# If I like King's The Stand, I'll also enjoy... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 1, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660 "2008-05-01T19:39:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Survey1215](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Survey1215](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Survey1215)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/1 "2008-05-01T19:39:13Z")
…what? I am just now finishing the expanded edition and have really liked it. I believe this is just the second S. King book I’ve read, after ‘It.’ Not sure if the its the narrative flow, the setting (end of world/rebuilding world sorta), character development or what, but I like it. Any suggestions on similar stuff I may enjoy? ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/2 "2008-05-01T19:45:30Z")
The Dark Tower series. King’s self-ascribed opus. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/3 "2008-05-01T19:49:47Z")
[QUOTE=ChiefScott] The Dark Tower series. King’s self-ascribed opus. [/QUOTE] Loved The Stand, could not finish the Tower series. Lord, was that thing bloated and self-important. Salem’s Lot, Christine, Firestarter. . . all good in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/4 "2008-05-01T19:53:06Z")
Try Max Brooks’ _World War Z_. It’s similar in theme to _The Stand_: there’s an apocalypse, humans endure terrible hardships to survive, then begin to rebuild civilization. Plus, it’s got zombies. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/5 "2008-05-01T19:57:07Z")
I’ll second Salem’s Lot. It’s one of my favorite books. If you read it and like it, also check out Peter Straub’s Ghost Story. Insomnia by Stephen King is really good, as are Different Seasons and Four Past Midnight, two books that each contain 4 smaller novellas. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/6 "2008-05-01T20:04:26Z")
For more “End of the World/Plague Antics” (my favorite genre), you might like… World War Z by Max Brooks The Changed World series (starts with Dies the Fire) by S.M. Stirling Cell by Stephen King (shut up, I liked it!) Infected by Scott Sigler The Taking by Dean Koontz I Am Legend by Richard Matheson ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/7 "2008-05-01T20:14:46Z")
I haven’t read him for a long time, but Robert McCammon is a favorite of people who also like King. _Swan Song_ is McCammon’s apocalypse novel, and can be compared to _The Stand_. My favorite McCammon is _Stinger_, about a big monster that takes over a town. It reads like a 50’s B-movie and is great fun. One of the things I liked about _The Stand_ was the scope – lots of characters, with different things happening to all of them, in different parts of the country. It didn’t drag, anywhere. Not a horror writer, but another writer who offers a wide scope is Don Robertson, particularly his Civil War novels. He’s TOOP but used copies can be found. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/8 "2008-05-01T20:22:03Z")
Try “Earth Abides”, by George Stewart. A more realistic take on what might happen after a great plague, and a good read. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/9 "2008-05-01T20:23:13Z")
You might like _The Keep_ by **F. Paul Wilson**. It’s good in it’s own right but there were two sequels I don’t recall the titles of. If you like **Stephen King** ’s writing you should pick up _Bag of Bones_, the story’s a bit different than typical King but very well written, my favourite by him. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/10 "2008-05-01T20:36:14Z")
If it’s other King books you would enjoy based on your enjoyment of The Stand, you would like the Dark Tower series, as well as Eyes of the Dragon. Also try his short story collections. If you don’t like one of the stories, you can skip ahead to the next one. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/11 "2008-05-01T20:48:38Z")
\*'Salem’s Lot \* is my fave. _The Shining_ was 100x better than the film. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/12 "2008-05-01T20:53:12Z")
My favorite King books: The Shining, Misery, Different Seasons, and the Bachman Books. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/13 "2008-05-01T21:11:36Z")
[QUOTE=well he’s back] Try “Earth Abides”, by George Stewart. A more realistic take on what might happen after a great plague, and a good read. [/QUOTE] That is a brilliant book. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/14 "2008-05-01T21:31:41Z")
King’s novella _The Mist_ is very good, with apocalyptic stuff going down there as well. I’d second McCammon’s _Swan Song_, though virtually none of his other books stand up nearly so well. (And even this one seems very derivative of _The Stand,_ honestly.) If you like some zombie in your apocalypse, _Monster Island_ and its sequels, by David Wellington are very good. They are available in online serial form or print. Online is [here](http://www.brokentype.com/monster/). _Lucifer’s Hammer_, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, is a slightly dated but still entertaining “Worlds Collide”-type story about survival after a comet strikes the earth. David Brin’s _The Postman_ has its fans. I was fairly ambivalent, personally. _Damnation Alley_, by Robert Zelazny, doesn’t have the same kind of mystical weirdness as some of these others, but is up there with _I Am Legend_ in its influence on subsequent post-apocalyptic fare. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/15 "2008-05-01T23:11:00Z")
[QUOTE=Scupper] If you like some zombie in your apocalypse, _Monster Island_ and its sequels, by David Wellington are very good. They are available in online serial form or print. Online is [here](http://www.brokentype.com/monster/). [/QUOTE] Man, Monster Island was weird. It was like ten different books all thrown together that never made any sense but was still entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/16 "2008-05-01T23:13:14Z")
**If I like King’s The Stand, I’ll also enjoy…** . . . slamming your hand in a car door? Poking yourself in the eye with a sharp stick? Over and over for like a thousand pages? Feeding your eyelids to badgers? Pick one. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/17 "2008-05-01T23:27:40Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] **If I like King’s The Stand, I’ll also enjoy…** . . . slamming your hand in a car door? Poking yourself in the eye with a sharp stick? Over and over for like a thousand pages? Feeding your eyelids to badgers? Pick one. [/QUOTE] Ignore him **Survey1215** , he’s a _Showgirls_ fan. Salem’s Lot, The Shining, Pet Cemetery ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/18 "2008-05-01T23:56:11Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] I haven’t read him for a long time, but Robert McCammon is a favorite of people who also like King. _Swan Song_ is McCammon’s apocalypse novel, and can be compared to _The Stand_. [/QUOTE] This is the one I’d recommend; I think it’s a pretty significantly different take on the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it though it does often get compared to The Stand. Or, if you’d rather be mostly left in the dark as to what caused a world-spread disaster, there’s Cormac McCarthy’s new novel, **The Road**. Or, if you’d like a disaster that takes place in a short timespan (over night) and focuses on just a few characters, there’s **The Taking** by Dean Koontz. It was announced about a year and a half ago that Ghost House is making it into a mini-series, but I haven’t heard of any progress since then ☹ ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/19 "2008-05-02T00:04:12Z")
… **Duma Key**. The story isn’t epic like _The Stand_, but so engrossing and entertaining that you won’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660/20 "2008-05-02T00:24:52Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] I haven’t read him for a long time, but Robert McCammon is a favorite of people who also like King. _Swan Song_ is McCammon’s apocalypse novel, and can be compared to _The Stand_. [/QUOTE] I came here to suggest this. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-like-kings-the-stand-ill-also-enjoy/447660.md?page=2)