R. L. Stine

Robert Lawrence Stine, known as R. L. Stine, is an American writer of horror fiction for young readers. He is best known for the Goosebumps series, which has been published in dozens of languages and has made him one of the most widely read children's authors in the world. His importance lies in bringing fear to very young readers while keeping the stories tightly plotted and fast.

Stine was born in Columbus, Ohio, on October 8, 1943, into a Jewish family, and grew up in nearby Bexley. By his own account, he began writing at the age of nine after finding a typewriter in the attic, and he later cited the horror comics Tales from the Crypt as an early influence. He studied English at Ohio State University, where he edited the campus humor magazine for three years. He then moved to New York City to build a career as a writer.

His first published work was comedy. Under the name Jovial Bob Stine he wrote dozens of humor books for children, and he created Bananas, a humor magazine for teenagers that ran for most of a decade. In 1986 he published his first horror novel, Blind Date, and soon afterwards began the Fear Street books for teen readers. Before Goosebumps he also tried comic science fiction with the Space Cadets series.

In 1992, working with Parachute Press, he launched Goosebumps. The books are simple in structure and often end on a twist, and they follow young people who find themselves facing the supernatural. The series spawned a television show, video games and films. Stine has often been called the Stephen King of children's literature, though his tone is far lighter. He has also written adult novels, beginning with Superstitious in 1995, and he continues to publish new work.

His legacy is measured largely in readers. His books have sold hundreds of millions of copies in many languages, and Guinness World Records recognised his series as the best-selling children's book series of all time in 2003. For generations of children, he turned a taste for being scared into a reading habit.