Kids coax "Goosebumps" author into new books

Celebrated author R.L. Stine figured he had written enough "Goosebumps" books.

Youngsters across America told him otherwise.

"I got all this mail from kids asking, 'When are you going to do new 'Goosebumps' books?' " Stine said in a recent phone interview. "So, after not having written anything in eight years, I started doing more at the kids' request."

"Goosebumps," which has been translated in 32 languages and turned into a top-rated show on the Cartoon Network, got its start in 1992.

None of it might have existed if Stine's editors hadn't coaxed him into it.

"They [my editors] kept after me about it because nobody had really done a scary style of books for 7- to 12-year-old kids," Stine said. "Nobody is more amazed than me about the success that's come from it. You don't expect this kind of thing."

"Goosebumps HorrorLand," Stine's new series, will feature two stories in every book.

"A lot of the villains are back from my old books and there are a bunch of new villains, too," Stine said. "And just when you think it's safe to close the book, there is a continuing serial that takes place in HorrorLand, the scariest place on Earth."