(1990) The Stand

The Stand is a post-apocalyptic horror/fantasy novel by American author Stephen King. It expands upon the scenario of his earlier short story, "Night Surf". The novel was originally published in 1978 and was later re-released in 1990 as The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition; King restored some text originally cut for brevity, added and revised sections, changed the setting of the story from 1980 (which in turn was changed to 1984 for the original paperback release in 1980) to 1990, and updated a few pop culture references accordingly. The Stand was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1979, and was adapted into both a television miniseries for ABC and a graphic novel published by Marvel Comics. It marks the first appearance of Randall Flagg, King's recurring antagonist, whom King would bring back many times in his later writings.

In Stephen King's foreword to the revised version of The Stand, his 1,200-page apocalyptic tale about the impact of an accidentally released military super flu, King explains that he published the new edition in order to restore 400 pages that were originally cut at the behest of the accounting department.

The synopsis of The Stand by Stephen King can be summed up in three different parts.

I was twelve the first time I read Stephen King’s The Stand. My dad read it before I did. We were on vacation, and I saw him with the paperback, the edition with the silver binding and blue-black cover. There was a face on the cover-a mysterious, spooky sort of face, creepy and weirdly beautiful. I saw that face, and it worried at me, the way grown-up things always worried me back then. The sort of worry that’s like an itch you can’t help scratching.

Well... humanity has gone and just about wiped itself out again. This time it's because a deadly plague gets spread around the country wit' a quickness. And suddenly just about everyone is dead. The survivors do their best to survive. It isn't easy and it isn't very fun, either.

Striking a far less hysterical tone than in The Shining, King has written his most sweeping horror novel in The Stand, though it may lack the spinal jingles of Salem's Lot.

Can nuance survive the apocalyptic struggle between Good and Evil?

James Smythe: With a deadly virus called Captain Trips and a villain who preys on the weak, Stephen King's The Stand isn't just about good versus evil - it's also about fate