This is the way the world ends: with nanosecond of computer error in the Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form links in a chain letter of death.

And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world whice a handful of panicky survivers choose sides, or are chosen. A world whice good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail-and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the darkman. Comment: This version of The Stand was cut by 150,000 words.