Chuck Tingle Goes Mainstream…ish

Perhaps the most surprising thing about prolific queer erotica author Chuck Tingle—who, talking via Zoom from his new home in Los Angeles, wears a gray T-shirt, a white karate gi, a bubblegum pink bag over his head with the phrase “LOVE IS REAL” emblazoned across the forehead, and sunglasses—is his insistence that he is not doing a bit. “I understand that I have a pretty funny way to some,” Tingle says, “but most of the time, I am being sincere, and that just gets a dang laugh.”

Tingle, who has self-published more than 300 absurdist erotic shorts (termed “tinglers”) since 2014’s  and is gearing up for his full-length horror debut and first traditionally published release,, also claims to hold a doctorate in