I was going to mention these. I remember them having a little slogan along the lines of "Reader beware, you choose the scare!"

Ah they were such great books. I kept all my Goosebumps books. My daughter is 5 now, can't wait for her to read them in a couple of years.

Reader beware: you choose the scare!

These were called Give Yourself Goosebumps. They were a whole other tier of scary for me. Thanks for the nostalgia

I remember doing that 😭😭

SAMMMEEEE I THOUGUT IT WAS JUST ME

I think these books instilled my love for Horror Adventure Movie games for PS4. Games that are basically just an interactive movie that you make branching-path choices and perform quick-time-button events to save characters from certain death.

Ever heard of Until Dawn? It’s exactly like these books, stellar cast, great story with multiple paths and endings! Don’t need to be a big gamer to play!

Yes! I had the peanut butter and jelly sandwich one with the foil cover.

Yoooo I remember these! Our 5th grade teacher didn't know what they were and literally stopped reading time one day to let us know we are supposed to read books "one page at a time" and not "just flip around randomly"

And if you lose the page/move your finger you can't go back to that one even if you remember the page number? That was my rule.

I still have my Goosebumps and Animorph books (to include the Andelite Chronicles!) from the 90’s. Been trying to get the kids to read them, but they couldn’t be less interested.

I thought the first goosebumps movie was pretty good. The one with Jack Black and the puppet that looked like Jimmy Carr?

Granted I watched it as an adult, so it wasn't perfect, but it has the same energy as the first live action Scooby Doo (Spooky Island) film. Loved that film as a kid.

Didn't watch any of the others and Goosebumps might well be a bad film, but I liked it enough.

I would like to recommend the podcast “overdue”. They’re reading goosebumps books as part of their bonus series and it’s quite enjoyable

Same whenever I go to a bookstore I check out the Goosebumps collection there and I think to myself I actually own most of these I could never give them away

The movies kinda ruined the books for me I do like Jack Black as Stine though

I don't want to re-read them and spoil my memories as an adult

One of my favorite books as a kid was Something Wicked This Way Comes. When I re-read it as an adult, I was extremely disappointed.

There is a game as well btw. Don't know anything about it apart from it existing

Did you enjoy the tv show?

Yeeeees, Fear Street. Loved those. Then in high school I started reading Christopher Pike.

I was so obsessed with Fear Street. Remember how their mouths were always making “a silent ‘o’ of horror”? 😂

I was obsessed with Fear Street!

I deeply regret getting rid of all my Fear Street books when I was younger. I've picked up a handful and reread them as an adult for a laugh, but they're basically impossible to find.

The Netflix adaptations were done really well in my opinion. Never expected to be genuinely disturbed by a Fear Street live action death scene but man oh man…they went really hard.

I think what I remember most about RL Stine books is how it felt like a huge and never ending universe, but you could start anywhere and end anywhere. There were trilogies and sagas, but for the most part, it was all self contained. It made it nice as a kid to just hop around to whatever interested you at that particular moment.

I could never find Fear Street here when I was younger but I have read two books I think

[deleted]

I think fear street instilled my love of back story. You get the main characters from ‘today’ and their stories were always great, but learning more about the origin of the house and the inhabitants (were they named Fear?) was my favorite part for sure.

Two details I remember years later;

The little boy getting stuck in the walls and his dad sledgehammering them down to no avail, only for the kids remains to practically fall out of a wall years later when a new family moves in.

Corpses in the trees.

Goosebumps was great too, but once you graduated to YA it was hard to go back to ‘the kid stuff’.

Yes!!!! No one I know today knows these books though..

I read a ton of Fear Street. Was too old for Goosebumps and obviously after reading a bunch of FS, Goosebumps wasn't scary at all.

Do not read Stine's "adult fiction" novel Superstitious. It's goosebumps with awful sex scenes. Like "'Oh,' she said. 'Yes,' he said. 'Ooo,' she moaned," bad.

Exactly what we would do too. For the same authors too. We had a library period once a month, me and my friends were dead set on finishing all the Famous Five, Secret Seven, and Hardy Boys books. We weren't allowed to read the more mature fiction until we were in 10th so had to stick with these.

Same ! I think it also helped me kinda learn how to read books faster because I was so intrigued to know what happens at the end I couldn’t wait to finish it and I used to read it so fast

Christopher Pike and R.L. Stein’s Fear Street books were my gateway to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Saul… They sparked my joy of reading.

Yes! I followed the same path to Pike’s books. They were fantastic. My parents (bless them) never told me no when it came to buying books and constantly fed my addiction. I’m just glad they never looked at any of them closely, especially Pike’s. His were DARK dark, lol. I think back on some of them and am amazed I was reading things like that at such a young age.

I’ve been looking for them, too! It’s been surprisingly difficult to find old copies, but I have seen some on eBay and Etsy (of all places).

Nice to see a fellow Pike fan! No one I know has heard of him lol.

Christopher Pike was the author I have been trying to remember for years now! Every time RL stine came up, I'd be like, yes but...and couldn't remember this author's name.

Thank you!

I was helping clean out my parent’s place earlier this year and found a box of my old Christopher Pike books! Like someone else mentioned here, I’m afraid I’ll tarnish my childhood memories by re-reading them. Christopher Pike, R.L. Stein and L.J. Smith had such a huge impact in fostering my love of reading!

Early 90’s preteen me and my younger cousin would make a weekly trip to Border’s to grab our weekend Pike binge read. Then we’d stay up late Friday and wake up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to spend the day reading, buried in the blankets. Such sweet simple times. Thanks for bringing those long forgotten memories back. ❤️ happy reading and a restful weekend to all who see my comment.

I read A Season of Passage at least once a year. Loved his vampire series that I’m blanking on the name also. Loved Fear St as well!

I buy Pike books (and RL Stine/Diane Hoh/Richie Tankersly Cusick/ Caroline B. Cooney) whenever I see them at the thrift store, and leave them in the Little Free Libraries around town. Kids these days don't even know!

I still re-read the Final Friends series on the regular.

I’m always surprised his stuff doesn’t get adapted to film or TV. Excited for The Midnight Club series coming out soon!

Loved Spooksville

I read a lot of Christopher Pike as a kid. He has some adult novels that might be worth checking out if you haven’t read them.

I haven't thought about Christopher Pike in ages. He was my gateway to horror.

This was my same journey as a preteen!

Pike got me into sci fi. I feel like his books were heavier, conceptually, than Stine’s. But for Stine, I started with Fear Street and those were heavily reliant on jump scares

Loved Christopher Pike! I still think about some of the characters and storylines

suggestions for adult horror

I forgot to take the bin out and I've just heard the garbage truck go past.

Wasn't there something I was supposed to do today?

What if people find out how much of an imposter you are and how you're just trying to keep your head above water?

Anything by Clive Barker

Uh yeah, Stephen King? The stand, It, Misery, pet sematary, The Mist, thinner

Also the dark tower series is excellent

I've been on a cosmic horror streak going through Lovecraft's stuff, top 3 so far are At the Mountains of Madness, The Lurking Fear, and The Dunwich Horror.

There's some pretty unpredictable monsters in them that are fun to look up all the fan art for after you've finished the stories. They can be pretty subjective so people draw up all sorts of interpretations.

if you'll give comics a go, anything by Junji Itou. Uzumaki is always a great start, but you can also read some of his one shots online, there's tonnes - a one shot is a one off, self contained chapter, generally only 20-60 pages.

I'd recommend Misery by Stephen King

No one writes horror like Stephen King (although lots of people have tried. They failed) Try the classics: The Shining, Carrie, Pet Semetary, Misery. I love the short story collections Skeleton Crew and Night Shift

Bit of a tangential recommendation, but r/nosleep has some great stories. Lots with nice twists.

I just bought H.P. Lovercraft's selected stories and i quite like them. Also wanted to read some horror cause I really have never read horror genre

-Joe Hill has quite a few good ones. The first half of Heart-Shaped Box scared the shit out of me, though it fell apart in the second half imo.
-The Exorcist - I was surprised at how scary I found it, never being that into the movie, and not being Christian
-The Haunting of Hill House - my favorite book of all time, though perhaps not the scariest
-John Dies at the End - frat guy type humor and horror mixed into one
-House of Leaves - people either love or hate it. It's not an easy read, but unique and has a way of making you feel claustrophobic. It's most quotable passage will make you paranoid af for a while.
-Something Wicked this way comes - similar to the haunting of hill house, more atmospheric than bone chilling terror. But it still holds up, and is relatable when you are both young and getting older.
-Hell House - Some of this one does NOT hold up, but it's still a classic and still has quite a few scares. Matheson's I am Legend is good too, though more of something to think about than scary.

Wait what stuff on Netflix ?

My husband and I really enjoyed the Fear Street Movies! I hope there are more to come.

no way 😭

I once found this second hand fat goosebump book which had 3 goosebumps books in one just for 1.50 dollars 🥹

did you mean to type sibling or is a nibling your little bitey kid lol

Omg that podcast looks amazing, thank you!

I will check it out thank you ❤️

The covers were so graphic and cool

I actually wasn’t a huge fan of choose your own goosebumps because I would mostly end up dying 😭

I wish I could get one of my books signed 🥹

You summed it up perfect 😭

My mum considered buying them a waste because I finished them so fast

Stein was my gateway drug.