The hardcover edition of Stephen King’s lengthiest novel is on sale for over 50% off at Amazon. The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition is up for grabs for only $26.34, down from $55. This is the best price in years for the massive 1,100-plus page tome that many view as King’s magnum opus. With a highly anticipated short story anthology set in the world of The Stand slated to release in August, now’s the perfect time to revisit or read King’s all-time classic in the post-apocalyptic genre.
The Stand’s hardcover edition often sells for $40 or more, so if you’re in the camp who believes The Stand is the best King novel (indeed, it is), scoop up this deal while you can.
$26.34 (was $55)
The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition restores the 400-plus pages King had to remove before the novel’s original publication in 1978. The text wasn’t removed because it was superfluous; it was all related to cost. A 1,100-plus page hardcover book costs a lot to manufacture, and King was still early in his career back then. His first novel, Carrie, was published just four years prior in 1974. The Stand was King’s fifth book.
By the time 1990 rolled around, King was a household name, which allowed Doubleday to publish the post-apocalyptic masterpiece in its intended form.
At 1,152 pages, The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition claimed the distinction as King’s longest novel–it just barely eclipsed the page count of 1986’s It starring Pennywise the Clown (1,138 pages). Note: the current hardcover edition of It is actually 1,168 pages, but The Stand has a higher word count.
One of the coolest aspects of the hardcover edition of The Stand is that Doubleday uses the original 1990 dust jacket for current printings. It’s one of several King hardcovers currently utilizing the jagged, swooping title font and ominous collage backdrops. If you’re a King collector, you should also check out the hardcover editions of The Shining, ‘Salem’s Lot, and Night Shift. These four books. look great. together on a bookshelf. It also doesn’t hurt that The Shining and ‘Salem’s Lot are also among King’s best novels, while Night Shift is notable as the author’s first short story collection.
Stephen King Classics with Nostalgic Cover Designs:
All four hardcovers are on sale for nearly 50% off at Amazon. Each well-designed book includes a haunting dust jacket matching the one shown above.
It’s worth noting that the trade paperback edition of The Stand (1,200 pages) is available for $14.40 (was $22).
$32.55 (was $35) | Releases August 19
The Stand is a timeless classic in the post-apocalyptic fantasy genre. The sprawling tale about a weaponized pandemic is told from many different perspectives and features a staggering number of subplots and secondary stories within the wider narrative.
King has alluded to The Stand and included characters from its world in his other works–he often does this in general–but there are certainly many more stories that could be told in the author’s vividly realized apocalypse.
King apparently agrees, as he authorized the creation of the upcoming anthology The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand. The 800-page short story collection features stories by dozens of contemporary horror and thriller authors, including S.A. Cosby, Richard Chizmar, Meg Gardiner, Josh Malerman, Catriona Ward, and Paul Tremblay. King wrote the introduction, and the anthology was edited by Christopher Golden and Brian Keene.
The End of the World As We Know It is scheduled for publication on August 19, so you have a few months to prepare by reading or re-reading King’s original doorstopper.
The Stand has been adapted into a TV miniseries on two separate occasions. You can get a Blu-ray combo pack featuring the 1994 and 2020 miniseries for $35 (was $45) at Amazon. The adaptations are decent and worth watching, but they pale in comparison to the source material.
While on the subject of lengthy King stories, it’s worth mentioning that King’s longest narrative, The Dark Tower, is available in an eight-book paperback box set for only $69 (was $161) at Amazon right now. At over 4,700 pages, The Dark Tower is more than four times longer than The Stand, but the story is told in a series spread across eight novels.
Stephen King Upcoming Book Releases
The Stand’s upcoming anthology isn’t the only King book releasing in the coming months. The author’s latest novel, Never Flinch, will be published by Scribner on May 27. Preorders for the hardcover edition of Stephen King’s Never Flinch are discounted to $22.40 (was $32) at Amazon. If you haven’t read King’s other recent books featuring protagonist Holly Gibney, check out our Never Flinch preorder guide for details on how to catch up before its release.
There’s also an upcoming Stephen King novel box set containing three classics with appropriately “retro” cover designs. Here’s a list of the upcoming books by Stephen King that are currently available to preorder.
You can also preorder the long-awaited fifth novel from horror author Joe Hill (King’s son) ahead of its October 21 publication. Titled King Sorrow, the nearly 900-page novel will arrive nearly a decade after Hill’s last novel, The Fireman.
