R. L. Stine

R. L. Stine is an American author widely credited with turning horror fiction into a mainstream habit for young readers. After years writing joke books and teen fiction under the pen name Jovial Bob Stine, he found his defining voice with Fear Street, a series of standalone teen horror novels launched in 1989, followed in 1992 by Goosebumps, a middle-grade horror line that became one of the bestselling children's book series of all time, with well over 400 million copies sold worldwide. Stine's formula of short, fast-paced chapters, twist endings, and horror pitched just scary enough for young readers made both series publishing phenomena and turned him into one of the most recognizable names in children's literature. He has continued writing prolifically into the 2020s, producing new Goosebumps and Fear Street installments alongside adult horror novels. Goosebumps became a long-running television anthology series in the 1990s and was later adapted into feature films and a 2023 Disney+ series, while Fear Street was adapted into a well-received trilogy of films for Netflix in 2021. New readers can start almost anywhere in Goosebumps for a bite-sized, self-contained scare, or begin Fear Street with The New Girl for the slightly older, ongoing-town-mythology version of his style. Stine remains active and continues to write today.