This is not a book review

By Cyrus F.

Robert Lawrence Stine also known as R.L Stine is a writer of his own kind. He is called the "Stephen King" of children's literature and is the author of hundreds of horror fiction novels, including the books in the Fear street, Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, and The Nightmare Room series.

Stine was born in Columbus, Ohio on October 8, 1943, to jewish parents, Anne (née Feinstein), a homemaker, and Lewis Stine, a shipping clerk. He began writing at age nine when he found a typewriter in his attic, subsequently beginning to type stories and joke books. He graduated from The Ohio State University (OSU) in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. While at OSU, R. L. Stine edited the OSU humor magazine, The Sundial, for three out of his four years there. He later moved to New York City to pursue his career as a writer.

He wrote dozens of humor books for kids under the pen name Jovial Bob Stine and created the humor magazine Bananas. Bananas was for teenagers published by Scholastic Press for 72 issues between 1975 and 1984, plus various "Yearbooks" and paperback books. Stine was editor and responsible for much of the writing (other contributors included writers Robert Leighton, Suzanne Lord and Jane Samuels and artists Sam Viviano, Samuel B. Whitehead, Bob K. Taylor, Bryan Hendrix, Bill Basso, and Howard Cruse). Recurring features included "Hey – Lighten Up!", "It Never Fails!", "Phone Calls", "Joe" (a comic strip by John Holmstrom), "Phil Fly", "Don't You Wish...", "Doctor Duck", "The Teens of Ferret High", "First Date" (a comic strip by Alyse Newman), and "Ask Doctor Si N. Tific".

In 1986, Stine wrote his first horror novel, called Blind Date. He followed with many other novels, including The Babysitter, Beach House, Hit and Run, and The Girlfriend. He was also the co-creator and head writer for the Nickelodeon Network children's television show Eureeka's Castle, original episodes of which aired as part of the Nick Jr.programming block during the 1989 to 1995 seasons.

In 1989, Stine started writing Fear Street books. Before launching the Goosebumps series, Stine authored three humorous science fiction books in the Space Cadets series titled Jerks in Training, Bozos on Patrol, and Losers in Space. In 1992, Stine and Parachute went on to launch Goosebumps.

Also produced was a Goosebumps TV series that ran for four seasons from 1995–1998 and three video games; Escape from HorrorLand, Attack of the Mutant and Goosebumps HorrorLand. In 1995, Stine's first novel targeted at adults, called Superstitious, was published. He has since published three other adult-oriented novels; The Sitter, Eye Candy, and Red Rain.

In the first decade of the 21st century, Stine has worked on installments of five different book series, Mostly Ghostly, Rotten School, Fear Street, The Nightmare Room,Goosebumps Horrorland and the stand-alone novels Dangerous Girls (2003) and The Taste of Night (2004). Also, a direct-to-DVD movie The Haunting Hour Volume One: Don't Think About It, starring

Emily Osment was released by Universal Home Entertainment on September 4, 2007.