Topic: R.L. Stine

Robert Lawrence Stine (born October 8, 1943), known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer. Stine, who is often called the "Stephen King of children's literature", is the author of dozens of horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

Stine was born in Columbus, Ohio the oldest of three children, to a homemaker mother and a shipping clerk father. He began writing at age 9 when he found a typewriter in his attic, subsequently beginning to type stories and joke books and has been writing ever since. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1965 and moved to New York City to become a writer. He wrote dozens of joke books for kids under the pen name Jovial Bob Stine and created the humor magazine Bananas, where he worked for many years with Nickelodeon.

In 1987 Stine wrote his first teen horror novel, Blind Date. He soon followed with the novels Beach House, Hit and Run, and The Girlfriend. He was a 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 to 1995 seasons.