R.L. Stine recalls a time when he nearly went too far in an exclusive Letters To _____ clip

By Shannon Miller | July 15, 2020 | 3:26pm

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R.L. Stine recalls a time when he nearly went too far in an exclusive Letters To _____ clip

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Whether he’s blurring the lines between horror and supernatural storytelling for young children or unleashing unrepentant teen slasher tales, prolific author R.L. Stine has always had a special talent for traumatizing the youth. The Goosebumps series has served as a gateway to the horror genre for generations of children, never hesitating to include truly disturbing details meant to instill lasting fear and paranoia. (Some of us still harbor a healthy dose of caution when we open the cupboard beneath the kitchen sink. Thanks for that, Stine.) But as terrifying as his imagination can be, there was a time when the Fear Street creator nearly went a little too far, and who better to share that story with than a bunch of wide-eyed kids?

In a Facebook Watch digital series from PICTURESTART titled Letters To _____, super fans are granted a surprise opportunity to Zoom chat with their favorite authors. The series is hosted by actress Anna Cathcart (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Descendants 2 & 3) and welcomes celebrated authors like Veronica’s Roth, Sabaa Tahir, Stephenie Meyer, (Twilight), Jason Reynolds, Angie Thomas, Elizabeth Acevedo, Ann M. Martin, K.A. Applegate, and Karen McManus. In the clip from today’s episode, Stine talks a little about being married to his editor (“Jane always has other ideas, and a lot of times they have better ideas than you do. It took me a long time to realize that”) and the time that he had to exchange a particularly chilling scene involving a creepy librarian with the much lighter image of them eating a bowl of live turtles. Classic Stine.