The End of the World As We Know It
By Christopher Golden (Edited by), Brian Keene (Edited by). Stephen King (Introduction by)
Gallery Books, August 2025, 800pp.
The Short of It:
If you hold The Stand near and dear to your heart, this anthology inspired by this beloved book, will not disappoint.
The Rest of It:
I am picky, really picky when it comes to anthologies but this one holds up. Thirty-six of horror’s finest writers came together to create this, well, masterpiece.
The collection opens with a real banger of a story. It puts you right back into the pandemic. That fear of catching it, the fear of what comes after. As you can imagine, a world wrecked by a pandemic quickly deteriorates. Resources become scare, people become desperate, fast. In a world gone to hell, who can you trust?
Each story intentionally walks down that path. Who can you trust? What would you do in a situation like that? Fight to survive, no matter what that means? Or end it?
I really enjoyed this particular collection because it was easy to dip in and out of. Some of the stories are a little longer but still readable in one sitting, which I like. My issues with short fiction, typically, is that there isn’t enough time to pull me in. Not the case with this batch.
Highly recommend.
Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.
Book Chatter 
This is excellent news! I have this on my radar.
Yayyy! I just read The Stand recently and was wondering about this one. Thanks for posting about it!
You had me at The Stand! Definitely getting this one, maybe for my husband for Christmas. I can read it after (or before?!) him. Thanks, Ti!
Oh yes. Good idea. It would make a nice gift and for sustainability purposes, you should read it too.
I don’t know that I’ve ever read an anthology; how did that happen?! I’ll have to keep my eye out for one that interests me. Not this one as I am not good with horror. 🙂
I’m glad to hear your thoughts on this one, Ti. The Stand is one of my favorite books ever, though it has been a long time since I reread it. I had been thinking about trying this. As I’m not much of a short story person, I’ve been a bit on the fence. Hey, I can try it, right? If it doesn’t work for me, I’ll go back and reread the original. 😉
I am not a huge lover of short fiction either but this one was easy to dip in and out of on my time. It definitely made me want to read The Stand again. I’ve already read it four times. LOL.
I enjoyed The Stand, though I’m not a huge Stephen King fan. I do kike Christopher Golden a lot since I’d be curious to see what kind of collection he brought together.
I honestly prefer King’s older stuff. The pre-accident stuff.