Robert Lawrence Stine , known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American writer. Stine, who is called the "Stephen King of children's literature", is the author of hundreds of horror fiction novels, including the books in the Fear Street, Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly and The Nightmare Room series.

The Stephen King of the pre-teen set, R.L. Stine is the wildly successful author of the Goosebumps books, a horror series for young readers. Stine began writing for young audiences early in his career, with work for Junior Scholastic Magazine and on books like 101 Silly Monster Jokes and Bozos on Patrol. He created and edited the comedy magazine Bananas before turning to teen horror with his 1986 novel Blind Date. Stine began the Fear Street series in 1989, and then launched the Goosebumps series in 1992. The Goosebumps books, with titles like Brain Juice, My Hairiest Adventure and It Came From Beneath the Sink!, were an international success and the series was turned into a syndicated TV series in 1995. Stine launched another series of stories, The Nightmare Room, in 1999; it also was adapted for television (in 2001).

Like J.K. Rowling, Stine has been credited with encouraging young readers, while at the same time he has weathered criticism for writing stories based on the occult. His autobiography, It Came from Ohio! My Life as a Writer, was published in 1997.

Stine graduated from Ohio State University in 1965 with a degree in English... In a 2001 interview with Teen Ink magazine, Stine reported that "Goosebumps has sold 220 million in this country... Altogether I've sold over 300 million books."