Goosebumps is a series of children's horror fiction novellas created and authored by R. L. Stine. Sixty-two books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title from 1992 to 1997, the last one being Monster Blood IV.
The signature cover illustrations for the Goosebumps, Goosebumps 2000 & Goosebumps Gold were done by artist Tim Jacobus. The covers for the later Give Yourself Goosebumps series (#25 onwards and all Special Editions) were done by Craig White.
The Goosebumps series was often challenged in American libraries for their sometimes-violent content; the novels were fifteenth on the American Library Association's list of most frequently challenged books from 1990 to 1999.[1] They are based on scary stories for children aged twelve and under, and include references for adults to enjoy.
The series spawned several spinoffs, also written by Stine, including Give Yourself Goosebumps and Goosebumps: Series 2000 which appeared in 1995 and 1998 respectively.
The series inspired two board games produced by Milton Bradley, "Terror in the Graveyard" and "Escape from Horrorland", a 1996 PC game produced by DreamWorks Interactive also entitled, "Goosebumps: Escape from Horrorland" like Milton Bradley's board game and another book-based PC game entitled "Attack of the Mutant", several direct-to-video movies and a TV series.
During the height of the series popularity, two parody books were released by an author going by the penname R.U. Slime called Gooflumps: Eat Cheese and Barf! and Stay Out of the Bathroom.
Inspirations
A lot of Stine's plots are, by his own admission, based on classic sci-fi/horror movies, TV shows, and stories. For instance, one of the most popular books in the series, Night of the Living Dummy, was inspired by Stine's reading of the original Italian version of Pinocchio, while taking its title from the film Night of the Living Dead. The book It Came From Beneath The Sink! took its title from the 1955 science fiction film It Came from Beneath the Sea, though plotwise there is little resemblance between the two. The two-part Series 2000 book Invasion of the Body Squeezers is an obvious parody of the classic science fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Phantom of the Auditorium is a clear parody of the french novel The Phantom of the Opera. Many books also resemble episodes of the original television series, The Twilight Zone, including Say Cheese And Die, Welcome To Camp Nightmare, Be Careful What You Wish For, and The Haunted Mask and its sequel, to name a few. A Give Yourself Goosebumps book, Welcome to the Wicked Wax Museum, was based on the film House of Wax. Another Give Yourself Goosebumps book, Zombie School, is based on the movie They Live, and features the same subliminal advertising as the movie.
Popular books and characters
Stine named the original Night of the Living Dummy as his favorite Goosebumps book in his autobiography. The main character of the book Slappy the Dummy has earned the reputation of Goosebumps' most popular antagonist. He will be featured in the first book of Goosebumps HorrorLand, Revenge of the Living Dummy. The Monster Blood series is also very popular among fans, albeit not to the extent of the above. There were three sequels, and an upcoming Goosebumps HorrorLand book Monster Blood for Breakfast!. The book One Day at Horrorland proved to be so popular that R.L. Stine wrote a sequel titled Return to Horrorland and later the entire Goosebumps HorrorLand series. Two games spun off from the book both named Escape from Horrorland, one version a boardgame, the other a computer game. The Haunted Mask and its sequel The Haunted Mask II proved so popular that both were made into TV episodes. Stine even planned a sequel for the nonreleased Goosebumps Gold series called The Haunted Mask Lives! There was even a reproduction of the Haunted Mask sold in certain stores. There is now a planned Scream of the Haunted Mask in the Goosebumps HorrorLand series.
Some of the most popular characters of the book are Cuddles the Hamster from Monster Blood II, Slappy the Dummy, the Horrorland Horrors, Amaz-O the bunny magician from Bad Hare Day, Prince Khor-Ru the mummy, the Mud Monsters, the Egg Monsters from Mars, the Beast from the East, and Curly the Skeleton. Curly, while having no appearance in any of the books, became the spokesperson for Goosebumps and has been illustrated in various Goosebumps memorabilia, along with being featured on the cover of five of the Tales to Give You Goosebumps anthologies. Amaz-O and Evan Ross from the Monster Blood books would be featured as guest stars in Return To Horrorland. Goosebumps HorrorLand draws off popular Goosebumps mini-series and will feature the return of many classic villains.
Stine has also named Brain Juice,[2] and Invasion of the Body Squeezers[3] (both from the Goosebumps 2000 series) as two more of his favorite books.
Overall, the series itself was so popular that it helped spawn a number of children's horror book series in the 1990s, including Spooksville, Spinetinglers, Shivers (book series), Deadtime Stories, Bone Chillers and Graveyard School.
Conventions
The primary protagonist(s) of a Goosebumps story is usually situated in a remote location or somehow isolated from typical societal conventions. While sometimes this is as simplistic as comfortable suburban areas, or as exaggerated as indifferent summer camps, boarding schools, foreign villages, campsites, unfamiliar relatives' homes or oversea areas. The books in the Goosebumps series feature semi-synonymous plot structures with normal kids being, frequently indirectly, involved in scary situations; after the central conflict has either been or appears to have been resolved, there is often a twist ending. Also, many chapters will often end in cliffhangers Also, in his autobiography, R.L. Stine has stated that he often ends chapters in a state of suspense. Following the conclusion of every Goosebumps book, Stine includes a 1-3 chapter draft preview of the next book in the series.
Twist endings
Many books feature a twist in the end, similar to the format of those like The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone, such as Night of the Living Dummy, where the protagonists spent most of the narrative fighting a murderous dummy, only to be confronted with a second creature at the end. Another book in the series, The Girl Who Cried Monster, which was based on the fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf, also has a twist at the end; the main character's parents transform into monsters to protect her from the villain. Welcome to Dead House ends with a sadistic real estate agent, thought to be dead, turning up on the last page, seen in the distance by the main characters. A Shocker on Shock Street ends with the two main characters revealed to be robots, and in Attack of the Jack O'Lanterns it is revealed that two kids are aliens.
In some of the books there is a completely happy ending, as in Piano Lessons Can Be Murder and Why I'm Afraid Of Bees, in which the protagonist actually comes out better from his experiences (although in the latter he retains some traits from their transformation). In one book, The Cuckoo Clock Of Doom, the twist ending actually benefits the main character, as his bratty sister disappears due to his tampering with the space-time continuum.
Goosebumps HorrorLand
R.L. Stine is writing a twelve-book series entitled Goosebumps HorrorLand. The series, based on One Day at Horrorland and other popular Goosebumps mini-series, is the first Goosebumps series where each book is part of the same plot:
The new series will be an immersive storytelling experience welcoming fans to HorrorLand, a vast theme park which R.L. Stine describes as "the scariest place on Earth." In a Goosebumps first, the new series will be a serialized adventure, and the story won't end on the final page of book #1. Instead, the spine-tingling and funny bone-tickling adventures will continue on the Internet and in books #2-12, each of which can also stand alone. The first nine HorrorLand books all will feature a combination of frightful new faces as well as the vilest villains from the original Goosebumps series. Ordinary kids are being summoned to HorrorLand-but why? Readers are in for the ride of their lives as the cast of characters trapped in the theme park grows larger with each book, and their situations become more and more perilous..
Books #10-12 will take place entirely in HorrorLand. Who-or what-is behind the evil plot to assemble these kids? The answer will be revealed in the final book. Soon after the debut of books #1 and #2 in April 2008, Scholastic will begin to reissue original Goosebumps books-ten bestselling titles that tie in with each new story as it unfolds in HorrorLand.
Scholastic will launch HorrorLand with a dedicated website that, with the publication of each book, will further the narrative and provide corresponding clues to help readers unlock the secrets to HorrorLand. In addition, the web site will offer readers original HorrorLand material not available in the books-including ten free internet-only related stories, bonus downloads, interactive games, and more