Early life

Stine was born on October 8, 1943 in Columbus, Ohio, the son of Lewis Stine, a shipping clerk, and Anne Feinstein. He grew up in Bexley, Ohio. His family was Jewish. 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 Ohio State University in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts 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.

Career

Stine wrote dozens of humor books for kids under the 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 1989-1995 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. Jack Black portrayed a fictionalized version of Stine in the 2015 film Goosebumps, while Stine himself made a cameo appearance, playing a teacher named "Mr. Black".

Best selling author

According to Forbes List of the 40 best-paid Entertainers of 1996-97, Stine placed 36th with an income of $41 million for the fiscal year. His books have sold over 400 million copies worldwide as of 2008, landing on many bestseller lists. In three consecutive years during the 1990s, USA Today named Stine as America's number one best-selling author.

Among the awards he has received are the 2002 Champion of Reading Award from the Free Public Library of Philadelphia (that award's first year), the Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Award for Best Book-Mystery/Horror (three-time recipient) and the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (also received three times). During the 1990s, Stine was listed on People Weekly's "Most Intriguing People" list, and in 2003, the Guinness Book of World Records named Stine as the best-selling children's book series author of all time. He won the Thriller Writers of America Silver Bullet Award in 2007, and the Horror Writers Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. His stories have even inspired R. L. Stine's Haunted Lighthouse, 4D movie-based attractions at SeaWorld (San Antonio and San Diego) and Busch Gardens (Williamsburg and Tampa).

Personal life

On June 22, 1969, Stine married Jane Waldhorn, an editor and writer who later co-founded Parachute Press in 1983. The couple's only child, Matthew (born June 7, 1980) works in the music industry.

Bibliography

Original series

Space Cadets

1. Jerks-in-Training
2. Losers in Space
3. Bozos on Patrol

Goosebumps

Main article: List of Goosebumps books § Goosebumps Series

Goosebumps Series 2000

1. Cry of the Cat
2. Bride of the Living Dummy
3. Creature Teacher
4. Invasion of the Body Squeezers, Part I
5. Invasion of the Body Squeezers, Part II
6. I Am Your Evil Twin
7. Revenge R Us
8. Fright Camp
9. Are You Terrified Yet?
10. Headless Halloween
11. Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls
12. Brain Juice
13. Return to HorrorLand
14. Jekyll and Heidi
15. Scream School
16. The Mummy Walks
17. The Werewolf in the Living Room
18. Horrors of the Black Ring
19. Return to Ghost Camp
20. Be Afraid - Be Very Afraid!
21. The Haunted Car
22. Full Moon Fever
23. Slappy's Nightmare
24. Earth Geeks Must Go!
25. Ghost in the Mirror

Give Yourself Goosebumps

1. Escape from the Carnival of Horrors
2. Tick Tock, You're Dead!
3. Trapped in Bat Wing Hall
4. The Deadly Experiments of Dr. Eeek
5. Night in Werewolf Woods
6. Beware of the Purple Peanut Butter
7. Under the Magician's Spell
8. The Curse of the Creeping Coffin
9. The Knight in Screaming Armor
10. Diary of a Mad Mummy
11. Deep in the Jungle of Doom
12. Welcome to the Wicked Wax Museum
13. Scream of the Evil Genie
14. The Creepy Creations of Professor Shock
15. Please Don't Feed the Vampire!
16. Secret Agent Grandma
17. Little Comic Shop of Horrors
18. Attack of the Beastly Baby-sitter
19. Escape from Camp Run-for-Your-Life
20. Toy Terror: Batteries Included
21. The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island
22. Return to the Carnival of Horrors
23. Zapped in Space
24. Lost in Stinkeye Swamp
25. Shop Till You Drop...Dead!
26. Alone in Snakebite Canyon
27. Checkout Time at the Dead-End Hotel
28. Night of a Thousand Claws
29. Invaders from the Big Screen
30. You're Plant Food!
31. The Werewolf of Twisted Tree Lodge
32. It's Only a Nightmare
33. It Came from the Internet
34. Elevator to Nowhere
35. Hocus-Pocus Horror
36. Ship of Ghouls
37. Escape from Horror House
38. Into the Twister of Terror
39. Scary Birthday to You
40. Zombie School
41. Danger Time
42. All-Day Nightmare

Give Yourself Goosebumps Special Edition

1. Into the Jaws of Doom
2. Return to Terror Tower
3. Trapped in the Circus of Fear
4. One Night in Payne House
5. The Curse of the Cave Creatures
6. Revenge of the Body Squeezers
7. Trick or...Trapped!
8. Weekend at Poison Lake

Fear Street

1. The New Girl
2. The Surprise Party
3. The Overnight
4. Missing
5. The Wrong Number
6. The Sleepwalker
7. Haunted
8. Halloween Party
9. The Stepsister
10. Ski Weekend
11. The Fire Game
12. Lights Out
13. The Secret Bedroom
14. The Knife
15. The Prom Queen
16. First Date
17. The Best Friend
18. The Cheater
19. Sunburn
20. The New Boy
21. The Dare
22. Bad Dreams
23. Double Date
24. The Thrill Club
25. One Evil Summer
26. The Mind Reader
27. Wrong Number 2
28. Truth or Dare
29. Dead End
30. Final Grade
31. Switched
32. College Weekend
33. The Stepsister 2
34. What Holly Heard
35. The Face
36. Secret Admirer
37. The Perfect Date
38. The Confession
39. The Boy Next Door
40. Night Games
41. Runaway
42. Killer's Kiss
43. All-Night Party
44. The Rich Girl
45. Cat
46. Fear Hall: The Beginning
47. Fear Hall: The Conclusion
48. Who Killed The Homecoming Queen?
49. Into The Dark
50. Best Friend 2
51. Trapped
52. Party Games
53. Don't Stay Up Late
54. The Lost Girl
55. Fear Street Super Thriller: Party Games & Don't Stay Up Late

New Fear Street

1. The Stepbrother
2. Camp Out
3. Scream, Jennifer, Scream!
4. The Bad Girl

Fear Street Super Chiller

1. Party Summer
2. Silent Night
3. Goodnight Kiss
4. Broken Hearts
5. Silent Night 2
6. The Dead Lifeguard
7. Cheerleaders: The New Evil
8. Bad Moonlight
9. The New Year's Party
10. Goodnight Kiss 2
11. Silent Night 3
12. High Tide
13. Cheerleaders: The Evil Lives!

Cheerleaders

1. The First Evil
2. The Second Evil
3. The Third Evil
4. The New Evil
5. The Evil Lives!

The Fear Street Saga Trilogy

1. The Betrayal
2. The Secret
3. The Burning

99 Fear Street: The House of Evil

1. The First Horror
2. The Second Horror
3. The Third Horror

Cataluna Chronicles

1. The Evil Moon
2. The Dark Secret
3. The Deadly Fire

Fear Park

1. The First Scream
2. The Loudest Scream
3. The Last Scream

Fear Street Sagas

1. A New Fear
2. House of Whispers
3. Forbidden Secrets
4. The Sign of Fear
5. The Hidden Evil
6. Daughters of Silence
7. Children of Fear
8. Dance of Death
9. Heart of the Hunter
10. The Awakening Evil
11. Circle of Fire
12. Chamber of Fear
13. Faces of Terror
14. One Last Kiss
15. Door of Death
16. The Hand of Power

Fear Street Seniors

1. Let's Party
2. In Too Deep
3. The Thirst
4. No Answer
5. Last Chance
6. The Gift
7. Fight Team, Fight
8. Sweetheart, Evil Heart
9. Spring Break
10. Wicked
11. The Prom Date
12. Graduation Day

Fear Street Nights

1. Moonlight Secrets
2. Midnight Games
3. Darkest Dawn

Ghosts of Fear Street

1. Hide and Shriek
2. Who's Been Sleeping in My Grave?
3. The Attack of the Aqua Apes
4. Nightmare in 3-D
5. Stay Away from the Tree House
6. Eye of the Fortuneteller
7. Fright Knight
8. The Ooze
9. Revenge of the Shadow People
10. The Bugman Lives!
11. The Boy Who Ate Fear Street
12. Night of the Werecat
13. How to Be a Vampire
14. Body Switchers from Outer Space
15. Fright Christmas
16. Don't Ever Get Sick at Granny's
17. House of a Thousand Screams
18. Camp Fear Ghouls
19. Three Evil Wishes
20. Spell of the Screaming Jokers
21. The Creature from Club Lagoona
22. Field of Screams
23. Why I'm Not Afraid of Ghosts
24. Monster Dog
25. Halloween Bugs Me!
26. Go to Your Tomb - Right Now!
27. Parents from the 13th Dimension
28. Hide and Shriek II
29. The Tale of the Blue Monkey
30. I Was a Sixth-Grade Zombie
31. Escape of the He-Beast
32. Caution: Aliens at Work
33. Attack of the Vampire Worms
34. Horror Hotel Pt. 1: The Vampire Checks in
35. Horror Hotel Pt. 2: Ghost in the Guest Room
36. The Funhouse of Dr. Freek

Mostly Ghostly

1. Who Let the Ghosts Out?
2. Have You Met My Ghoulfriend?
3. One Night in Doom House
4. Little Camp of Horrors
5. Ghouls Gone Wild
6. Let's Get This Party Haunted!
7. Freaks and Shrieks
8. Don't Close Your Eyes!

Rotten School

1. The Big Blueberry Barf-Off!
2. The Great Smelling Bee
3. The Good, the Bad and the Very Slimy
4. Lose, Team, Lose!
5. Shake, Rattle and Hurl!
6. The Heinie Prize
7. Dudes, the School is Haunted!
8. The Teacher from Heck
9. Party Poopers
10. The Rottenest Angel
11. Punk'd and Skunked
12. Battle of the Dum Diddys
13. Got Cake?
14. Night of the Creepy Things
15. Calling All Birdbrains
16. Dumb Clucks

The Nightmare Room

1. Don't Forget Me!
2. Locker 13
3. My Name is Evil
4. Liar Liar
5. Dear Diary, I'm Dead
6. They Call Me Creature
7. The Howler
8. Shadow Girl
9. Camp Nowhere
10. Full Moon Halloween
11. Scare School
12. Visitors

The Nightmare Room Thrillogy

1. Fear Games
2. What Scares You the Most?
3. No Survivors

Goosebumps HorrorLand

• Welcome to HorrorLand: A Survival Guide
• Revenge of the Living Dummy
• Creep from the Deep
• Monster Blood for Breakfast!
• The Scream of the Haunted Mask
• Dr. Maniac vs. Robby Schwartz
• Who's Your Mummy?
• My Friends Call Me Monster
• Say Cheese - And Die Screaming!
• Welcome to Camp Slither
• Help! We Have Strange Powers!
• Escape from HorrorLand
• The Streets of Panic Park
• When the Ghost Dog Howls
• Little Shop of Hamsters
• Heads, You Lose!
• Weirdo Halloween
• The Wizard Of Ooze
• Slappy's New Year!
• The Horror at Chiller House
• Claws!
• Night of Giant Everything
• The Five Masks of Dr. Screem
• Why I Quit Zombie School
• Don't Scream!
• The Birthday Party of No Return

Goosebumps Most Wanted

• Son of Slappy
• Planet of the Lawn Gnomes
• How I Met My Monster
• Frankenstein's Dog
• Dr. Maniac Will See You Now
• Creature Teacher: The Final Exam
• A Nightmare on Clown Street

Special Edition

• Zombie Halloween
• The 12 Screams of Christmas

Hark

1. The Badlands of Hark
2. The Invaders of Hark

Dangerous Girls

Both were re-released in 2010 under the name Bitten. ISBN 978-0060530808

1. Dangerous Girls
2. The Taste of Night

Stand-alone novels

• The Adventures of Shrinkman
• The Beast
• The Beast 2
• Curtains
• Eye Candy
• It's the First Day of School...Forever!
• A Midsummer Night's Scream
• Phone Calls
• Red Rain
• The Sitter
• Superstitious
• Three Faces of Me
• When Good Ghouls Go Bad
• Zombie Town

Anthologies

• Beware! (edited by Stine)
• The Haunting Hour
• The Nightmare Hour
• Tales to Give You Goosebumps
• More Tales to Give You Goosebumps
• Even More Tales to Give You Goosebumps
• Still More Tales to Give You Goosebumps
• More and More Tales to Give You Goosebumps
• More and More and More Tales to Give You Goosebumps
• Goosebumps Triple Header, Book 1
• Goosebumps Triple Header, Book 2

Short stories

• "The Spell"
• "Dead of Night"
• "The Head Start"
• "Lucky at Cards"
• "The Kid Behind the Door"
• "The Terror After School"
• "Do Some Damage!"
• "Curse of the Smiling Mummy"
• "Can You Keep a Secret?"
• "The Vampire Club"
• "My Worst Nightmare"
• "The Wrong Room"

Non-fiction and Jovial Bob Stine books

• 101 Vacation Jokes
• 101 Wacky Kid Jokes
• 101 Silly Monster Jokes
• The Absurdly Silly Encyclopaedia and Fly Swatter
• Amazing Adventure of Me, Myself and I
• Blips: The First Book of Videogame Funnies
• Cool Kids' Guide to Summer Camp
• Doggone Dog Joke Book
• Don't Stand in the Soup
• How to Be Funny
• It Came From Ohio!: My Life As A Writer (autobiography)
• Miami Mice
• Pork and Beans: Play Date
• The Sick of Being Sick Book
• You Know It's Going to Be A Long School Year When...
• My Secret Identity
• Pigs' Book of World Records
• Jovial Bob's Computer Joke Book

Movie novelizations

• Ghostbusters II Storybook
• Spaceballs: The Book
• Big Top Pee-Wee

Zachary Blue books

• The Jet Fighter Trap
• The Protectors: The Petrova Twist

Picture books

• Gnasty Gnomes

Contributions to other series

Crosswinds

• Broken Date
• How I Broke Up With Ernie

Masters of the Universe

• Demons of the Deep

Twist-a-plot

• The Time Raider
• Golden Sword of Dragonwalk
• Horrors of the Haunted Museum
• Instant Millionaire

Find Your Fate

• Indiana Jones and the Curse of Horror Island
• Indiana Jones and the Giants of the Silver Tower
• Indiana Jones and the Cult of the Mummy's Crypt
• James Bond in Win, Place or Die
• Indiana Jones and the Ape Slaves of Howling Island

Find Your Fate Junior: Golden Girl

• Golden Girl and the Vanishing Unicorn

Wizards, Warriors and You

The books followed the standard Choose Your Own Adventure formula, but also featured "flagged" choices that were determined by choices earlier in the book. (For example, "If you already have the Unfathomable Pocket of Crowden, turn to page 65; otherwise, turn to page 78.") The books attempted to introduce a further "role-playing game-like" element with the inclusion of randomization to determine events such as the outcome of a battle or success of a spell. These RPG-like elements were designed for young readers, and were thus very simple, as opposed to the complex mechanics of the teen-oriented Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf series of gamebooks.

• The Forest of Twisted Dreams
• The Siege of the Dragonriders (as Eric Affabee)
• Challenge of the Wolf Knight
• The Dragon Queen's Revenge (as Eric Affabee)
• Cavern of the Phantoms
• Attack on the King (as Eric Affabee)

G.I. Joe: Find Your Fate

• Operation: Star Raider (as Eric Affabee)
• Operation: Deadly Decoy
• Operation: Mindbender
• Serpentor and the Mummy Warrior

G.I. Joe

• Siege of Serpentor
• Jungle Raid

Horror High

• Fatal Kiss
• Grave Intentions
• Deadly Rumours

Point Horror

• Blind Date
• Twisted
• The Babysitter
• Beach Party
• The Boyfriend
• The Babysitter II
• The Girlfriend
• The Snowman
• Beach House
• Hit and Run
• The Hitchhiker
• Halloween Night
• The Babysitter III
• The Dead Girlfriend
• Call Waiting
• Halloween Night II
• I Saw You That Night!
• The Witness
• The Babysitter IV

[ Source: Wikipedia ]