Please settle an argument for me. My friend says it’s an oversight that the Cold War is still happening in 1990 in the uncut version of The Stand. I said since the uncut version was published in May of 1990, King would have had to do his compiling and updates and have the finalized manuscript submitted to be printed well before the Cold War ended in December of 1989, so it’s less an oversight and more King having no way of knowing it would be over by 1990. How soon does (or did) a manuscript have to be completed before a print book is released?
According to Wikipedia the Cold War ended with the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991, following the abortive Communist Coup in the USSR in August 1991. As someone who was alive back then, there wasn't ever exactly an announcement that the Cold War was over and we all had a End of War party. It's more one of those things that became apparent in hindsight.
Manuscripts for finished books tend to be handed in about a year before publication, although it's possible for that to be reduced to about 6 months for rush jobs. The books have to be copy-edited, typeset, advance copies printed for reviewers and to be sold in to bookshops, the books need to be ordered by the shops, then printed, then shipped, all before the on-sale date. It's usually a year.
