Chuck Wendig Popular Books

Chuck Wendig Biography & Facts

Charles David Wendig (born April 22, 1976) is an American author, comic book writer, screenwriter, and blogger. He is best known for his online blog Terribleminds, for his 2015 Star Wars novel trilogy Aftermath, the first book of which debuted at No. 4 on The New York Times Best Seller list and No. 4 on USA Today's best seller list, for which series he created the characters of Gallius Rax and marshal Cobb Vanth, the latter of whom would subsequently appear in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Wendig has additionally written comics for Dark Circle Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, Marvel Comics, and VS Comics. He was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2013. Early life Wendig grew up in New Hope, Pennsylvania. He studied English and religion at Queens University of Charlotte and graduated in 1998. After working various odd jobs and publishing early works under the name C.D. Wendig and C. David Wendig, he became a full-time freelance author writing under the name Chuck Wendig. Career Game writing Before writing fiction professionally, Wendig worked as a freelance RPG writer for over a decade. Wendig has contributed over two million words to the pen-and-paper roleplaying game industry. He has worked as a writer and developer for roleplaying games, contributing to many White Wolf projects from 2002 to 2011, including Hunter: The Vigil (2008).Wendig is part of the advisory board of Storium, an online storytelling game by Protagonist Labs that launched a successful Kickstarter campaign and raised over $250,000. Screenwriting Wendig co-wrote the Emmy-nominated interactive transmedia project Collapsus with Lance Weiler.Along with writing partner Weiler, Wendig was selected for the 2010 Sundance Screenwriter's Lab for their feature film HiM. HiM is being produced by Ted Hope, Christine Vachon, and Anne Carey. His short film, Pandemic 41.410806, −75.654259, co-written and directed by Weiler, was selected for the 2011 Sundance Short Film Program. At one point, Wendig and Weiler were also developing a television pilot for TNT with Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, but the network decided to pass.He also contributed to David Cronenberg's transmedia production Body/Mind/Change, in which Weiler served as Creative Director. Early novels Wendig's first short story collection, Irregular Creatures, was published in January 2011.In November 2011 followed Wendig's debut novel, Double Dead, published by Abaddon Books as part of its shared-world series Tomes of the Dead. Bad Blood, a sequel novella, was published in May 2012. The books were later collected as The Complete Double Dead, released in February 2016.Wendig participated in the Evil Hat Productions Kickstarter, which raised money for a trilogy of novels penned by Wendig based on the Spirit of the Century RPG. After a successful campaign, he went on to release Dinocalypse Now in 2012 and Beyond Dinocalypse in 2013. Though slated to write the third (and final) volume of the Dinocalypse trilogy, Dinocalypse Forever, Wendig was unable finish the novel due to other commitments and was replaced by novelist Carrie Harris.For Abaddon, he also penned Unclean Spirits, out in May 2013, the first installment of the Gods and Monsters series. Miriam Black and Mookie Pearl The first novel in Wendig's Miriam Black series, Blackbirds, features a girl who can see the death of anyone she touches. It was published in April 2012 by Angry Robot Books. It was followed by a sequel, Mockingbird, in August 2012. Also from Angry Robot, Wendig released The Blue Blazes in May 2013, the first novel in a new urban fantasy series following Mookie Pearl. The third book in the Miriam Black series, The Cormorant, was published in December 2013. The Miriam Black books were optioned as a television series by Starz in 2014, to be developed by John Shiban, writer and producer of Breaking Bad and The X-Files, with a writers' room already set up. Wendig announced on his blog in November 2015 that Starz was no longer developing the adaptation.In October 2014, Saga Press bought six books in Wendig's Miriam Black series, including the first three novels, previously published by Angry Robot Books. The first three books, Blackbirds, Mockingbird and The Cormorant were re-published with new covers in 2015. Thunderbird, book four, followed in 2017, with The Raptor & The Wren and Vultures, books five and six, published in 2018 and 2019 respectively.In October 2015, Wendig re-released The Blue Blazes, as well as self-publishing a sequel, The Hellsblood Bride, after contract disputes with previous publisher Angry Robot. He has stated that a third book, possibly titled A Sky Born Black or The Skyborn Bane, might someday be published, should the first two books do well or be picked up by a publisher. However, Wendig said the first two books stand alone and a third book is not necessary to conclude the story. Atlanta Burns and The Heartland trilogy Shotgun Gravy, a young adult novella following Atlanta Burns, described as "Veronica Mars on Adderall," was self-published by Wendig in 2011. Wendig ran a successful Kickstarter campaign during February 2012 to publish Bait Dog, a follow-up novel to Shotgun Gravy, raising $6,800, more than twice the goal. Bait Dog was self-published in 2012, and was later acquired along with Shotgun Gravy by Amazon Skyscape, and republished as Atlanta Burns in January 2015. The second book in the Atlanta Burns series, The Hunt, was published in February 2016.In July 2013, Skyscape launched Wendig's new young adult dystopian "cornpunk" trilogy, starting with Under the Empyrean Sky. It was followed by a sequel in July 2014, called Blightborn. The Heartland trilogy concluded in July 2015 with The Harvest. Star Wars It was announced in March 2015 that Wendig would write the flagship Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens novel, titled Star Wars: Aftermath, to be published in September 2015. The book was the first in a trilogy of new canonical Star Wars novels published by Del Rey, bridging the gap between Return of the Jedi and the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. It was followed by Aftermath: Life Debt (2016) and Aftermath: Empire's End (2017). Wendig's involvement with the books came after asking to write a Star Wars licensed novel on Twitter on September 4, 2014. He was approached by LucasBooks at New York Comic Con later that year, after seeing his tweet and reading his novel Under the Empyrean Sky. Aftermath was published exactly a year later, on September 4, 2015, and debuted at No. 4 on both The New York Times Best Seller list and the USA Today's best seller list. Aftermath was subject to controversy for its inclusion of a gay man as a lead character.During the 2018 New York Comic Convention in early October 2018, Wendig announced that he would be writing a five-issue story arc with Marvel Comics entitled Shadow of Vader, which was set to begin in November 2018. The series woul.... Discover the Chuck Wendig popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Chuck Wendig books.

Best Seller Chuck Wendig Books of 2024

  • The Synapse Sequence synopsis, comments

    The Synapse Sequence

    Daniel Godfrey

    The new thrilling scifi novel from the author of New Pompeii and Empire of TimeIn a future London, humans are watched over by AIs and served by bots. But now that justice and jobs ...

  • We Are Not Good People synopsis, comments

    We Are Not Good People

    Jeff Somers

    Learn the Words. Get the blood. Rule the world. The Ustari Cycle starts here.From the "exhilarating, powerful, and entertaining" (Guardian) storyteller of the Avery Cates series co...

  • American Afterlife synopsis, comments

    American Afterlife

    Pedro Hoffmeister

    The earthquake was just the beginning. Now, the true horror arrives in this unflinching, nearfuture thriller about family and survival, for fans of Chuck Wendig.The Pacific Northwe...

  • Damn Fine Story synopsis, comments

    Damn Fine Story

    Chuck Wendig

    Hook Your Audience with Unforgettable Storytelling! What do Luke Skywalker, John McClane, and a lonely dog on Ho'okipa Beach have in common? Simply put, we care about them. Great s...

  • Wayward synopsis, comments

    Wayward

    Chuck Wendig

    “If King had written a sequel to The Stand, it might look something like this monumental epic of a story.”James Rollins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Kingdom of Bon...

  • Last Best Day synopsis, comments

    Last Best Day

    Jeff Somers

    The second in a trilogy of three shorts from the “exhilarating…powerful and entertaining” (The Guardian) contemporary fantasy writer Jeff Somers, featuring the blood magician duo f...

  • Gentle Writing Advice synopsis, comments

    Gentle Writing Advice

    Chuck Wendig

    Finallya book of writing advice that accounts for all of the messy, perverse, practical, and inexplicable parts of being a human who writesThe truth is that all of the "writing rul...

  • Fixer synopsis, comments

    Fixer

    Jeff Somers

    Learn the Words. Get the blood. Rule the world. A standalone short story in the Ustari Cycle.The heroes of We Are Not Good People learn what “down and out” truly feels like when a ...

  • The Malfeasance Occasional synopsis, comments

    The Malfeasance Occasional

    Various Authors & Clare Toohey

    Tenderhearted, toughminded (and occasionally foulmouthed) girls take center stage in suspenseful tales that are also touching, haunting, and darkly funny. From modern cities and th...

  • The Ark synopsis, comments

    The Ark

    Boyd Morrison

    In nationally bestselling author Boyd Morrison’s debut, the unraveling of one of the greatest archeological mysteries from the bibleNoah’s Arkcould threaten civilization itself in ...

  • No Road Home synopsis, comments

    No Road Home

    John Fram

    “A grand gothic story as enthralling as it is terrifying.” S. A. Cosby, New York Times bestselling author A young father must clear his name and protect his queer son when his weal...

  • Wanderers synopsis, comments

    Wanderers

    Chuck Wendig

    A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world’s last hope. From the mind of Chuck Wendig comes “a magnum opus ...

  • The Book of Accidents synopsis, comments

    The Book of Accidents

    Chuck Wendig

    NATIONAL BESTSELLER A family returns to their hometownand to the dark past that haunts them stillin this masterpiece of literary horror by the New York Times bestselling author of...

  • Nights of the Living Dead synopsis, comments

    Nights of the Living Dead

    Jonathan Maberry & George A. Romero

    In 1968, the world experienced a brandnew kind of terror with the debut of George A. Romero’s landmark movie Night of the Living Dead. The newly dead rose to attack the living. Not...

  • Wicked as They Come synopsis, comments

    Wicked as They Come

    Delilah S Dawson

    The first in a steampunk paranormal romance series in which a woman is transported to a world filled with vampires and magic. When nurse Tish Everett forced open the lovely locket ...

  • The Kick-Ass Writer synopsis, comments

    The Kick-Ass Writer

    Chuck Wendig

    The journey to become a successful writer is long, fraught with peril, and filled with difficult questions: How do I write dialogue? How do I build suspense? What should I know abo...

  • The Boom Bands synopsis, comments

    The Boom Bands

    Jeff Somers

    Learn the Words. Get the blood. Rule the world. A standalone short story in the Ustari Cyclethe gritty supernatural series that includes We Are Not Good People from the "exhilarati...

  • The Stringer synopsis, comments

    The Stringer

    Jeff Somers

    Learn the Words. Get the blood. Rule the world. A standalone short story in the Ustari Cycle.Most people never learn what a Stringer isand their lives are better for it. Lem, howev...

  • Black River Orchard synopsis, comments

    Black River Orchard

    Chuck Wendig

    NATIONAL BESTSELLER A small town is transformed when seven strange trees begin bearing magical apples in this masterpiece of horror from the author of Wanderers and The Book of Ac...