Books Like “The Stand” by Stephen King

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.

New York Times bestselling author Robert McCammon’s prescient and astonishing vision of a post-apocalyptic United States comes to life in this classic epic of terror and renewal.

Facing down an unprecedented malevolent enemy, the US government responds with a nuclear attack. Soon, America as it was is gone forever, and now every citizen—from the president of the United States to the homeless on the streets of New York City—will fight to stay alive. In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, Earth’s last survivors are drawn into the final battle between good and evil, which will decide the fate of humanity: Sister, who discovers a strange and transformative glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets…Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the nuclear fallout at a Nebraska gas station...and Swan, a young girl possessing special powers, who travels alongside Josh to a Midwest town where healing and recovery can begin with her extraordinary gifts. But the ancient force behind the world’s devastation is scouring the walking wounded for recruits to build its relentless army, beginning with Swan herself…

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This thrilling novel kicks off what Stephen King calls “a trilogy that will stand as one of the great achievements in American fantasy fiction.” ONE OF PASTE’S BEST HORROR BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Esquire, U.S. News & World Report, NPR/On Point, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, BookPage, Library Journal “It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.” An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy—abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world. Look for the entire Passage trilogy: THE PASSAGE | THE TWELVE | THE CITY OF MIRRORS Praise for The Passage “[A] blockbuster.”—The New York Times Book Review “Mythic storytelling.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Magnificent . . . Cronin has taken his literary gifts, and he has weaponized them. . . . The Passage can stand proudly next to Stephen King’s apocalyptic masterpiece The Stand, but a closer match would be Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: a story about human beings trying to generate new hope in a world from which all hope has long since been burnt.”—Time “The type of big, engrossing read that will have you leaving the lights on late into the night.”—The Dallas Morning News “Addictive.”—Men’s Journal “Cronin’s unguessable plot and appealing characters will seize your heart and mind.”—Parade

The Biggest Thriller of The Year Has Arrived.

A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world's last hope. From the mind of Chuck Wendig comes an astonishing tapestry of humanity that Harlan Coben calls "a suspenseful, twisty, satisfying, surprising, thought-provoking epic." Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And, like Shana, there are other "shepherds" who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead. For on their journey, they will discover an America convulsed with terror and violence, where this apocalyptic epidemic proves less dangerous than the fear of it. As the rest of society collapses all around them-and an ultraviolent militia threatens to exterminate them-the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart-or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.

The award-winning Earth Abides is one of the most influential science fiction novels of all time, a mix of dystopian horror and a literary exploration of loneliness. It remains a fresh, provocative--and all too relevant--story of apocalyptic pandemic, societal collapse, and rebirth. Includes an introduction by Kim Stanley Robinson!

"This is a book, mind you, that I'd place not only among the greatest science fiction but among our very best novels" - Boston Globe

For Isherwood Williams, his cabin has always been a haven from the demands of society. But one day while hiking, Ish is bitten by a rattlesnake, and the solitude he had so desired takes on dire new significance. Because not long after, the coughing begins. Then the chills and fever and a measles-like rash. He thinks it's a reaction to the bite. What he doesn't know that the venom might be the only thing that kept him alive.

For when Ish heads home the world is not as he left it. No cars pass, the gas station not far from his cabin looks abandoned, there's nothing on the radio, and he is shocked to see the body of a man on the roadside near a small town. He has missed humanity's abrupt demise, only to find himself at the center of society's rebirth. This is a chance to start over, and as Ish gathers survivors to him, he discovers just how wondrous and terrible that proposition is.

And when, decades later, he looks back on his legacy, he is only starting to understand the challenge between enlightenment and practicality. He had left one world, rejoined another, and now leaves--hopefully--an even different world behind. Because, reluctantly or no, his words and actions carry weight for the next generation, and Ish's vision of the future may be one of prophecy...or doom.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • A PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FINALIST • Set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse—the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. • Now an original series on HBO Max. • Over one million copies sold!

Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.

Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.