Goosebumps: 25th Anniversary

In July of 1992, a phenomenon like no other was unleashed on the world. The literary scene was about to get shaken to its very core by a series of novella's for children, whose lives were about to be changed forever. Inspiring a whole generation of kids to read and, for this one, to write.

I speak, of course, of Goosebumps, the series of horror fiction novellas for children, written by famed young peoples author R. L. Stine and this year, in 2017, its celebrating its 25^th Anniversary, and so am I.

My first experience in reading a book by myself just so happened to be a Goosebumps book. No.25, Attack of The Mutant, about a young comic book fan who gets to meet his favourite supervillain, The Masked Mutant, when the lines between reality and fantasy become blurred.

I hated reading when I was younger. Books were for boring old people, and all I wanted to do was play videogames, and watch television with their bright, vibrant colours assaulting my senses (I sat a little too close to the screens). That all changed when I was given a Goosebumps book one Christmas by my Mum, who was a little irritated that I wasn't too bothered about listening to her read to me, and my siblings (as any good parent would). I think I would've been too.

Thank goodness for a scary story about comics, two things I was really into as a young boy. Attack of the Mutant spoke to me, and for all intents and purposes, shaped my life, and career choice.

Because of that book, you are reading this blog today. Cool, eh?

Although, if you wanna go deeper, its all because of my Mum. She may not have known where this inspiration would lead, but she definitely lit the spark. Thanks Mum.

Eventually, my collection grew from one book to more than several. Apart from birthdays, and Christmases I was usually rewarded a book for my good behaviour and school work. From single titles, and collections both paperback and hardback. I had a good thing going with these ghoulish tales, and it was a nice incentive to study hard.

I remember receiving the Attack of the Jack O'Lanterns book as part of a “good boy treat”. Set on Halloween, my favourite time of the year (wonder why?), a young girl and her two friends attempt to scare the heck out of some bullies, except the costumes the girl's friends have seem too real to be fake. Wanna guess what the costumes are? You got it. Pumpkin headed monsters, that want the children to trick or treat forever, even going so far as to force the kids to eat the candy from their already full bags to make room for more. Pretty intense, right? Well, it is a horror story and its always good to read about bullies getting their just deserts. So, what's with the costumes being life-like? One word; aliens. Yeah, Stine had a tendency to use aliens as a plot twist for his endings (which the series is famous for). For an adult, that would seem hokey, and tiresome, but for kids, who don't mind that kind of thing, its a good read from start to finish.

I still remember the book store I got that particular Goosebumps book. Its not there any more, but I'll always have the memory.

Other fond titles in my collection include The Haunted Mask, another story set during Halloween, about a mask that begins to fuse to the wearers skin and change their personality. The Ghost Next Door, which had a fantastic twist I never saw coming. Attack of the Mutant, of course, for being the first book I ever got, and what started this whole craze. Welcome To Dead House, the first in the series needs a mention, and about a town of zombies (they weren't called zombies in the story, but they were flesh eating ghouls, so, yeah, zombies), and, mine and everyone else's favourite, the Night of the Living Dummy trilogy, featuring a ventriloquist dummy that comes to life after reading a set of magical words from a card in his suit jacket, named Slappy the Dummy. A real piece of work, and a nightmare for every young reader (part 3 was especially creepy, I found). So popular was this trilogy that Slappy appeared in the movie as its main antagonist, and, frankly, they couldn't have gone with a better villain.

Slappy would return in other 'Dummy stories, however, that came after the original run of books was done (so, not really a trilogy then, Luke?).

I couldn't get enough of these books, and neither could the kids at my school. From Juniors (aged 8 - 12), to early High School (12 - 16), Goosebumps was all the range, with a TV show adapting from the classic stories, and all manner of other merchandise (games, toys, stationary items, the works).

Unfortunately, when to comes to growing up, what you love as a child takes a back seat to raging hormones, and other interests. Not me, however. I still had a love for Goosebumps, I just didn't bring it up in conversation. Clearly, even today, my love is strong for Stine's written work, as this blog post will prove, and there's also the release of the new movie, that brought my love back out to the forefront. By then, I had become an adult, and was less bothered by what others thought of me loving a movie aimed towards family (I still watch Disney movies to this day, and other cartoons). You wouldn't think that would be a problem, but there are still many who avoid such avenues in this day and age. A shame too because they're, quite possibly, the best stories going.

Fun fact; what began as a six book deal for Mr. Stine, quickly expanded due to its popularity and saw the series end on its 62^nd book in 1997. I say end, but it came back to life in the just as popular spin-offs; Give Yourself Goosebumps were based on those classic game-books, where you had to flip to a certain page number to end the story in a number of different ways, which ran from 1995 to the 2000's, and, speaking of which, Goosebumps 2000, that acted as a sequel to the original run, which, strangely, started in 1998 and ended in 2000. Possibly, the publisher, Scholastic had intended to cash in on the 2000 craze in the late 90s, that only ran for 25 books. They were just as good, and exciting as the previous books, due to being written by the main man himself. Yep, R. L. Stine wrote them all, and he's still writing them to this day.

Goosebumps: Horrorland, which started from 2008 and lasted till 2012, Goosebumps: Most Wanted from that same year to 2016, and, now, Goosebumps: SlappyWorld, the popular haunted ventriloquist dummy narrating the spooky tales. As a fan, its good to hear that R. L. Stine is up to his old tricks, and inspiring a whole other generation of kids, and the movie had nothing to do with it. Don't get me wrong, I love the movie, as previously stated, but too many times do I read about a book's popularity rising due to the release of the movie adaptation. It bums me out a little because it makes me think nobody is reading any more. Thankfully, that's not the case with Goosebumps.

As long as R. L. Stine is still writing, and as long as kids are still reading, the Goosebumps books will never die, and just like the stories he writes, they'll keep haunting us to the very end of time.

Goosebumps month has me excited for the horror franchise all over again. I find myself looking back on fond memories, cycling through my old books, re-watching the TV show and movie, and even buying old stories I hadn't read before, like the Monster Blood slime trilogy I found in a charity shop one day for 20p. A bargain, in my eyes. And with the Horrorland books being connected, and intertwined, like the current comic book movies from Marvel Studios, I'm tempted to buy the whole 25 volumes from that series.

And there's the matter of a second Goosebumps movie in the works, with a release date of Autumn 2018. Its a very good time to be a Goosebumps fan right now.

These books will always have a special place in my heart, even with me now in my adult years. They got me into reading, and inspired me to become a writer. I owe a lot to these scary stories, they changed my life. Who knows what would've become of me if I'd rejected that Christmas present. I don't like thinking about that scenario, though, because my getting into writing has given me more meaning in my life than anything I could think of, and it was all thanks to Attack of the Mutant.

I give thanks to R. L. Stine for inspiring a generation, and my Mum for steering me on the path that makes me happy the most.

Goosebumps is more than a series of horror stories, its a revelation.