27, 2016). "How did 'Space Raptor Butt Invasion' by Chuck Tingle become a Hugo finalist?". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times Media Group. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- 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. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- Feldman, Brian (May 6, 2016). "'Pounded in the Butt' Literary Genius Chuck Tingle Trolls Right-Wing Sci-Fi Nerds". Select All. New York Media. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia. "Chuck Tingle celebrates Hugo loss with new 'Pounded in the Butt' ebook". the Daily Dot.
- "2017 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. December 31, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
- 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. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
- Kehe, Jason (April 6, 2017). "The Hidden, Wildly NSFW Scandal of the Hugo Nominations". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
- 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 www.amazon.com/dp/B07N5GK2T8/ pic.twitter.com/fPHtqfoxks" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "Zoë Quinn on Life Since Gamergate and Her Erotic New Video Game – Waypoint". August 24, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- Romano, Aja (September 29, 2016). "Donald Trump is the ultimate cosmic horror, according to America's favorite erotica author". Vox.
- Khalifa, Ahmed; Barros, Gabriella A. B.; Togelius, Julian (May 9, 2017). "DeepTingle". arXiv:1705.03557 [cs.CL].
- Hathaway, Jay (March 14, 2018). "Chuck Tingle Interview: From Erotic Author to Podcast". The Daily Dot. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- "Pounded In The Butt By My Own Podcast". Retrieved July 4, 2018.
- "My Friend Chuck". Retrieved October 2, 2019.