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October 8: The Stephen King of Children’s Literature

lawrencebush
October 8, 2013
R+L+Stine+16th+Annual+Los+Angeles+Times+Festival+NwydN8xn6TSlR.L. (Robert Lawrence) Stine, the author of the Goosebumps series and hundreds of horror and fantasy novels for adolescents, was born in Columbus, Ohio on this date in 1943. “I was a very fearful child,” he has said, “and when I write I try to remember that feeling of panic.” Between 1975 and 1984 Stine created and edited Bananas, a humor magazine for teens, and wrote dozens of humor books for Scholastic Books, before turning to horror in 1986 with the novel Blind Date, an instant best-seller. More than 400 million copies of his books have sold over the years, and video games and a television series have been based upon his work. Among his novels for adults are Superstitious (1995), Eye Candy, (2004) and Red River (2012). “When I was a kid, there were these great comic books called Tales From The Crypt and The Vault of Horror. They were gruesome. I discovered them in the barbershop and thought they were fabulous. I used to get a haircut every Saturday so I wouldn’t miss any of these comic books. I had no hair at all when I was a kid!” —R.L. Stine