From the Book Bin: Chuck Wendig’s Stairway to Horror
By Mark McNease
I’ve been a fan of Chuck Wendig’s ever since I read his fantastic Black River Orchard. He writes what I call literary horror, something I aspire to myself. He also lives not far from here, but I don’t know where. I just recognize Bucks County, PA, and the towns he uses in his stories – some real and some fictional. I also really like his blog Terrible Minds, where he reviews apples, talks about writing, and offers his sometimes bleak critiques of a world spiraling into madness. I’m currently reading his latest book, The Staircase in the Woods (April, 2025). It’s another knockout, and this week’s choice from the Book Bin.
But first, About Chuck Wendig in his own words
Wait, Who The Hell Is This Guy?
Chuck Wendig is the New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers, The Book of Accidents, Wayward, Black River Orchard, and more than two dozen other books for adults and young adults. A finalist for the Astounding Award and an alumnus of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, he has also written for comics, games, film, and television. He’s known for his popular blog, terribleminds, and books about writing such as Damn Fine Story. He lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his family.
Terribleminds is his blog. Here he rambles on about writing, parenthood, food, pop culture, and other such shenanigans. It is NSFW and NSFL.
The Book Bin’s take on The Staircase in the Woods
Wendig’s work often lives at the intersection of horror, fantasy, and emotional realism. His characters are messy, wounded, funny, and very human, which makes what happens to them hit harder. There’s a raw honesty to his voice, like he’s daring the reader to look away while knowing they won’t.
The Staircase in the Woods, starts with a simple, creepy premise: a staircase in the middle of the woods that leads nowhere.
The story taps into a common fear: the unnatural intrusion of something wrong into a familiar landscape. Forests already carry mythic weight in horror (see my own Hell to Pay (A House in the Woods 1 & 2, and my upcoming Devil’s Wood), but Wendig turns a single object, a staircase, into a symbol of temptation, curiosity, and doom. There’s no house. No explanation. Just steps rising from the earth, daring someone to ask what if.
And of course, someone does.
Wendig is a master at building dread. In this casee, the fear isn’t about what’s at the top of the stairs, but about the characters’ secrets, their guilt, and the choices they make when confronted with the unknown.
For readers who like their horror smart, sophisticated, and emotionally grounded, Chuck Wendig delivers every time. This is a story that proves the scariest things aren’t always monsters. Often they’re the choices we make when we think no one is watching.