
If there’s a chance you’ve been eyeballing The Staircase in the Woods but kinda maybe sorta wanted it a bit cheaper — though here I remind you that libraries exist and are good, actually! — I note now that the book is on sale for $6.99 in e-book format for your electromatic book-reader of choice.
Which is to say, you can find the e-book at Bookshop.org, Kobo, Amazon, B&N, Apple, and so on.
The sale is, I thiiiiink, until tomorrow.
Don’t quote me on that, they don’t give me all the scoops.
Hey, so why should you check it out?
Well, at Vulture, Neil McRobert (whose own Good Boy is a must-read) has it on the list of the best books of 2025 so far, and said of the book: “The Staircase in the Woods impresses in two distinct ways. First, the haunted other-place beyond the staircase’s last step is a truly hideous proposition, making this Wendig’s darkest novel to date. Second, he writes about the adult resumption of childhood bonds with a messy honesty that sets the book apart from other nostalgia-fests. Friendship may wane, but trauma lasts forever.”
And the New York Public Library (!) calls it one of the best books of 2025 so far, as well, which, huge honor.
And the librarians of Libby said the same — one of the best of 2025.
So, y’know, you should check it out. And not just because our dryer died and our air conditioner started barfing water all over its electronics and so we bought a new dryer but the old one was propane and the new one is electric and now we need a new outlet and a new electrical panel ha ha ha ha AAAAAAhHHHHh aaahhhem. So I mean haha now’s a good time to buy my books, I’m saying. I mean I’m not saying but I’m just saying. Poke poke.
Poke poke.
Seriously, though, thanks to all who have checked out this book. It means a lot! It’s doing… like, pretty well? It has, as of today, outsold Wayward. Like, the entire run of Wayward’s sales from November 2022 until now? Staircase just beat it. And it’ll outrun Black River Orchard’s total sales in a few weeks, I think. It’s already on — I dunno, maybe it’s third printing? Fourth? I don’t keep up, because number of printings is relatively meaningless (a book could have 1000 copies in a print run, or 500, or 10,000) — but it just means, hey, the book is selling, and in fact is selling out, and they need to make more books. It’s a good place to be, so thank you.
Worth noting that I’ll be out in support of this book and the upcoming The Stand anthology (ahhhhh), The End of the World As We Know It —
First up, at Doylestown Bookshop on August 16th is DARK INK 2, an all-day horror-writer-panel-signing-stravaganza. You’ll find Nat Cassidy, Paul Tremblay, Vincent Tirado, Chris Golden, Clay Chapman, Cina Pelayo, Lindy Ryan, Todd Keisling, Sam Rebelein, Dennis Mahoney, John Langan, Chris Panatier, Mary SanGiovanni, Kay Chronister, Diana Rodriguez Wallach, and probably more?? Last year was wild. Amazing event, stocked to the rafters with folks. Here’s the day’s schedule — and I note too if you’re looking for a signed book by me but won’t be there, you can order from the store and I’ll sign there and they’ll ship it to you.
Then: I’ll be at Vortex Books and Comics — the mighty Keene-SanGiovanni joint — in Columbia, PA on August 19th, for the End of the World As We Know It Release Party. Line forms at 4PM. It’s me, Brian Keene, Bryan Smith, Richard Chizmar, Ronald Malfi, Alma Katsu, and Somer Canon.
On September 9th, I’ll be at Midtown Scholar with Keene, Somer Canon and Rich Chizmar to talk The End of the World As We Know It.
And I have one more as-yet-unannounced con coming up, which may or may not be a cool convention in Canada in November that I’ve done before, but I don’t think that’s for me to say, yet.
OKAY BYE

Derek Hansen says:
You mentioned before that Wayward didn’t do well, and that perplexes me. I thought it was an outstanding book and sequel to Wanderers, which is easily my favorite novel of yours (and in my top 10 of all time). Just out of curiosity, do you know why it didn’t perform as expected?
Unrelated – I’m enjoying the hell out of Black River Orchard.
July 30, 2025 — 5:06 PM
mattw says:
Staircase in the Woods is a great book. It’s dark and creepy and really human, and the room I got in my signed copy is especially disturbing. Of all the media about staircases in forests that I’ve consumed it’s the best!
July 31, 2025 — 9:51 AM