When I read the excellent Camp Damascus by Dr. Chuck Tingle I was pleasantly surprised and genuinely impressed. When I finished Straight, and equally engaging, deliciously horrifying novella length treat, I was disappointed in myself that I had not read it sooner.

In Straight a mysterious astronomical anomaly in Earth’s orbit causes most of the human population to turn into murderous rage zombies for one day a year. This cosmic aberration only affects cisgender, heterosexual people though (hence the title) and the “Overwhelmed” as they’re called seek out and try to murder their queer friends and neighbors who are unaffected by the phenomenon, think The Purge meets 28 Days Later. In our novella, a group of queer friends decide to wait out this most dangerous day of the year in the seclusion of a rented cabin in the middle of the desert. I won’t veer into spoilers here because genuinely everyone should read this original and chilling little tale, but suffice to say there wouldn’t be much a book if things went exactly to plan.

In this work, as in Camp Damascus, Dr. Tingle evinces a genuine talent for sustaining creeping tension, creating memorable characters, and building a vivid and believable world with his words. Amidst all the horror, (and trust me there is plenty packed into this brief book), there’s also some genuinely thought provoking and incisive commentary on the queer experience. Ultimately this book is the best kind of horror story, chilling, memorable, and one that sticks in your mind long after the last page.