R.L. Stine writes to “give kids the creeps,” according to his website biography. The Ohio-born author, now 68, has sold more than 350 million books, largely focusing on teen horror. He began his writing career at the helm of the children’s humor magazine Bananas before dabbling in horror books with his first novel, Blind Date, in 1986. That book became a best-seller, leading him, just three years later, to start the Fear Street series—giving young adults their fair share of frightening ghosts, aliens and vampires—now numbering more than 100 books. His foray into adult fiction began in 1995 when he unleashed Superstitious, an adult horror book complete with murder, cursing and graphic sex. The book received mixed critical reviews and meager success, certainly not to the level he had attained with his young adult works. Stine told CNN in 1999 he could be more imaginative in children’s books, but his next adult book, Red Rain, about a New York travel writer escaping a hurricane in the Carolinas only to find twin boys stranded in the chaos and the horror that plagues her family after she impulsively adopts them, is planned for an Oct. 9 release.
J.K. Rowling and 6 Other Children’s Authors Who ‘Graduated’ to Adult Books
J.K. Rowling's new novel, 'The Casual Vacancy', hits shelves tomorrow. How will the author's foray into adult lit stack up against these other beloved children's authors?