This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. 

 And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides – or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail – and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.

 In 1978, Stephen King published The Stand, the novel that is now considered to be one of his finest works. But as it was first published, The Stand was incomplete, since more than 150,000 words had been cut from the original manuscript.

 Now Stephen King’s apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil has been restored to its entirety. The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition includes material previously deleted, along with new material that King added as he reworked the manuscript for a new generation. It gives us new characters and endows familiar ones with new depths. It has a new beginning and a new ending. What emerges is a gripping work with the scope and moral complexity of a true epic.

  For hundreds of thousands of fans who heard The Stand in its original version and wanted more, this new edition is Stephen King’s gift. And those who are listening to The Stand for the first time will discover a triumphant and eerily plausible work of the imagination that takes on the issues that will determine our survival.

I purchased a copy of this book for my own reading.

Taking a short break from my alphabet reading challenge, I felt the need for a comfortable, familiar read. So naturally, weighing in at a shade over 1,300 pages I opted for a quick read. An old favourite, The Stand is a good vs evil post-apocalyptic slow-burn thriller that I’ve read many times and never fails to satisfy when I’m not sure what I want to read next.

When a lab-grown biological virus escapes its top secret military lab, it plunges the continental US into chaos. The vast majority of the population doesn’t survive the initial infection. The very small minority that does, are left to navigate a world without all of the comforts they knew. No power, food production, or medical or police facilities make for a hostile world.

With survivors receiving one of two mysterious dreams, two factions spring up around the enigmatic and motherly Mother Abigail, and the charismatic and unsettling Randall Flagg. With these two figureheads representing good and evil in a broken world, survival becomes a battle in the midst of chaos. The story follows the core members of both factions, showing the differing approaches to rebuilding society for both camps.

It’s a hefty tome of a read, and not one for the casual reader. But it’s a read that definitely packs a punch. I have lost count of the number of times I’ve actually read this book over the years, and it never fails to throw up a nugget that I’ve never noticed before, such is the richness of Stephen King’s writing. I look forward to my next return to this monumental book.

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