On this day, the king of horror for middle-grade readers, Robert Lawrence Stine (1943–), was born in Columbus, Ohio. His wildly popular Goosebumps and Fear Street series became all-time bestsellers, gathering a large audience of readers...Many transformed from uninterested to avid.

“I believe that kids as well as adults are entitled to books of no socially redeeming value,” he once said with a wink toward the pure joy of reading itself.

Stine began writing with passion at age nine, inspired by Greek myths, Edgar Allan Poe, and baseball stories. Although he sold only one copy at his first book signing, his debut ghoulish novel, Blind Date (1986), became an instant hit.

“It was a complete surprise to me,” recalled Stine. “I realized I’d really struck a chord with kids. They liked scary books!”

The prolific writer has long maintained a rhythm of steady creation, producing stories that are spooky yet funny. As he once said, “When I write, I try to think back to what I was afraid of or what was scary to me, and put those feelings into books.”

Asked why his books are so popular, he credited the twists and surprises: “The stories are not linear… things are not what they seem to be. I think kids really appreciate that.”

A shy, self-described “nerd” who still types with one finger “at lightning speed,” Stine speaks from the heart to young writers in his autobiography It Came from Ohio: My Life as a Writer (1998). His advice glows with simple truth: “Read, read, read.” For Stine, every story begins with wonder...And the belief that imagination, shared with love and laughter, can chase away fear.