Chuck Tingle’s Internet Magic

Chuck Tingle took an unlikely route to heroism. He had built a small but devoted following for his self-published erotic e-books when he was nominated in the spring for a Hugo Award, one of the highest honors in science fiction and fantasy writing.

The nomination was a prank, part of a campaign led by a racist writer who wants the Hugos to stop honoring works that address issues of race and gender, as they have done in recent years. Instead of playing along, Mr. Tingle, a pseudonym, mocked his nominators, championed several female writers and solicited donations for an anti-harassment charity.

Mr. Tingle didn’t attend the Hugo ceremony. The author, who says he lives in Billings, Mont., with his son, Jon, does not make public appearances or give in-person interviews. Last December, Jon said in a Reddit A.M.A. (“Ask Me Anything”) that his father has autism and schizophrenia.

Since his Hugo nomination (he didn’t win), Mr. Tingle has used Twitter to promote acceptance of diversity, and to lob offbeat but impassioned criticisms at Donald Trump. He’s been the subject of profiles in The Guardian, Vox and elsewhere. And he’s continued to write the bizarre e-books he calls “Tinglers,” in which men have sex with trains, dinosaurs, mythical creatures and more (“Seduced by Doctor Bigfoot: Attorney at Large” is one of his tamer titles).

Some have questioned whether a person with autism and schizophrenia would be capable of producing Mr. Tingle’s body of work, and they believe his writings are part of an elaborate joke. But Samantha Crane, director of public policy at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, points out that “autistic people often have very well-developed senses of humor.” Mr. Tingle, who has a lot of fans in the autistic community, has idiosyncratic speech patterns that might be especially pleasing to readers with autism, Ms. Crane said. Some people with autism speak “in a very distinctive manner,” she added, and celebrating that distinctiveness can be a source of humor.

In an email interview, Mr. Tingle said he was proud to have fans who are autistic. He made a distinction between the persona of “Chuck Tingle” and his real self: “i have CHARACTER name of chuck and also ME name of chuck,” he explained. He described his persona as an adaptation to difficulties in his youth: “when i was a young buck it was difficult for me to UNDERSTAND FEELINGS so now i have my own way of being myself that is like a mask but it is a mask of my own face.”

By creating an online community in which his particular outlook — what he calls his “unique way” — is not just accepted but celebrated, Mr. Tingle has delivered a strong rebuke to the intolerant forces that used him as a prop in attacking diverse voices in the sci-fi world.

I hope he is who he says he is. In any case, in a year when so many people have been driven off Twitter by bigots and trolls, Chuck Tingle has helped shore up my faith in online culture.