The End of the World as We Know It

New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand

De: Christopher Golden - contributor, Brian Keene - contributor, Stephen King - introduction

Narrado por: Sean Patrick Hopkins, Adenrele Ojo

An original short story anthology based on master storyteller Stephen King’s #1 New York Times bestselling classic The Stand!

Since its initial publication in 1978, The Stand has been considered Stephen King’s seminal masterpiece of apocalyptic fiction, with millions of copies sold and adapted twice for television. Although there are other extraordinary works exploring the unraveling of human society, none have been as influential as this iconic novel—generations of writers have been impacted by its dark yet ultimately hopeful vision of the end and new beginning of civilization, and its stunning array of characters.

Now for the first time, Stephen King has fully authorized a return to the harrowing world of The Stand through this original short story anthology as presented by award-winning authors and editors Christopher Golden and Brian Keene. Bringing together some of today’s greatest and most visionary writers, The End of the World As We Know It features unforgettable, all-new stories set during and after (and some perhaps long after) the events of The Stand—brilliant, terrifying, and painfully human tales that will resonate with listeners everywhere as an essential companion to the classic, bestselling novel.

Featuring an introduction by Stephen King, a foreword by Christopher Golden, and an afterword by Brian Keene. Contributors include Wayne Brady and Maurice Broaddus, Poppy Z. Brite, Somer Canon, C. Robert Cargill, Nat Cassidy, V. Castro, Richard Chizmar, S. A. Cosby, Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, Meg Gardiner, Gabino Iglesias, Jonathan Janz, Alma Katsu, Caroline Kepnes, Michael Koryta, Sarah Langan, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, Josh Malerman, Ronald Malfi, Usman T. Malik, Premee Mohamed, Cynthia Pelayo, Hailey Piper, David J. Schow, Alex Segura, Bryan Smith, Paul Tremblay, Catherynne M. Valente, Bev Vincent, Catriona Ward, Chuck Wendig, Wrath James White, and Rio Youers.

©2025 Christopher Golden (P)2025 Simon & Schuster Audio

Average stories punctuated by often bad readings

I liked the Mosque story and bits of a few other stories, but overall I wish this world had been left alone. The female reader was not good. That’s it. Her cadence was off to me - almost sing-songy- and didn’t track with the tone of the tale. Her reading in an English accent was simply unlistenable. The male narrator lived up to what is the generally high standard for Audible, but the stories were, overall, mediocre. Sad ending to The Stand.

Most stories are good, one narrator not good

The Stand is my favorite King so I was excited for this one. Knowing King didn’t write these, I kept an open mind to the writing. There are some great stories, some were just ok. Overall I enjoyed it, but the female narrator made it really hard to get excited for the stories she narrated.

Underwhelmed

I wanted to love this SO BAD! And there were about 4/5 stories in here that are really great. But the rest we just kinda….eh?

No one seemed to want to touch the main characters outside of Flagg and Abigail, which was a bit disappointing, though I guess I get it.

So far so disappointing.

Stories are pretty lack luster so far. This would have been a lot better with 3-6 novellas inside of this book. Stories that have some meat. The male narrator is okay. the female is sometimes okay, but when she goes off the rails - she's beyond annoying. Also some of her voices are awful.

Some of the stories were amazing BUT…

the narration by Ojo kills this book in this format. Reading it may leave a different impression. Not only did I skip her narration, I returned it because it wasn’t worth keeping and disappointing in this format.

Great Stories - Terrible Performance

loved the vast majority of the stories. They answer many of the questions the original book raises or, at least, gives some interesting perspectives on them

The narration, specifically Adenrele Ojo, is just awful. Constant mispronouncing of words, word doubling, and often with what sounds like a speech impediment making the words almost impossible to understand. She also tried a performance that almost sing-songy way.

Great variety of stories

the female narrator was terrible. I skipped her stories and read them in the physical book

Fantastic but .... I had to skip a lot of it ;(

I'm a big narrator guy and I like what I like. But a bad narrator will always take me right out of a story. Adenrele Ojo is one of those narrators. I tried to tuff it out I really did. But in the end I had to just skip past all the chapters that she read. No offense, her style just isn't my jam. But if you like Adenrele Ojo's narration then this will be a banger for you! Just being honest. Sorry not sorry.

Confused

Looked forward to reading this book, but disappointed and confused. Maybe I need to listen again, but it would be looked upon as a chore not a pleasure. Book was all over the place and stories were disconnected and not finished. Random and unfocused. The ending was out there in outer space. Felt as if I was trying to read and understand a foreign language.

lots of good stories.

I could not stand the over-dramatic nature of the female narrative. I literally found myself skipping through all of her readings which made me feel bad for the authors who penned them. She is just way too over the top...