The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand, edited by Christopher Golden and Brian Keene, is an epic anthology. The anthology has 34 short stories written by 36 authors. The book has the same heft and weight as The Stand. The Stand was broken into four parts: The Plague, The Survivors, The Gathering, and The Stand. This book is divided into four parts. The first part is The Plague, which is the largest section. The second part is The Survivors, covering a month to a year after Captain Trips. The third part is The Survivors, focusing on the time after the events of The Stand, 5 to 20 years in the future. The final part is The Legacy of The Stand. The stories in the last part are about the impact of The Stand. The book features short stories from a diverse group of authors with different backgrounds.
The stories in this book don’t just stick to America; we get stories in England, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Pakistan. The horror changes with each story, giving multiple sub-genres of horror. Some stories are surreal, erotic, spatterpunk, quiet, and introspective. The stories are all connected to The Stand, but vary in how much they are connected. Only one story uses a character from The Stand as the main character, but other characters do make appearances. The book has a great flow from start to finish. I did not like every story in this collection. I liked the majority of them, and some have entered my list of best horror short stories. The great thing about this book is how many new horror authors it exposed me to. Tim Lebbon, Rio Youers, Jonathan Janz, Gabino Iglesias, Caroline Kepnes, Wrath James White, Nat Cassidy, Bryan Smith, Joe R. Landsdale, and Maurice Broaddus, with Wayne Brady, were all new authors for me, whom I rated their short stories 4 or 5 stars. Even some of the stories that I didn’t like, I saw brilliance in prose or description. This book has added so many authors to my TBR. The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand was published on August 19, 2025.

I’m going to rank all 34 stories from my favorite to least favorite. I will give a summary and overview of what I liked and disliked. I broke the stories down by categories of 5 stars, 4 stars, 3 stars, and 2 stars.

5-Star Stories From Favorite to Least Favorite:

Grace by Tim Lebbon is about astronauts in the space shuttle Discovery. Two astronauts are dead because one attempted to commit suicide, one astronaut killed the one trying to prevent him, and then took his own life. One of the astronauts was the co-pilot. Everyone at NASA is dead except one engineer who can’t help them and can only give support. The captain has there chances of landing safely at under 5 percent. Also, the ship has two nuclear weapons aboard for defense; if they land wrong, they could go off. There are three astronauts left, one has space madness and is dreaming of Flagg. Grace is amazing storytelling. It is genius how it connects to the battle down below. I have never read Tim Lebbon before, and I will change that real quick. I love how the madness was interwoven into the story. I loved Flagg and Mother Abigail communicating with the astronauts. The pace is amazing for this story. I was riveted the whole time. Grace could now be one of my favorite short stories of all time. I loved it so much.

Keep the Devil Down by Rio Youres is about a woman and a little kid. They are in a car, running from another faster car. The other vehicle, which the woman cannot see inside, is like the devil chasing them. This story is fantastic, I loved it. The story starts with action. We then get the backstory on how the action happened. Then, we are thrown back into the action for the conclusion. I did not want this story to end. Only a handful of these stories I’ve wanted to continue, and this is one of them. The action is written incredibly well, and the story has quiet moments that are all about character. I was hooked from the beginning. I’ve never read Rio Youres, but I will seek him out after this.

The Hope Boat by Gabino Iglesias is about a woman trapped in Puerto Rico, while Captain Trips is killing everyone she knows. But there is hope. She gets a ticket off the island but has to travel on foot to the beach. The story is heartbreaking while filled with hope. I love the relationship of the neighbors, how they look out for one another. This story has a lot of heartbreaking imagery. The Hope Boat was short and very well paced. The story flowed very well.

The African Painted Dog by Catriona Ward is the fallout from Captain Trips. It tells the story of an African dog trapped in the zoo with his mother and brother. The story is great. The perspective of the dog will give Dean Koontz a run for the money. The story is about survival. The end was great. The language in the story was easy to follow. The pace of the story is great. The direction of the story was not expected.

He’s a Righteous Man by Ronald Malfi is about a prophet coming to a small town. The prophet predicted almost all events of The Stand in his novels. The story starts a little weak, but it is slowly building tension. The story pulled me in a couple of different ways. The story is great about making you think one way about a character, then flipping it the other way. The story does a great job of tying paranoia and faith together. It made me think of both Carrie and The Children of the Corn. I enjoyed this story a lot.

The Unfortunate Convalescence of the Superlawyer by Nat Cassidy is a story that is hard to describe. It is a story that will leave your head scratching until the end. It is a pretty amazing story for The Stand and Stephen King fans. It is a deep cut on the lore of The Stand and Stephen King. The story is very meta, but at the end, it makes sense, which is my kind of meta. Let me guess, but at the end, tell me if I’m wrong. I enjoyed the headspace. The story feels like a story younger Stephen King would write.

Lenora by Jonathan Janz is a story about a man who lives alone in the woods. He is visited by a sick preacher. He wants to give him a dik-dik, which is a dwarf deer. He tells the preacher no, but he leaves the animal anyway. The animal enters through the door and makes himself at home. A home invasion messed up the bonding. The story has gore, but it is heartbreaking. The background of Baker will send you to tears. The story went places I was not expecting. The story is a good mix of heartbreak, humor, and violence. Lenora had the most emotional impact on me.

Abagail’s Gethsemane by Wayne Brady and Maurice Broaddus is about the time in The Stand when Mother Abagail went on her walkabout. On her quest, she is reminded of the time she took a stand for justice and faith. I liked the story a lot. I thought the pacing was great. The story has references to racial injustice and faith. I liked the comparisons to Moses. In The Stand, having just read it. I found the Mother Abagail chapter and backstory very repetitive. It was a little boring. However, I loved the flow and the pace of this story. I liked Flagg’s talk with Abagail in the woods. The stand she took was great, and she needed God on her side to survive.

Lockdown by Bev Vincent is a story about an isolated island community off the coast of Maine. There are only 13 locals and two honeymooners. The island has a town meeting where they decide that no one can come to the island. They invite the honeymooners to stay. Which they agree. But what will the island do if someone comes along? The story is all about paranoia and the dreams of the townspeople on the island. Lockdown has a few small connections to The Stand. These connections highlight a lot of events that happened. One such event is the radio show shootout. I loved the ending to the story where actions have consequences. This story fits Stephen King’s writing best. I loved getting the island’s history and the background of the townspeople.

The Tripps by Wrath James White is about a riot breaking out in the hood. With so many people getting Captain Trips, they want to settle old scores. We get the perspective of Tarik. He dreams of Mother Abigail. She tells him to leave now because the walking dude is about to arrive. There’s a cool twist in the story, and the ending was great. The story is very tense in parts. The story took a little time to get used to the language. White uses some big words at the beginning. That had me read some paragraphs twice. But once I settled in, the story took off. I like the perspective and showing how much Flagg messed with events.

4 Stars Stories From Favorite to Least Favorite:

Room 24 by Caroline Kepnes is about a cop named Abel going out on a domestic disturbance call. He finds a woman roughed up and a baby. He falls instantly for the woman and begins fantasizing about them together. Room 24 takes place when Captain Trips is just starting. The story has a couple of turns and is dark. The cop’s internal monologue is written very well. This is the writer of the novel “You”. The language and word choice felt like King. The way the backstory was dropped in. Room 24 flowed very well. The story was easy to read and visualize. My only slight to the story is that it ignored the progression of Captain Trips in The Stand. In that story, you get really sick, then get better. Eventually, you’re dead.

In a Pig’s Eye by Joe R. Landsdale is about Ricky, a 34-year-old video store clerk who is stuck in life, and then the pandemic happens. A diseased couple gets in a car crash, and the town goes on lockdown with the national guard coming. The sheriff was always a bully and power hungry, declaring curfew. Ricky watches the sheriff use his new power and splits. He starts living off the land until humanity and vicious pigs come. The story has some brutal moments. The story is a little slow at times, but it has an exciting ending. The language is fantastic. My favorite line is, “She smells like the ass end of a diarrhetic camel.” If the pacing had been better, this would have been one of my favorites.

The Devil’s Children by Sarah Langan is about a group of outsiders. They are ruled by a group called the Chosen. Who are very clean and see the other group as dirty. The Chosen tell the others where to live, and have a treaty where the group gives supplies to the Chosen. The narrator’s new partner, Ferris, is a gangly older man who hasn’t found his place. He is chosen to deliver the supplies, and the narrator comes with him. The narrator wants to come because of loyalty. Her best friend has been missing, and she wants to find her. The story mirrors how Americans have treated the Indians. The story has a good ending. The story flows very well. I enjoyed the pace. I wanted a little bit more about Maple’s story.

Across the Pond by V. Castro is about a woman, Elizabeth, in England, who has dreams about Flagg. The dreams turn sexual, and she wants some Flagg, but she’s in England. Flagg tells her to have faith. She meets Joseph, who came at Flagg’s request. The story was interesting and about faith in Flagg. I liked how religion fit into the story, and about the rock under the coronation chair. The story was hornier than I was expecting. The ending was good, but it felt a bit rushed. Elizabeth was a horrible person, but there was something about Castro’s writing that kept me captivated.

The Story I Tell is the Story of Some of Us by Paul Tremblay is about a man. He is deemed important on both sides of the war. Who will he choose, Flagg or Mother Abigail? This is an interesting story about prophecy. I like how the story is told, as a campfire tale. I don’t know what is up with the basement-dwelling friend. I’m told this ties in with The Pallbearers Club novel from Tremblay. I liked the ending. The two flashback scenes are heartbreaking, especially the cousin’s story. I wanted to know more about the narrator of the story. I do like that Tremblay snuck in a Watership Down reference since it was used on The Stand. There are other little Easter eggs in reference to The Stand as well.

Moving Day by Richard Chizmar is about a 15-year-old having to face the harsh reality of this world alone. The story shows an overview of how the disease started and progressed. We see the story from Tommy’s POV. We get extra insight because his father is high enough to speak to military leaders. The story flows between flashbacks and the present day. I was shocked by the mom’s scene in the flashback. The writing is good; it’s kind of a boyhood into manhood story. But the one thing people will talk about is the connection to the story of The Stand. Chizmar does get a slow clap for how the scene is written and revealed. My one problem is that the story repeats itself a little, where I thought it was already covered. The story is kind of a slow burn. The ending connection is wonderful and makes the story.

I Love the Dead by Josh Malerman is about Lev, a deadhead, a super fan of The Grateful Dead. He is angry about the world calling the disease Captain Trips, which is Jerry Garcia’s nickname. The man goes on a trip filled with acid and madness to Jerry Garcia’s home. He believes Garcia is too epic to die from the disease. Lev starts seeing signs that are crazy. The beginning of the story is hilarious. I feel the story loses its momentum as it drags on. The story is one of a kind and can only come from Josh Malerman. I will say when I read this story, I could hear Malerman in my head. The story has quick, short sentences that made me read it at a rapid pace and feel the madness. A unique story, but could’ve been better.

Till Human Voices Wake Us, And We Drown by Poppy Z. Brite is about a strange old man and a young adult who has aids. They get into a conversation about the young man’s Japanese heritage. It evolves into myths and legends. Then they talk about the healing properties of mermaids and that he has one. The young man dismissed this, but he can feel the signs that his aids are getting worse. So his curiosity grows. This story is out there. The story is weirdly horny. It was a story where I could just enjoy this strange ride. The story is humorous. The dialogue is very good between Mole and Seth. I have never read a Poppy Z. Brite story before. I like that you can feel the confidence in the writing. I wanted the ending to be stronger, but I loved the craziness in the story.

Make Your Own Way by Alma Katsu is about a young woman who is now alone on a mountain. She has had invitations to go west from fleeing neighbors. Her horse Ruby gives her pause. She has had Ruby from birth. She decides to stay and take care of her horse. She is alone until a stranger appears. This story is very quiet but is written with a lot of heart. The story is good, but I wanted a little bit more bite to it. I did enjoy what happened with the horse in the story. I predicted where the story was going, but still enjoyed it thanks to Katsu’s writing.

La Mala Hora by Alex Segura is about a woman and her young son. They are on the run from her ex-husband before Captain Trips. They continue well into the disease. This story has a very tense moment at the end. The writing of the tension was very good. La mala hora means the bad hour; at the end of the story, you feel it. I like the myth that is set up for Flagg in another country. He is described as a dark figure. He brings hopelessness. The tension and the vulnerability in the story were great. I feel like the story ended too abruptly. I wanted a little bit more. I thought the narrator of the story had a male voice. I was a little shocked to reveal a mother. And that the story wasn’t about a gay couple. I generally liked this story.

Wrong Fucking Place, Wrong Fucking Time by C. Robert Cargill is about a small town emptied by Captain Trips. The only people left alive are two best friends, Derek and Alan, and an older, quiet family man, Bill. Derek and Alan love horror movies and still keep watching them after the disease. They check on Bill. They invite him to watch horror movies with them. They don’t think he will join, but he does. His viewing comes with questions about horror, then dreams. This story was fun and an education in horror. The end was awesome and very crowd-pleasing. The story was fun and good, but it lacked the weight of the other stories. It is a good pallet cleanser story. The story compares the real horror to the movie version.

Every Dog Has Its Day by Bryan Smith is a story about a 17-year-old left all alone. This happens after everyone dies from Captain Trips. All he has is his dog keeping him company. But the dog escapes. The story is a more personal one. It reminded me of Night Surf by Stephen King in the Night Shift story collection. I do like that we get the pull of the epic battle to come. I liked the ending; it is subtle and sweet. The language of the story is very good. Smith, who is known for spatterpunk, writes a quiet, sad, and thoughtful story. The story is a little slow, but the language kept me interested. I love the way the walking man is used, just shadows and boots. That was very effective.

Grand Junction by Chuck Wendig is about a young hunter, Leaf, who is asked to join a posse to take down John Low, an evil outlaw. Leaf has never killed a fellow human and is very nervous. The story is good, but it really gets going when the posse enters Telluride, and the shooting starts. I felt the story would have been better if it had started in Telluride and flashed back to the past. I enjoyed the Western vibes in this story. I liked the ending of the story a lot. I did not see it coming. The story flows very well. I did not see the ending coming. It took me to the halfway mark in the story to get invested. I wanted to know the other members more.

Milagros by Cynthia Pelayo is about a child who lives in Puerto Rico. All her family is dead. She lives in her old elementary school and has a chicken that is her only companion. She gets the call to go to Nebraska. The story is about whether she could get there and if it is worth it. I had a hard time connecting with the child. I enjoyed the strife she has to go through. This story is kind of a dark Moana with the chicken. The description of the former teacher was great and very gory. The ending was where the story got interesting. I applaud the guts to end the story there.

Hunted To Extinction by Premee Mohamed is 21 years after the event of the stand. In recent years, no child has been born. One day, while Val is hunting, she accidentally shoots a child in the woods dressed in a deer pelt to look like a deer. She brings it back into her wintry cabin, in what looks like a dream soon turns into a nightmare. This story hooked me at the beginning. I was digging the world-building. The main character is Val. The overall story I enjoyed. The middle was hard to picture and jumped into the surreal for a bit with dreams mixed with reality. This story has some great images and moments. I feel this story did not benefit from being a short story. If it had been expanded, it could have been something special.

3 Stars Stories From Favorite to Least Favorite:

Bright Light City by Meg Gardiner is about a flight attendant trying to leave Las Vegas but can not. She ends up taking in an unaccompanied minor of 8. The story was interesting because it is set in Vegas. We see Flagg’s minions taking over. They do not let anyone leave. It also shows Flagg’s influence over not necessarily bad people, but scared ones. I liked the character of Jesse a lot. I wish he were in the story more. I liked the ending of the story. The pacing at the beginning of the story was great. The end also had great pacing. However, the middle was hard to get through. I don’t know if all the Elvis stuff worked.

Kovach’s Last Case by Michael Koryta is about a police officer who has survived Captain Trips. He still thinks like a cop and is looking for a purpose. He has thought about ending it a few times. He is on a supply run and searching for meat at a BBQ joint, and finds 3 corpses hanging, but all drained of blood. He has found a purpose to hunt a serial killer. The story was good, but the end took a direction that was just okay. I was very intrigued until the end. I like how stuff about the ex-wife was layered in, but I thought there would be more purpose to it.

The Legion of Swine by S. A. Cosby is about a pig farmer who is barely holding it together. He has a little hope that his first son, who went to the military, is still alive. He has dreams of his mother, Abigail, but he has never left Virginia, and doesn’t want to move. He is greeted by three strangers who head for Vegas, which changes everything. The language of the story and the metaphors used are very good. The story is a good reflection of a father thinking of his son. The ending was good but predictable. I wanted more. Cosby is a mystery writer. He has an opportunity to tell a gory story. However, the character he wrote does not look at the violence.

Awaiting Orders in Flaggston by Somer Canon is about Amy. She was 10 when Captain Trips happened. Now she’s 13. She lived a year on her own. Some of Flagg’s people found her. They had left Vegas before the bomb. It is revealed that Amy didn’t dream of either Flagg or Mother Abigail. Mal, the leader is losing his grip. He believes that Amy is an oracle. She is the perfect vessel for Flagg’s new dreams and orders. The story took a little while to get started. I wanted to know more about Zeke and his role in the gang. The paranoia was all over this story. It highlighted how much working under a dictator does not work. The story has some brutal imagery and is probably the nastiest story so far. I cared about Amy, but wanted more from her character. I was on the fence with liking and not liking this story.

Came the Last Night of Sadness by Catherynne M. Valente is about a person who feeds off stories of the dead. The stories have meaning and provide insight for the future of humanity. The story is very heady. I liked the writing a lot. Valente can paint a picture with words. The story has a twist in it that I liked. The story is just too long, and repeats itself a little too much. The point of the story is more abstract. The whale metaphor was excellent. The story had a good premise, but it needed to be more concrete for me to enjoy it.

The Mosque at the End of the World by Usman T. Malik is about a Mosque that is a bit rundown. It is rumored to be haunted. It serves as a refuge for a blind man and a young girl. The story shows the patterns of society that Glen Bateman warned us of in The Stand. The people are affected only slightly by the dreams. They feel that it is an American problem with their Christian God. We see people fighting for power over a group that wants only peace. I liked the fight and the power struggle. The story was a bit too long and dragged a little. I loved the insult Sisterfucker. I did enjoy the part about Hero the dog.

Prey Instinct by Hailey Piper is about a woman running from a storm, which she imagines as Captain Trips. The story is very surreal and written in a poetic language. I liked that she never said blood, but a flower bloomed from their chest. I liked the Walt Whitman poem, which is the reason for the name Captain Trips. The story for me felt like poetic madness. Were some parts real or in her head. I’m mixed on this story. It was beautifully written, but sometimes hard to imagine. So some might like this story more than I did.

Walk on Gilded Splinters by David J. Schow is about a woman who lives in an apocalyptic world. She has survived living by her mantra: MyLif4U. Which is in a new Bible based on stories from The Stand. I liked the idea for the story, but did not enjoy the story. It was just okay. I could not identify with Trick Baby, the main character. I liked the monk, but felt let down that his character wasn’t explored more. The opening was written well, but it could not connect to the characters.

2 Stars Stories From Favorite to Least Favorite:

The Boat Man by Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes is a story about two teenagers. Edmund and Marie are the main characters, and they live in Cuba. They make a plan to travel to the States, but have no boat. Enter the Boat Man. I had a real hard time getting into this story. I loved Edmund for the most part. His character did get a little annoying as the story went on. The ending had a twist I was not expecting. But it just happens and is over with no emotion. There’s no psychology to the action. There is no character growth either. I was looking forward to this story because of The Reformatory. I think this might be my least favorite story.

Recommendation: The End of the World As We Know It is an excellent book. My breakdown in rating is 10 five stars, 15 four stars, 8 three stars, and 1 two stars. The book is a great snapshot of the world of horror as we know it. Christopher Golden and Brian Keene have put together a fantastic book. I implore my followers to check this book out. I would recommend reading Stephen King’s The Stand first.

Rating: The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand edited by Christopher Golden and Brian Keene. I rated 4.6 out of 5.