R.L. Stine's latest teen horror novel is called A Midsummer Night's Scream. I loved the cover and the morbidly whimsical title immediately. Fortunately, the title is completely accurate, as the book is a contemporary horror story with a little inspiration from the Bard:
Claire and her best friend Delia are high school students, and they finally caught their Hollywood acting break! The catch is that it's a remake of a horror film from the 60s, and production on the original film was halted due to a series of deadly accidents. The rumor is that the set is cursed, and what could be better publicity for a horror film than an actual curse! But with Shakespearean love triangles left and right, a little bit of misplaced magic, and the occasional gruesome accident, mayhem ensues. But this is not the merry mayhem of a Shakespearean comedy; this is horrifying.When I was in elementary school, I absolutely devoured R.L. Stine's Goosebumps books. I have no idea how many I read, but I'm pretty sure it was every single one on the shelf at my local library. And then last year at the Tucson Festival of Books, I got to actually meet Mr. Stine himself! I was surprised at how humble and funny he was. Who expects the horror author to be funny? But he was. Come to find out, before he was R.L. Stine, he was Jovial Bob Stine and he wrote funny books for kids. On his website, rlstine.com, I saw that he began his career as a comedy writer in 1965, and didn't become a horror writer until 1986! He wrote a teen horror novel called Blind Date, and the rest is history. In just two weeks you too can meet Mr. Stine at the Tucson Festival of Books, and ask him about how he accidentally became a horror writer. He's scheduled at 10:30 and 2:30 on Saturday, and 10am on Sunday. Find his schedule here.
Happy reading!
~ gothbrarian
