
The Calamities
About this book
The heir to one of the world’s most influential families reckons with the demonic secret of their power in this contemporary dark fantasy that melds occult magic with shocking family drama, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Accidents.
“Vivid, unsettling, and darkly compelling, The Calamities is Chuck Wendig at his best.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth
Mourning Mayne knows he’ll one day bear the duty of managing his family’s vast empire of wealth and power. But the feckless Mourning has always struggled to accept this legacy of cruelty, domination, and exploitation . . . and something even darker.
Because the Maynes are no ordinary family: Hidden in our world are the fiends—half-human, half-demon, and possessed of a dark magic born from buying human souls—and the Maynes are one of the oldest and most influential fiendish families.
But when Mourning’s estranged father, the formidable and terrifying Hadrian Mayne, demands that Mourning return to the fold, he has to decide whether to accept his legacy and embrace his role in the family or to forge his own destiny, and with it, change the course of the world.
Because along the way home, he will meet Key, a black-market seller of human souls, and Quinn, an artist who may hold the dark truth behind the fate of the fiends. Alone, they have all struggled with the darkness of their natures . . . but together, they might find a path out of the shadows.
Book One of The Fiends
Author: Chuck Wendig
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 2026-08-18
Pages: 592
ISBN: 9798217091812
Praise for this book
Vivid, unsettling, and darkly compelling, The Calamities is Chuck Wendig at his best.
The most terrifying thing about these demons is how human they are. The Calamities is a delightfully brutal and inventive take on demonology from the blast furnace of Wendig’s imagination. A gore-stained epic.
Chuck Wendig is the Frank Lloyd Wright of horror, and here’s his masterstroke of malaise. The Staircase in the Woods is a true blueprint for terror.
The Calamities is a twisting, winding river of darkness—part ink-black Gothic tale, part brutal family saga, and housed in a demonic nesting doll of a dark fantasy novel. Taken as a whole, it reminds me yet again of Wendig’s wildly lethal range and versatility when it comes to horror. The guy is, simply put, unstoppable.
Chuck Wendig weaves his magic once more, turning a lonely staircase in the woods into a searing, propulsive, dread-filled exploration of the horrors of knowing and being known. I’d follow him anywhere.
A massively ambitious, classic horror free-for-all that's macabre, smart, and FUN.
Quoted in excerpt, with attribution. Follow a source link for the full review.









