Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig, starting on October 1, 2025.
A SPOOKTOBER read.



Happy Reading!

Thank you!
This is a Spooktober thread. Read any time in October!

Check out the list of other scheduled spooky reads in the Spooktober [buddy read] thread, or seek friends for a plan of your own in the [planning] thread!

Back to this, 2nd try, home this time...

58% in... very much feeling the childhood friends reunion vibes/tropes of this premise...

The staircase reminds me of Kingdom Hearts and a few Doctor Who episodes... low on explanations, so far... and progress on finding friend... I assume that's all for the ending... they have theories, tho...

Considering how much this is about childhood trauma, this feels more like a metaphor than anything...

Like all reunion books, I guess...

It
Reunion
Last Exit
Meddling Kids
etc etc etc

I read this Tuesday and I really enjoyed it! I even liked the ending :) I get the similarity to It for sure but this was different enough to not feel like a knock-off. It was a creepy and weird and just what I want this time of year. (view spoiler)[I really liked how the traumatic childhoods each experienced had which each kept hidden was an interesting twist. I don't think I would go near the steps if I came across any in the woods, especially not now lol (hide spoiler)]

Also the Boogeyman plot in Harmony Black #1, honestly...

And I agree it worked well... (view spoiler)[the dead eye possession thing would also hit well on camera...

The only negative thing I saw online looking into it, is that apparently the plot is based on a really popular creepypasta... https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comm...

EDIT: there's actually alot of disagreement that they're too similar... just noticeable plot similarity, for anyone familiar with the creepypasta... (hide spoiler)]

Read this yesterday, and I haven't read It so I can't say for similarities... I was actually thinking of The Hollow Places actually, having just read that last week. And not only because it also had a mention of sugar cubes coated with LSD. Never heard of that before. Not sure what that says about me.

Also don't know what creepypasta is...

Anyway, I really enjoyed this... probably my favorite Wendig, actually... creepy but not too creepy (*coughapplescough*), and had great themes as well as twists. I really enjoyed the dynamic of the friends too, both in past and present. Good "reunion" story. One of my favorite scenes was early on, when (view spoiler)[Laur rips into Hamish for supporting the in-story DT analogue... very cathartic. Maybe even a tiny bit of understanding why people support him... though not giving a lot of depth into that. Having him & Laur thrown together for the first chunk of the eerie world was a good move. (hide spoiler)]

I mostly know about It from the movies existing and vague understanding of the plot...

From what I know of It... Part 1 is the first half of the book and kids have an experience with the clown and survive...

Part 2 is decades later as adults and they go back and deal with the clown once and for all...

Another story about childhood trauma/etc... same vein...

creepypasta is a term that grew out of copypasta, which grew out of the idea of stories being copied and pasted and shared around the internet...

Creepypasta is creepy stories shared online... internet horror stories...

Ooh, interesting morphological history there...

Got to this one late.
Since I am reading some horror this month, thought I try this one.
As was mentioned earlier, much similarity to It, group of youngsters who come back years later to confront, themselves, their fear, their bonds to each other. The house here is much like the sewer underground in "It".

Spooktober have no lates if you're in October.

Seems like It would be a good candidate for next Spooktober....

I'd be open to tossing some Stephen King in each year, after letting some time to pass since finishing Dark Tower...

That's about how much Stephen King I'd prefer in my life, personally...

one book per October?... I agree...

Ann-Marie can curate, since she has opinions about his bibliography...

I mean It is a good Spooktober option but I do plan on reading the Bill Hodges/Holly Gibney books at some point (starts with Mr. Mercedes) That is definitely too much for Spooktober though, 7 total books between the 2 series. If you are interested in less "horror" books by him then I definitely suggest The Talisman (has a sequel I haven't read yet so cannot recommend but I loved this so much) and The Green Mile.

I've been wanting to read Green Mile someday. But not in any hurry.

The horror in Green Mile are humans nothing supernatural but there are fantasy elements otherwise.

I really wanted to like this book, but most of the characters never actually felt like friends — not even in the flashbacks. The dynamic just didn’t click.

And the whole “staircases in the woods” concept? It’s been done before — and done better. It feels like the author jumped on the trend (ten years too late?) without really understanding what made the original idea so compelling. The Reddit NoSleep story “I’m a Search and Rescue Officer for the US Forest Service, I have some stories to tell” already nailed that eerie, unsettling tone to perfection.

This book, unfortunately, misses that mark completely. It’s like watching Hollywood try to make an episode about The Backrooms without grasping what makes it work… oh wait, American Horror Stories already did that.

Ann-Marie wrote: "The horror in Green Mile are humans nothing supernatural but there are fantasy elements otherwise."
My mom actually read that a year or two ago and loved it.

Timelord Iain wrote: "creepypasta is a term that grew out of copypasta, which grew out of the idea of stories being copied and pasted and shared around the internet...

Creepypasta is creepy stories shared online... int..."

I am old af since I grew up on creepy pastas when they were popular, and to be hones,t there were some good ones. XD

Nirkatzes just out of the loop ...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Nirkatze wrote: "¯\_(ツ)_/¯"

We're nearly 10 years older than Sarah, and she's "old AF"... what's that make us? :D

Older than F? Apparently F was invented in her lifetime, and our generation never knew about it?

old As Fuck...

Please tell me you knew that one... I think I've used the phrase around here a few times before... not sure if they were threads you were in, tho...

AF can be added to a number of preceding words...

I feel personally attacked but I did know what AF meant lol

LOL I just didn't feel like writing it out.