Thoughts on the quotes- perhaps I give SK too much leeway as a devoted Constant Reader but I love song lyrics and think the more the merrier. It makes me curious what he wants us to take from the inclusion of each and how they speak to what’s coming up. I also like how he mixes real artists and character’s work at times (Larry Underwood coming up). I also share the same niche/dated/eclectic musical taste and appreciate The Boss and Blue Oyster Cult on the same page.
I am re-reading The Stand but this is my first time reading it as a mother. Woof, did the prologue hit differently. My son is 2.5 so about the same age as the baby girl. I think the prologue is a great example of the true genius horror of Stephen King… It’s not gore or monsters (although sometimes it can be)… it’s the horror of real life…plausible things that do happen to real people…the horror that one day you can be woken up in the dead of night and life as you know changes or ends for yourself and the ones you love the most. Thinking about carrying my own baby thru all that got to me.
One thing also noted in this episode and evident in these chapters is how illustrative/cinematic SK can be with an absolute economy of words. He can paint a scene but doesn’t make it flowery or take pages.
To slow myself down, I’ve been reading The End of The World as We Know It. Would be interested if anyone else is - because there’s a lot to talk about there! Maybe a sub-group?
I too am a dedicated Constant Reader, and I keep picking up The End of the World as We Know It but not buying it. Its very high on my list for this year.
Garrett - I felt the same way about it all year this year! Kept picking it up and looking at it but would put it back. The slow read is what inspired me to just buy it already. It’s an investment but it’s been well worth it. One CR to another, go for it!
This is my first time reading The Stand (though I did watch the 2020 miniseries), but I experienced something similar to you when I recently re-read IT (my favorite SK book of all). I think it was the third read I've ever done (my first being when I was about 14), but it was the first time I've read it since being older than the adult versions of the characters. So all the "horror of real life" stuff REALLY landed with me - in some cases I could have sworn that I had never read certain parts before, because they had just really gone over my head in previous reads.
I got The End of the World As We Know It as a gift but I'm nervous to read it alongside the original text - I feel like it might mess with the story a bit for me? I plan to read it when we're done with The Stand!
I'm also planning to read it after finishing The Stand. It's my second time through, but the last time was 1980-something so I don't remember it and want to wait until I'm done before tackling those stories.
I think that’s a good point. First time readers of The Stand should maybe hold off on The End of The World as We Know It until they’ve read the entirety of The Stand. But I think for re-readers it just adds depth to the world. What I’ve encountered so far doesn’t muddy the plot points.
Comment on Springsteen. Yes he was a thing in the 70’s. To me his best albums are Greetings from Asbury Park NJ (1973) and the Wild the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle (1975?) after that was Born to Run which less poetry and more popular rock
The inner monologues of characters just really reasonated with me. Characters would spiral in their thoughts then only verbally say something brief. Just chef's kiss.
This rock conversation is cracking me up !! Yes, all three quotes were in there originally. Yes, Bruce Springsteen was a cultural icon in the 70’s. Born to Run ( the album containing Jungleland) was released in 1975 and landed Springsteen on the cover of Time magazine. LOL—ok moving on.
I also felt like there was sooooo much missed in terms of updating from 78 to 1990, that it should not have been attempted at all. They should have left it in 78.
Stu’s backstory is that of Darry in The Outsiders 😆
I was literally making a character list and listening to this episode when you said “don’t make a character map.” Not being able to keep everyone in my head causes great stress for me. And I waste time going back to remember who everyone is. He’s referring to people by more than one name often! And there are 2 Bills (Hap and the guy at the base in chapter 4) and 2 Vics (the retired gas station guy and the SIL who commit suicide), right?!
YES! The two Vics drive me nuts (I mean that’s a pretty specific name??) but I forgot to mention it in the episode. Also I just don’t understand why he does this. Even if he does in the draft while in a writing flow, why doesn’t an editor or someone flag it?
Well, that was fun. I like how King builds the tension in little increments, creating a mosaic of different character viewpoints. We feel individual character’s terror, while also seeing the illness’s rapid spread.
There are various themes being developed.
First, the reader begins to understand the fragility of civilization—how dependent we all are on shared health.
Second, King begins to set up the theme of individual vs institution success at surviving.
Third, King uses American geography—California to Texas to Vermont—to give the reader a sense of how vast this pandemic will be.
The fourth theme is body as betrayal. Breath becomes poison, proximity becomes death.
King writes with stark clarity. He is highlighting story over style. This serves the mounting horror of what is happening.
King’s use of dialogue is a real strength for him. His characters sound like real people. King captures regional speech patterns very well.
King’s pacing alternates between rapid scenes and prolonged sequences, which allows the reader’s dread to accumulate.
King’s point of view technique is limited third-person with deep interiority.
I agree that SLOWLY reading is fun..am getting more out of the details as i typically read quite fast to 'get to it'!!! I also agree w/ Callie that it drives me CRAZY when the author uses the name for more than one character!!! PLEASE..there are alot of names to use!! While they're at it, don't use the same starting initial for alot of the people!!! Thanks for sharing 'more cowbell' episode! Loved it!!
I absolutely babysat for $2 per hr in the early 90’s in rural MO so a dollar for the morning sounds particularly cheap. Ebola was definitely in the US in the last 10 years, we didn’t have many cases because we had a functioning CDC.
Hi all! I am so excited for this project. I read the first 4 chapters and loved them. Then I listened to the episode and loved them so much more! I can't wait to be on this reading journey with you all.
Quick question- I can't seem to figure out how to access the Side Quest? Help? Thanks!
Thinking about it more - I kind of think the Dorn quote might be intended to be a reference to a character we haven't met quite yet (someone who could be considered "the poet"). I've actually been looking at finding a copy of the poem itself to read because I want to see where else it might overlap. The Dark Tower is one of my favorite book series of all time.
I cannot do a long comment on substack via phone. Twice posts I have tried to make have disappeared. Note to self to stop trying!!!
Let's see if I can remember or update given more recent comments.
As a reader I never really care about quotes at the start of books/chapters. Are there people who are into them or is it just an author vanity thing?
I do think King should have spent a bit of his editing time to update the references or just left the original time period. I was really hung up on the $1 babysitting job. As a tween in 1978 I would never babysit for a dollar, but upon reflection as an adult married mother - maybe it was just an excuse to get away from family and relax watching TV. (her husband was pretty awful in that chapter) I thought the color TV reference was definitely dated. Believable in 1978 but not really in 1990.
Any writer who wants to learn about establishing character/setting definitely needs to study King. He is giving a masterclass on every page. So good. So vivid. (I know, breaking news, but so many times when folks gush about an author it is not justified and with King it absolutely is). Even with dated references he has us in the palm of his hand.
I cannot remember how I felt about all the disease stuff when I first read The Stand because it was too long ago but now in 2026 it is horrifying me with every sniff, cough, and spray of saliva. I know pre-covid I was heavy into chlorox spray and wipes in the classroom/office during flu season so maybe it still hit me hard then. But of course I could not have all the mental images of tent hospitals and morgue trucks back then.
Wait - is the updated version supposed to take place later? I thought the update was just supposed to add in parts that were cut out. I haven't yet seen anything indicating that it's supposed to now take place in 1990, unless I missed it.
In Ch. 2 Frannie thinks about herself: Miss College Girl, 1990. There might be others but I did note that because I'm not keeping a character list but I am noting places and time references but it clearly was easy to miss.
I noted another time reference after I posted this. It's very weird to me that when he added content back in he decided to update the dates (and not the content.) But I would have preferred the dates to be left as they were.
Same. In 1978, we all heard the same music over and over on top 40 radio stations and these songs were our soundtrack. They were ours, not our parents' and the lyrics seemed like a cool shorthand to evoke a mood.
I absolutely love how detailed SK is in his writing. The ultra detail really gets my mental movie going, which helps me to connect and remember better as I move through such a lengthy read. (Please don’t say “chunky” one more time though … bleh. I’m learning really quickly that the breakfast hour might not be the best time for me to do this particular reading.) Also, I’m so glad y’all questioned the quotes and song lyrics at the beginning as much as I did, and thank you for your insight and background on that.
I love it! I got to listen to about half of the episode on the way to work and will continue after. I am not a re-reader (at least not so soon, I read it in 2025 for the first time), but this type might still be for me. In some ways it is good that it's a short time since I read it - because then I can focus even more on themes and other details and not as much on the plot.
King gives us a clue that the virus has spread out of Texas/ California on page 15 when Jesse begins to tell Fran he ran into someone in Portland. He is cutoff by her news but it’s placement is a foreshadowing of things to come
Also, here is how ChatGPT explained to me how it spread so fast within the military facility: "How the people on the base died
Once released, the virus spreads almost instantly through the base:
It is airborne
It has an extremely short incubation period
It has a near-100% fatality rate
Most personnel don’t even realize what’s happening before they’re infected. Symptoms resemble a severe flu at first, but the illness progresses rapidly and kills within days. The base is quickly overwhelmed."
Thoughts on the quotes- perhaps I give SK too much leeway as a devoted Constant Reader but I love song lyrics and think the more the merrier. It makes me curious what he wants us to take from the inclusion of each and how they speak to what’s coming up. I also like how he mixes real artists and character’s work at times (Larry Underwood coming up). I also share the same niche/dated/eclectic musical taste and appreciate The Boss and Blue Oyster Cult on the same page.
I am re-reading The Stand but this is my first time reading it as a mother. Woof, did the prologue hit differently. My son is 2.5 so about the same age as the baby girl. I think the prologue is a great example of the true genius horror of Stephen King… It’s not gore or monsters (although sometimes it can be)… it’s the horror of real life…plausible things that do happen to real people…the horror that one day you can be woken up in the dead of night and life as you know changes or ends for yourself and the ones you love the most. Thinking about carrying my own baby thru all that got to me.
One thing also noted in this episode and evident in these chapters is how illustrative/cinematic SK can be with an absolute economy of words. He can paint a scene but doesn’t make it flowery or take pages.
To slow myself down, I’ve been reading The End of The World as We Know It. Would be interested if anyone else is - because there’s a lot to talk about there! Maybe a sub-group?
I too am a dedicated Constant Reader, and I keep picking up The End of the World as We Know It but not buying it. Its very high on my list for this year.
Garrett - I felt the same way about it all year this year! Kept picking it up and looking at it but would put it back. The slow read is what inspired me to just buy it already. It’s an investment but it’s been well worth it. One CR to another, go for it!
This is my first time reading The Stand (though I did watch the 2020 miniseries), but I experienced something similar to you when I recently re-read IT (my favorite SK book of all). I think it was the third read I've ever done (my first being when I was about 14), but it was the first time I've read it since being older than the adult versions of the characters. So all the "horror of real life" stuff REALLY landed with me - in some cases I could have sworn that I had never read certain parts before, because they had just really gone over my head in previous reads.
I got The End of the World As We Know It as a gift but I'm nervous to read it alongside the original text - I feel like it might mess with the story a bit for me? I plan to read it when we're done with The Stand!
I'm also planning to read it after finishing The Stand. It's my second time through, but the last time was 1980-something so I don't remember it and want to wait until I'm done before tackling those stories.
I think that’s a good point. First time readers of The Stand should maybe hold off on The End of The World as We Know It until they’ve read the entirety of The Stand. But I think for re-readers it just adds depth to the world. What I’ve encountered so far doesn’t muddy the plot points.
Comment on Springsteen. Yes he was a thing in the 70’s. To me his best albums are Greetings from Asbury Park NJ (1973) and the Wild the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle (1975?) after that was Born to Run which less poetry and more popular rock
Have you listened to the recent release of an expanded Nebraska album? It was really good
No! I’ll check it out
The inner monologues of characters just really reasonated with me. Characters would spiral in their thoughts then only verbally say something brief. Just chef's kiss.
Yes so real!
YES he is VERY good at that.
This rock conversation is cracking me up !! Yes, all three quotes were in there originally. Yes, Bruce Springsteen was a cultural icon in the 70’s. Born to Run ( the album containing Jungleland) was released in 1975 and landed Springsteen on the cover of Time magazine. LOL—ok moving on.
I also felt like there was sooooo much missed in terms of updating from 78 to 1990, that it should not have been attempted at all. They should have left it in 78.
I 3000% agree
Agreed!
Stu’s backstory is that of Darry in The Outsiders 😆
I was literally making a character list and listening to this episode when you said “don’t make a character map.” Not being able to keep everyone in my head causes great stress for me. And I waste time going back to remember who everyone is. He’s referring to people by more than one name often! And there are 2 Bills (Hap and the guy at the base in chapter 4) and 2 Vics (the retired gas station guy and the SIL who commit suicide), right?!
YES! The two Vics drive me nuts (I mean that’s a pretty specific name??) but I forgot to mention it in the episode. Also I just don’t understand why he does this. Even if he does in the draft while in a writing flow, why doesn’t an editor or someone flag it?
On Law and Order, the cops sometimes refer to the dead victims as “vics.”
Well, that was fun. I like how King builds the tension in little increments, creating a mosaic of different character viewpoints. We feel individual character’s terror, while also seeing the illness’s rapid spread.
There are various themes being developed.
First, the reader begins to understand the fragility of civilization—how dependent we all are on shared health.
Second, King begins to set up the theme of individual vs institution success at surviving.
Third, King uses American geography—California to Texas to Vermont—to give the reader a sense of how vast this pandemic will be.
The fourth theme is body as betrayal. Breath becomes poison, proximity becomes death.
King writes with stark clarity. He is highlighting story over style. This serves the mounting horror of what is happening.
King’s use of dialogue is a real strength for him. His characters sound like real people. King captures regional speech patterns very well.
King’s pacing alternates between rapid scenes and prolonged sequences, which allows the reader’s dread to accumulate.
King’s point of view technique is limited third-person with deep interiority.
I agree that SLOWLY reading is fun..am getting more out of the details as i typically read quite fast to 'get to it'!!! I also agree w/ Callie that it drives me CRAZY when the author uses the name for more than one character!!! PLEASE..there are alot of names to use!! While they're at it, don't use the same starting initial for alot of the people!!! Thanks for sharing 'more cowbell' episode! Loved it!!
It’s honestly so much fun to listen to this as someone who knows The Stand.
I absolutely babysat for $2 per hr in the early 90’s in rural MO so a dollar for the morning sounds particularly cheap. Ebola was definitely in the US in the last 10 years, we didn’t have many cases because we had a functioning CDC.
Hi all! I am so excited for this project. I read the first 4 chapters and loved them. Then I listened to the episode and loved them so much more! I can't wait to be on this reading journey with you all.
Quick question- I can't seem to figure out how to access the Side Quest? Help? Thanks!
Side quests will be available to paid subscribers and they start tomorrow!
Ah! I am a paid subscriber but it's not tomorrow so that explains it- thank you!
Same question on the Sidequest!
Thinking about it more - I kind of think the Dorn quote might be intended to be a reference to a character we haven't met quite yet (someone who could be considered "the poet"). I've actually been looking at finding a copy of the poem itself to read because I want to see where else it might overlap. The Dark Tower is one of my favorite book series of all time.
I cannot do a long comment on substack via phone. Twice posts I have tried to make have disappeared. Note to self to stop trying!!!
Let's see if I can remember or update given more recent comments.
As a reader I never really care about quotes at the start of books/chapters. Are there people who are into them or is it just an author vanity thing?
I do think King should have spent a bit of his editing time to update the references or just left the original time period. I was really hung up on the $1 babysitting job. As a tween in 1978 I would never babysit for a dollar, but upon reflection as an adult married mother - maybe it was just an excuse to get away from family and relax watching TV. (her husband was pretty awful in that chapter) I thought the color TV reference was definitely dated. Believable in 1978 but not really in 1990.
Any writer who wants to learn about establishing character/setting definitely needs to study King. He is giving a masterclass on every page. So good. So vivid. (I know, breaking news, but so many times when folks gush about an author it is not justified and with King it absolutely is). Even with dated references he has us in the palm of his hand.
I cannot remember how I felt about all the disease stuff when I first read The Stand because it was too long ago but now in 2026 it is horrifying me with every sniff, cough, and spray of saliva. I know pre-covid I was heavy into chlorox spray and wipes in the classroom/office during flu season so maybe it still hit me hard then. But of course I could not have all the mental images of tent hospitals and morgue trucks back then.
He has us in the PALM OF HIS HAND!
Wait - is the updated version supposed to take place later? I thought the update was just supposed to add in parts that were cut out. I haven't yet seen anything indicating that it's supposed to now take place in 1990, unless I missed it.
In Ch. 2 Frannie thinks about herself: Miss College Girl, 1990. There might be others but I did note that because I'm not keeping a character list but I am noting places and time references but it clearly was easy to miss.
I noted another time reference after I posted this. It's very weird to me that when he added content back in he decided to update the dates (and not the content.) But I would have preferred the dates to be left as they were.
I'm just telling myself it's the 70s
Same. In 1978, we all heard the same music over and over on top 40 radio stations and these songs were our soundtrack. They were ours, not our parents' and the lyrics seemed like a cool shorthand to evoke a mood.
I absolutely love how detailed SK is in his writing. The ultra detail really gets my mental movie going, which helps me to connect and remember better as I move through such a lengthy read. (Please don’t say “chunky” one more time though … bleh. I’m learning really quickly that the breakfast hour might not be the best time for me to do this particular reading.) Also, I’m so glad y’all questioned the quotes and song lyrics at the beginning as much as I did, and thank you for your insight and background on that.
I love it! I got to listen to about half of the episode on the way to work and will continue after. I am not a re-reader (at least not so soon, I read it in 2025 for the first time), but this type might still be for me. In some ways it is good that it's a short time since I read it - because then I can focus even more on themes and other details and not as much on the plot.
King gives us a clue that the virus has spread out of Texas/ California on page 15 when Jesse begins to tell Fran he ran into someone in Portland. He is cutoff by her news but it’s placement is a foreshadowing of things to come
Several thoughts
1. So many words. As a lawyer I don’t read “the””a””an”. And my least favorite “therefore”.
2. I adored the very first mini series. It is challenging not to visualize the actors that played the major roles
“They have headaches, they have phlegm, they’ve got it” 😂
Also, here is how ChatGPT explained to me how it spread so fast within the military facility: "How the people on the base died
Once released, the virus spreads almost instantly through the base:
It is airborne
It has an extremely short incubation period
It has a near-100% fatality rate
Most personnel don’t even realize what’s happening before they’re infected. Symptoms resemble a severe flu at first, but the illness progresses rapidly and kills within days. The base is quickly overwhelmed."