Slow Read: The Stand

SLOW READ: The Stand reading scheduleWelcome to Welcome to Slow Read The Stand. We are your hosts Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine This is the inaugural episode of Slow Read The Stand. For this first episode, we just wanted y’all to read the Author’s Note and the Preface in Two Parts. But also, today we wanted to share a little bit about this whole project: why we’re doing a slow read, why we’re doing The Stand, all of it.If you prefer to read instead of listen, below is a cleaned up transcript of the episodes as well as links to all the books and Substacks we mentioned in this episode…and several fun bonus links and videos!Sarah: We’re going to deep dive to set us on the right track for reading together for six months. I’m so excited. Have you ever done a slow read before, Laura?Laura: No. I mean, certainly not like this. In fact, this kind of way of doing a slow read—you introduced it to me. I didn’t even know people were doing it like this. It’s new.Sarah: Listen, it’s a new thing the Internet has invented. It is a great thing the Internet has invented. I was doing slow reads, I just didn’t know they were called that. Probably four or five years ago, I decided I was going to tackle some classic text over the course of the year. It’s too intimidating to sit down with The Brothers Karamazov and chip away over a month. It’ll just take up all your reading time. And I often read more than one book at a time. So I decided to pick one book and just chip away at it over the course of the year.I did The Brothers Karamazov, I did Don Quixote, I did Lonesome Dove—though I don’t think that took me a year. But I really wanted to get bigger, longer texts. I believe in a juicy book, a big book.Want to read more? Choose an extremely long bookLaura: Can I just say that I like that you took on that project? One of the things that has really spun me out a little bit about “Bookstagram” or “BookTok” right now is that it is like a race in quantity. How many books can you read a year or a month or a week?Sarah: Mm-hmm. It’s not that I don’t understand how we got here, and I’m all for people reading a lot of books. But there is something that really appeals to me in an analog way of slowing down and sitting with one work for a long time.Laura: Exactly. I’m an Enneagram One. I can definitely get in that “let me see how many I can check off my list” mode.Sarah: Me too. Did you know that I’m an Enneagram One too?Laura: I did not know that! Whoa. Wait, is this a good thing?Sarah: I think it is. You told me this book is about good and evil, and Enneagram Ones are all about black and white and seeing the world. So I think it’ll be superpowered.Laura: But we will not be offering a wider perspective because we’ll be like, “Good and Evil.” If we pick clearly who the good and bad characters are and you don’t agree with us, we’re so sorry. Two against one!So, I can get in that mindset really easily—let me just get through to the end. Let me complete it. I will gulp down a book. I will read a book and then two years later ask, “Did I read that book?” because I read it so quickly. So I really wanted to work on that aspect of myself with the slow reads.Sarah: But here’s the thing. I read Brothers Karamazov, I read Don Quixote. Did I get as much out of them as I possibly could just sitting down and reading them by myself? No. Because last year I did Footnotes and Tangents , a really lovely Substack run by Simon Haisell . He does a slow read of War and Peace and a slow read of the Cromwell Trilogy by Hilary Mantel. He advises you not to do both at the same time. Did I take his advice? I did not.So I did both of them last year. I did War and Peace, which I’d always wanted to read. War and Peace lends itself to this beautifully. You just read a chapter a night and he would do these great histories and accompaniment that really enriched my reading. I felt like I got so much more out of the book.But I kind of wore myself out on the classics set a long time ago. I’ve been on a run of those and I’m tired. I thought, “Okay, who do I want to read more of who has some long-ass books?” And a little light bulb went off and I went, “Wait, I know Stephen King.” And then I went, “Wait, nobody’s doing this yet. And I know exactly who to ask.” Laura: Because I am a Stephen King evangelist.Sarah: I know you are. And I love that about you.Laura: One of the most popular writers of all time, and I have taken him on like I’m his PR hype person. Like he needs me. He doesn’t need me for book sales, but truly what my mission is around Stephen King is that I want more women to read him. I want more midlife women specifically to read him—the kind of reader who would immediately say “no” when they just hear that it’s a Stephen King book. Because they don’t want to be scared, or they’re intimidated by the length. They think horror novels are going to make them scared to sleep at night. I love that. I really feel strongly about it because I do think that women reading horror in general—and Stephen King is such a good entry point—is important. Everybody knows him. He’s an incredible storyteller. But the reason I want women to read horror is because I think a lot of people are missing out on a whole genre that they think they’re scared of. It is actually so culturally relevant, so creative, and so fulfilling.Sarah: I could not agree more. This is a genre I don’t have a lot of experience with. The only Stephen King book I’ve ever read is Carrie. But I did read it when you kept recommending him, and it held up so well. It’s so impressive how well that book holds up for a man writing a teenage girl 40 years ago.Part of the reason I engage with literature is because I so enjoy the craft of writing. And if you know anything about writing, you know that he is one of the best. He is an expert at his craft. I really don’t understand why people, particularly women, say they are scared. If you’ve read Harry Potter, you’ll be OK. I was scared out of my mind at the end of the fourth Harry Potter book. I survived it. People read dark stuff; it’s just not under the genre of “horror,” so they think that’s a totally different thing.Laura: Well, horror as a genre is sort of akin to saying “romance.” There are a ton of different types. Horror is the same. People think it’s going to be graphically bloody or real “monstery,” and that’s just not true. There is monster horror, body gore horror, psychological horror. Stephen King himself is not the worst of that at all.Sarah: Right. You think of Jack Nicholson in The Shining. That is just not what the books are, actually.Sarah: Interesting. Well, fun fact about me—and let’s get this out of the way now while we’re tackling horror and imagery. I am not a visual reader. I do not picture anything in my head almost ever while I’m reading. When people say, “Oh, that’s not how I picture the character,” I don’t picture the character. So that part is not intimidating to me. It’s almost like I have an audiobook in my head when I’m reading.Laura: Wait, what do you mean? You don’t see anything? How do you understand what’s happening?Sarah: It’s like I’m listening to it. If it’s describing a woman standing in the kitchen, I’m not picturing a woman standing in the kitchen.Laura: Not me. That is kind of weird.Sarah: It is, but it also makes horror super easy for me. I’m not going to be sticking with anything graphic. Horror is my playground. I’m not scared. I’m ready.Laura: Well, The Stand isn’t horror in the way that word makes you think. The Stand is apocalyptic. There are definitely supernatural elements, but it’s not monsters under the bed. So, I came to you and said I want to do this slow read project with Stephen King, and I bowed to your expertise. You picked The Stand.I picked The Stand for a few reasons. Now, this is actually not my favorite Stephen King book. I am not a Stephen King expert; I am a Stephen King super fan. I love him, but I haven’t read every single thing. He’s written in several genres in the last 15 years, like crime/cop genres that I skip. But since I was in fourth grade reading the dirty parts of my neighbor’s mom’s books, I’ve loved him.Since then, I’ve said we are going to study him like we do Edgar Allan Poe or Dickens. Writers that were maybe poo-pooed in their time and then became the classics that they are. That has since come true; people do study Stephen King in college now.Back to why I chose The Stand for this project. It is my favorite for the record, though I’ll share my other favorites with Slow Read members. I’ve been running a Stephen King summer book club since 2021, and we did The Stand in 2023. I wanted to return to it because it is so relevant in so many ways that are kind of a bummer, but will make for excellent conversation.Sarah: So you’re not going to get graphic gore, but you might get bummed out about the state of the world?Laura: Well, its whole premise is a flu-like pandemic that wipes everybody out except for a select few. That’s a tough hang, even six years later.Sarah: I read Station Eleven recently, and I did okay.Laura: Station Eleven, I think, borrows heavily from The Stand. That’ll be a whole episode. There are a lot of novelists and pop culture—even songs like Metallica and Anthrax—that have drawn upon The Stand since it came out in 1978.Sarah: Was it really sort of a definitive apocalyptic text in the 20th century?Laura: I can’t think of another one that would have been more high profile. But King is very generous in saying where he gets ideas from. He originally wanted to write a big epic tale inspired by The Lord of the Rings. And he was also, weirdly, inspired by the Patty Hearst kidnapping. He tried to write a Patty Hearst type book and it wasn’t working. Then he read an article about chemical warfare and what would happen if it took out the population. He abandoned the Patty Hearst project and put together what became The Stand.The Story of Patty HearstI thought his “Preface in Two Parts” was fascinating. I just think he’s such a funny guy. You can feel him creeping right up to saying, “They made me cut it,” but he’s humble about it.Sarah: I agree. He’s also kind of corny. He makes dad jokes.Laura: Yeah, he’s not “cool.” He still comes off as kind of a sci-fi nerd. I thought it was interesting that he says, “It’s not my favorite book, but it’s all of y’all’s favorite book.”Sarah: He actually has really bad taste in his own work. He hates the movie The Shining. It was really interesting reading the section about the film adaptations. He’s taking us through his casting notes, which feels like something they should have cut!Laura: So, the Preface in Two Parts came out when the uncut version—the one we are reading—came out in 1990 with 400 pages added back in. When The Stand originally came out in 1978, it was literally too long to be printed with the binding technology of the time. I do have concerns about my spine holding up. I can’t believe you’re doing the paperback.Sarah: Well, I wanted to take it with me when I travel. But anyway, the 1990 version has some modifications. He updated the timeline and pop culture references, rearranged chapters, and added back about 150,000 words.Laura: I think he’s right that it makes these characters richer. This is a plot-driven book, but adding back those words makes for a richer experience. There have been miniseries adaptations—one in 1994 with Molly Ringwald, and one in December 2020 during a pandemic, which was such bad luck.Laura: This book has sold four and a half million copies. Of course it spawned miniseries. It’s currently in development to be a movie. And in August of 2025, a book came out called The End of the World as We Know It, which is basically an anthology of stories set in The Stand universe written by famous horror writers like Paul Tremblay and S.A. Cosby.We hope over the course of this project to maybe do a watch-along of the miniseries or explore this new book. That is what is beautiful about a slow read—you’re not in a hurry. You can go on “side quests.”Sarah: We plan on picking up those threads. A book this big has lots of tentacles. We’re going to let them all flow through.Laura: Let me say one other reason why I chose this when you came to me. I knew that you, Sarah, would be a great person to have a conversation around this story because it’s pretty political.Sarah: Oh, I’m so excited. I love a political novel. My work at Pantsuit Politics is all about how politics is deep and wide. Often, a piece of fiction is the best way to unpack this stuff because the stakes are low. It’s politics on a micro level—the politics of human nature.Laura: If 97% of people are gone, nobody is using their Congress card to vote. It’s the politics of how we live in community together.Sarah: Exactly. Sounds like there’s going to be lots of that in The Stand.Laura: Should we go through the logistics?Sarah: Okay. We will be reading The Stand by Stephen King from now, January 2026, to the end of June. Six months. We’ve broken down a reader’s guide for you so you know what we’re going to talk about on every episode. A deadline really helps with a book this long.Laura: I’ve never done a slow read where you almost have to abstain. You get so into it you want to keep going. But there’s something nice about forcing yourself to stop, let it sink in, and participate in the conversation.Sarah: We are going to have a subscriber community on Substack where we will have once-a-month Zooms. If you are really into chatting about this in a group setting, that will be available. No matter what, subscribe on Substack to get the reading schedule.Laura: We want members who are reading it with us to participate. It’s really fun hearing perspectives I hadn’t thought about. If you think an online book club isn’t as satisfying as a real-life book club, let me tell you: yes, it is. The Zoom puts up a nice framework where you can actually talk about the book.Sarah: Can I tell you what my favorite quote is from The Stand? Can I read it to you?Laura: Absolutely.Sarah: “No one can tell what goes on between the person you were and the person you become. You just come out the other side. Or you don’t.”Laura: Is that our send-off? See you on the other side? It’s a little ominous, the “or you don’t” part.Sarah: Let’s just assume we will see you on the other side, everyone.Laura: See you on the other side.Shoutout to Simon Haisell of Footnotes and Tangents and Laura’s Stephen King Summer Book ClubFind Sarah Stewart Holland at Pantsuit Politics and By Plane or By Page Find Laura Tremaine at Secret Stuff by Laura Tremaine Slow Read: The Stand is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Slow Read: The Stand at slowread.substack.com/subscribe

Sarah sat down with Simon Haisell of Footnotes and Tangents to talk about how a slow read can add richness to your reading life, why every slow read doesn’t have to be long, and the unexpected downside of reading the world’s greatest authors!Slow Read: The Stand is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Slow Read: The Stand at slowread.substack.com/subscribe

We are so excited to tell you about our new project SLOW READ. This is a podcast and Substack community dedicated to reading the books you want at a pace you can handle. And we’re starting with a modern classic: The Stand by Stephen KingEvery other week we’ll have a conversation dissecting this 1,200 page tale, chapter by chapter. The goal is to dive into epic novels with a community of readers who want to go deeper. We’ll kick off reading The Stand together on January 1, 2026 and we’ll close the circle by June 16th. Six months with one story! It’s the opposite of what the world’s current chaos is screaming, and it’s just what we need. Stay tuned for our complete reading schedule, more thoughts on the current literary landscape, background on Stephen King and The Stand, and more. What else you need to know:* We will be reading the complete and uncut version of The Stand (so make sure you don’t accidentally grab the abridged 1978 version)* On Substack, members will have access to bonus material including regular book club meetings hosted by Sarah & LauraEnjoy this short teaser explaining a little bit more about our vision for SLOW READ and why we chose to read a novel about good & evil in 2026Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing!Sarah & Laura Get full access to Slow Read: The Stand at slowread.substack.com/subscribe