STINE, R.L.

STINE, R.L. (1943– ), U.S. author. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Robert Lawrence Stine graduated from Ohio State University, where he was renowned locally by the name Stine, the editor of the campus humor magazine, The Sundial. Upon graduation he moved to New York City, where he became head writer of the Nickelodeon series Eureka's Castle, and for 10 years was editor in chief of Bananas, a humor magazine for children. During that time, Stine wrote dozens of joke books and humor books for children under the name Jovial Bob Stine. Under the name Hammering Hank, Stine wrote a number of humor books for young readers, some of which are "instructional manuals" like How to Be Funny: An Extremely Silly Guide (1978) and Don't Stand in the Soup (1982). In the 1990s Stine was catapulted to fame with the bestselling Goosebumps series, which sold more than 220 million copies. The Goosebumps books feature spooky tales for ages 8–11 and became a popular live-action children's television show on the Fox network. They were translated into 16 languages in 31 countries. The plots of his books usually involve naïve teenagers or preteens who fall into situations having to do with the supernatural or the occult. His other major series, Fear Street, for ages 9–14, got more gory. The Fear Street books sold more than 80 million copies. This was considered the first horror series for teenagers. Stine's first hardcover collection of terrifying tales for children, Nightmare Hour, was published in 1999, and featured illustrations by well-known artists like Bernie Wrightson and Ed Koren. Stine published an autobiography, It Came From Ohio\! My Life as a Writer (1997). (Stewart Kampel (2nd ed.)