The Stand. by King, Stephen - 1978

Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1978. First edition of the author's fourth novel. Thick octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Stephen King on the title page. Fine (without the usual sag associated with this bulky volume) in an excellent dust jacket with light rubbing. Jacket illustration by John Cayea. "I love to burn things up," King says. "It's the werewolf in me, I guess.... The Stand was particularly fulfilling, because there I got a chance to scrub the whole human race, and man, it was fun! ... Much of the compulsive, driven feeling I had while I worked on The Stand came from the vicarious thrill of imagining an entire entrenched social order destroyed in one stroke." "There is much to admire in The Stand: the vivid thumbnail sketches with which King populates a whole landscape with dozens of believable characters; the deep sense of nostalgia for things left behind; the way it subverts our sense of reality by showing us a world we find familiar, then flipping it over to reveal the darkness underneath. Anyone who wants to know, or claims to know, the heart of the American experience needs to read this book" (Fiona Webster). It was the basis for the 1994 American television miniseries. King also wrote the teleplay and had a minor role in the series. It was directed by Mick Garris and stars Gary Sinise, Miguel Ferrer, Rob Lowe, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Jamey Sheridan, Laura San Giacomo, Molly Ringwald, Corin Nemec, Adam Storke, Ray Walston, and Matt Frewer.