  In close binary stars, the tidal excitation of pulsations typically
dissipates energy, causing the system to evolve towards a circular orbit with
aligned and synchronized stellar spins. However, for stars with self-excited
pulsations, we demonstrate that tidal interaction with unstable pulsation modes
can transfer energy in the opposite direction, forcing the spins of the stars
away from synchronicity, and potentially pumping the eccentricity and
spin-orbit misalignment angle. This "inverse" tidal process only occurs when
the tidally forced mode amplitude is comparable to the mode's saturation
amplitude, and it is thus most likely to occur in main sequence gravity mode
pulsators with orbital periods of a few days. We examine the long-term
evolution of inverse tidal action, finding the stellar rotation rate can
potentially be driven to a very large or very small value, while maintaining a
large spin-orbit misalignment angle. Several recent asteroseismic analyses of
pulsating stars in close binaries have revealed extremely slow core rotation
periods, which we attribute to the action of inverse tides.
