The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand by Christopher Golden, Brian Keene, Stephen King, Caroline Kepnes, Wrath James White, Meg Gardiner, Bryan Smith, Bev Vincent, Joe R. Lansdale, Jonathan Janz, Gabino Iglesias, C. Robert Cargill, Hailey Piper, Tim Lebbon, Richard Chizmar, Alex Segura, Catriona Ward, Poppy Z. Brite, Michael Koryta, Alma Katsu, Josh Malerman, Cynthia Pelayo, S.A. Cosby, Rio Youers, V. Castro, Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes, Paul Tremblay, Usman T. Malik, Wayne Brady, Maurice Broaddus, Ronald Malfi, Somer Canon, Chuck Wendig, Premee Mohamed, Catherynne M. Valente, Sarah Langan, David J. Schow, Nat Cassidy 
Published by Gallery Books on August 19, 2025
Genres: Dystopian
Pages: 809
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher
I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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If you loved The Stand, this is a must read.
The Stand is one of those stories that will live rent free in my head until I die. I read the original released copy in the 80’s and when the over 1,149 page (yes, I pulled it off my shelf and looked) re-release was published in 1990, I had to read it again. This was probably my first actual re-read novel. I remember being so engrossed in this world that driving to work the next day, my brain was trying to figure out why there were so many people around, and this was the first time I cried over a fictional character’s death.
What I loved most about the extended re-release was the little extra stories of non-important secondary characters. It showed how other people besides our main characters faired during the Superflu and the aftermath of the great loss of life and destruction of the world as we know it. And these little vignettes were full stories unto themselves. I remember one particular story which was in the aftermath, partly because the town where the character lived is one town over from me, where the man was jogging through town thinking about how he just lost everyone in his large catholic family, his wife, all his children, and how unhappy he was to survive them all and the crushing loss of them. And the he suffers a heart attack and dies with a smile on his face, happy he would be joining his family in death. Again, living rent free in my head to this day.
What The End of the World as We Know It does is bring us more of these stories which shows us different events happening in the world while Captain Tripps is claiming lives and Mother Abigail and the Walking Man are fighting for the souls of the survivors.
As I read these little homages to SK’s greatest novel, I viewed it not just whether or not it is an interesting story, but also in the vein of whether is sounds like something SK would have written himself and which might not have made the cut into that 1990 extended edition. There are many stories about how survivors survived other survivors in different areas of the country and the world, but there is also a story about astronauts on the space shuttle. No one thought of those guys being stuck up there in the 90’s. Interesting that some of the stories in other countries or off mainland U.S. , some tried to get to Nebraska or Las Vegas and others decided the dreams and fight wasn’t for them. It was fascinating how each author decided where they wanted their story and how they wanted to approach life post-flu, but they all showed that the danger from other survivors was worse that being left behind. How do you think you would handle it? Being alone for weeks and finally hearing voices, are you excited or terrified? Do you offer welcome or run and hide?
I found some of the stories took a liberty with how quickly someone died of the Superflu, as in you are fine at dinner time and dead by bedtime, which I believe was a little too quick. I also object to the story that had people dying of the Superflu being visited by either Mother Abigail or the Walking Man. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the only people who dreamed of either or both were the survivors, as it was their souls being fought over. There is also a story about a mermaid. Sorry, that one doesn’t belong here.
While I do have some objections, the majority of the stories gave me that World of The Stand feel and I truly enjoyed jumping back into this dystopian world which is kind of special to me. It was my first adult novel, and it was life-changing to me and after 1,149 pages and several weeks of reading, walking back out into the real world was kind of jolting.
Now I have more stories to join the others in my brain.
