The Stand
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The Stand is an apocalyptic novel by Stephen King. The novel, originally published in 1978, remains a favorite of many King fans.
The Stand re-works the scenario first seen in King's earlier short story, "Night Surf" (included in the short story collection Night Shift). The novel contains the first published reference to what would become the Dark Tower mythos, as King's über-villain Randall Flagg is introduced. Flagg also appears in King's novel The Eyes of the Dragon.
The publishing history of the book is unique in that it was re-released as The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition in 1990. This edition restored some text originally edited for brevity, added some new sections and revised others, and changed the setting of the novel from the early 1980s to the early 1990s.
The novel is one of the few King books of its era not to have been made into a theatrical feature film. King had agreed to support a film version to have been directed by George Romero, but the project proved unworkable and was abandoned. A TV miniseries version of the novel first appeared in 1994. Airing over four nights, it starred Molly Ringwald, Laura San Giacomo, Rob Lowe, Gary Sinise, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Jamey Sheridan, Ray Walston, Miguel Ferrer, and Adam Storke. Special guest appearances included Ed Harris, Kathy Bates, and former NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The story begins with the decimation of the human population by an escaped biological weapons agent (a man-made superflu virus known officially as "Blue" and colloquially as "Captain Trips"), continues with the cross-country odyssey of the small number of survivors who divide into camps of good and evil, and the results of the confrontation between the two factions.