The Stand Anthology's Quiet Stephen King Reunion Makes Me Even More Excited For Its 2025 Release

While the upcoming anthology based on Stephen King's The Stand is exciting enough in its own right, it features a reunion that makes it all the better. The anthology, titled The End of the World As We Know It, will be a first for Stephen King. In it, a collection of notable horror writers will come together to pen stories not just inspired by, but set in the world of The Stand. The authors included in the Stephen King-inspired anthology have inspired great confidence that it will be excellent, if an interesting and slightly risky experiment.

On top of that, with Stephen King teasing a return to Mid-world and the Territories, it's made fans wonder if the new anthology will become canon. It could, perhaps, even more firmly tie together the worlds of The Stand, The Dark Tower, and The Talisman. Either way, it's an exciting thing to see numerous great writers and their individual takes on the world of Stephen King. Even more exciting is that one of those names will be familiar to any of Stephen King's Constant Readers: Richard Chizmar.

2025's The Stand Anthology Will Feature A Richard Chizmar & Stephen King Reunion

Several Notable Names & King Collaborators Will Contribute

The author lineup for The End of the World As We Know It is a murderer's row of some of today's best and most compelling horror and dark fantasy writers. So many of them have clearly been inspired by Stephen King, but have gone on to carve out a unique voice of their own in notable writing careers in the mediums of books and screenwriting. Authors contributing stories to the anthology 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

Rio Youers

A few of those names may jump out to longtime Stephen King fans: Bev Vincent is as close as we get to a living Stephen King historian, having penned Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life and Influences, The Dark Tower Companion, The Road to the Dark Tower, and The Stephen King Illustrated Companion. If there is a scholar who knows Stephen King better, they're in hiding.

The second name is Richard Chizmar, whom readers will recognize for having penned the Gwendy trilogy with Stephen King. The first and third novels were co-written by King and Chizmar, while the middle installment was written solely by Chizmar. All three were quite well-received, so the prospect of Chizmar and King reuniting again (in a manner of speaking), is intriguing.

The Gwendy Trilogy Already Proved How Well These Authors Work Together

Their Collaboration Was Easy & Intuitive

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The first Gwendy story, Gwendy's Button Box, unfolds in King's fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine, in 1974. One day, 12-year-old Gwendy Peterson encounters a man wearing black clothes and a black hat. What she doesn't know at the time is that this man is Stephen King's ultimate villain, Randall Flagg, back playing the devilish tempter. The story then follows Gwendy growing up as she grapples with the responsibility of what the man left her, a magic button box that has the capacity for great good or evil depending on how she uses it.

Gwendy Book Author Release Date Gwendy's Button Box Stephen King & Richard Chizmar May 16, 2017 Gwendy's Magic Feather Richard Chizmar November 19, 2019 Gwendy's Final Task Stephen King & Richard Chizmar February 15, 2022

Writing that first book in the trilogy (technically a novella) was a fun process for both writers and showed that even the great Stephen King gets stuck from time to time and asks for help from other writers he admires. As he explained in the official statement for the book, "I had a story I couldn't finish, and [Chizmar] showed me the way home with style and panache." In a later interview (via EW), Chizmar explained how the collaboration happened:

"Steve sent me the first chunk of a short story. I added quite a bit and sent it back to him. He did a pass, then bounced it back to me for another pass. Then, we did the same thing all over again – one more draft each. Next thing you know, we had a full-length novella on our hands. We took a free hand in rewriting each other and adding new ideas and characters. The whole process took about a month."

Later, when Chizmar had an idea for a sequel, this time enough for a full novel, about a grown-up Gwendy, King gave his friend and colleague his blessing to have at it, though he did the first editing pass and wrote the foreward. A year later, the two reteamed for the third and final book in the trilogy. While it didn't achieve the heights of King's solo novels, the Gwendy trilogy was still really successful and a great read.

I'm Excited To See Richard Chizmar's Take On One Of Stephen King's Best Books

Gwendy's Magic Feather Was A Test Run For The End Of The World As We Know It

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Beyond it being a good read on its own, it was interesting to see Chizmar tackle the world and characters of Stephen King on his own in the second Gwendy book. It's a great test run to see what might happen with The End of the World As We Know It, with so many writers coming together to play in King's sandbox this time, not just Chizmar. With Chizmar returning to the world of King again, this time one of King's greatest novels, The Stand, it'll be fun to see if he does anything differently this time around. After all, some of the most interesting books in King's long bibliography have been his collaborations, most notably The Talisman and Black House with the late Peter Straub.

Stephen King, in a way few creatives do, understands that stories never belong to just one person; they can't be owned.

It's a testament to King's lack of ego that he's always been serious about his work, but never precious about it. If another author can do a better job with a story he's stuck on, he lets them. If they have a great idea stemming from one of his works, they can have it. Stephen King, in a way few creatives do, understands that stories never belong to just one person; they can't be owned. The End of the World As We Know It will be the best test of his collaborative nature, with every author contributing a story that has the spirit of King, but with their own flavor. For horror lovers, that's one hell of a melting pot.