Robert Lawrence Stine (/staɪn/; born October 8, 1943), known by his pen name R.L. Stine, is an American novelist. He is the writer of Goosebumps, a horror fiction novel series which has sold over 400 million copies globally in 35 languages, becoming the second-best-selling book series in history. The series spawned a media franchise including two television series, a video game series, a comic series, and two feature films. Stine has been referred to as the "Stephen King of children's literature".

Stine wrote the teenage horror fiction series Fear Street, which has sold over 80 million copies and has been adapted into a trilogy of films. His other horror fiction novel series include Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, Nightmare Hour, and The Nightmare Room. He has also written dozens of humor books for children, under the alias Jovial Bob Stine.

Stine was born on October 8, 1943 in Columbus, Ohio, the son of Lewis Stine, a shipping clerk, and Anne Feinstein. He grew up in Bexley, Ohio. He comes from a Jewish family. Stine began writing at age nine, when he found a typewriter in his attic, subsequently beginning to type stories and joke books. Stine said that he remembered reading the Tales from the Crypt comic books when he was young and credited them as one of his inspirations. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. While at OSU, Stine edited humor magazine The Sundial for three years. He later moved to New York City to pursue his career as a writer.

Stine wrote dozens of humor books for children under the name Jovial Bob Stine and created the humor magazine Bananas. Bananas was written for teenagers and published by Scholastic Press for 72 issues between 1975 and 1984, plus various "Yearbooks" and paperback books. Stine was editor and responsible for much of the writing (other contributors included writers Robert Leighton, Suzanne Lord and Jane Samuels and artists Sam Viviano, Samuel B. Whitehead, Bob K. Taylor, Bryan Hendrix, Bill Basso, and Howard Cruse). Recurring features included "Hey – Lighten Up!", "It Never Fails!", "Phone Calls", "Joe" (a comic strip by John Holmstrom), "Phil Fly", "Don't You Wish...", "Doctor Duck", "The Teens of Ferret High", "First Date" (a comic strip by Alyse Newman), and "Ask Doctor Si N. Tific".

In 1986, Stine wrote his first horror novel, called Blind Date. He followed with many other novels, including The Babysitter, Beach House, Hit and Run, and The Girlfriend. He was also the co-creator and head writer for the Nickelodeon children's television series Eureeka's Castle, original episodes of which aired as part of the Nick Jr. programming block during the 1989–1995 seasons.

In 1989, Stine started writing Fear Street books. Before launching the Goosebumps series, Stine authored three humorous science fiction books in the Space Cadets series titled Jerks in Training, Bozos on Patrol, and Losers in Space. In 1992, Stine and Parachute Press went on to launch Goosebumps.

Also produced was a Goosebumps TV series that ran for four seasons from 1995 to 1998 and three video games; Escape from HorrorLand, Attack of the Mutant and Goosebumps HorrorLand. In 1995, Stine's first novel targeted at adults, called Superstitious, was published. He has since published three other adult-oriented novels: The Sitter, Eye Candy, and Red Rain.

In the first decade of the 21st century, Stine worked on installments of five different book series, Mostly Ghostly, Rotten School, Fear Street, The Nightmare Room, Goosebumps Horrorland and the stand-alone novels Dangerous Girls (2003) and The Taste of Night (2004). Also, a direct-to-DVD movie The Haunting Hour Volume One: Don't Think About It. Starring Emily Osment, the film was released by Universal Home Entertainment on September 4, 2007 and was successful enough to spawn a spin-off, anthology, TV series R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour.

In 2014, Stine brought the Fear Street books back with his novel Party Games (ISBN 978-1250066220). The release of the Fear Street novel Give Me a K-I-L-L took place in 2017 (ISBN 978-1250058966). Jack Black portrayed a fictionalized version of Stine in the 2015 film Goosebumps, while Stine himself made a cameo appearance in the film, playing a teacher named "Mr. Black". In the film's sequel, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018), Stine had another cameo, as Principal Harrison, while Black reprised his role as Stine in several scenes. A Fear Street trilogy of films was released by Netflix in 2021.

In 2019, Stine appeared on an episode of the children's TV series Arthur. In "Fright Night", which aired in the 23rd season of the show, Stine voices Bob Baxter, the uncle of main character Buster Baxter. In the episode, Bob is shown to moonlight as a writer of scary stories, alluding to his real-life career as the author of the Goosebumps series.

According to Forbes List of the 40 best-paid Entertainers of 1996–97, Stine placed 36th with an income of $41 million for the fiscal year. His books have sold over 400 million copies worldwide as of 2008, landing on many bestseller lists. In three consecutive years during the 1990s, USA Today named Stine as America's number one best-selling author.

Among the awards he has received are the 2002 Champion of Reading Award from the Free Public Library of Philadelphia (that award's first year), the Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Award for Best Book-Mystery/Horror (three-time recipient) and the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (also received three times). In 1995, Stine was listed on People Weekly's "Most Intriguing People" annual list, and in 2003, the Guinness Book of World Records named Stine as the best-selling children's book series author of all time. He won the Thriller Writers of America Silver Bullet Award in 2007, and the Horror Writers Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. His stories have even inspired R. L. Stine's Haunted Lighthouse, 4D movie-based attractions at SeaWorld (San Antonio and San Diego) and Busch Gardens (Williamsburg and Tampa).

In 2013, Stine won the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2017, Stine was awarded the Inkpot Award.

On June 22, 1969, Stine married Jane Waldhorn, an editor and writer who later co-founded Parachute Press in 1983. The couple's only child, Matthew (b. June 7, 1980), works in the music industry. Through their son, Stine and his wife have one grandson (b. February 2014).

• Tales to Give You Goosebumps (1994)
• More Tales to Give You Goosebumps (1995)
• Even More Tales to Give You Goosebumps (1996)
• Still More Tales to Give You Goosebumps (1997)
• More and More Tales to Give You Goosebumps (1997)
• More and More and More Tales to Give You Goosebumps (1997)

• Claws! (2011)
• Night of Giant Everything (2011)
• The Five Masks of Dr. Screem (2011)
• Why I Quit Zombie School (2011)
• Don't Scream! (2011)
• The Birthday Party of No Return (2011)

• Zombie Halloween (2014)
• The 12 Screams of Christmas (2014)
• Trick or Trap (2015)
• The Haunter (2016)

1. The Stepbrother (1998)
2. Camp Out (1998)
3. Scream, Jennifer, Scream! (1998)
4. The Bad Girl (1998)

1. The First Evil (1992)
2. The Second Evil (1992)
3. The Third Evil (1992)
4. The New Evil (1994) *FS: Super Chiller*
5. The Evil Lives! (1998) *FS: Super Chiller*

1. The Betrayal (1993)
2. The Secret (1993)
3. The Burning (1993)

1. The First Horror (1994)
2. The Second Horror (1994)
3. The Third Horror (1994)

1. The Evil Moon (1995)
2. The Dark Secret (1995)
3. The Deadly Fire (1995)

1. The First Scream (1996)
2. The Loudest Scream (1996)
3. The Last Scream (1996)

1. Moonlight Secrets (2005)
2. Midnight Games (2005)
3. Darkest Dawn (2005)

1. Party Games (2014)
2. Don't Stay Up Late (2015)
3. The Lost Girl (2015)
4. Can You Keep a Secret? (2016)
5. The Dead Boyfriend (2016)
6. Give Me a K-I-L-L (2016)

1. You May Now Kill The Bride (2018)
2. The Wrong Girl (2018)
3. Drop Dead Gorgeous (2018)

• Who Let the Ghosts Out? (2004) (Made into a film in 2008)
• Have You Met My Ghoulfriend? (2004) (Made into a film in 2014)
• One Night in Doom House (2005) (Made into a film in 2016)
• Little Camp of Horrors (2005)
• Ghouls Gone Wild! (2005)
• Let's Get This Party Haunted! (2005)
• Freaks and Shrieks (2005)
• Don't Close Your Eyes! (2006)

• Fear Games
• What Scares You the Most?
• No Survivors

• Jerks-in-Training (1991)
• Losers in Space (1991)
• Bozos on Patrol (1992)

• The Badlands of Hark (1985)
• The Invaders of Hark (1985)

• Dangerous Girls (2003)
• The Taste of Night (2003)
• Bitten (2010) (a combination of the prior two books into one)

• The Scare School (2019)
• The Horror At Happy Landings (2020)
• Welcome To Beast Island (2020)
• Monstrosity (2021)

• The Nightmare Hour (2000)
• The Haunting Hour (2002) (made into direct-to-DVD movie in 2007 and a tv series that aired from 2010 to 2014)
• Beware! (2004) (editor)
• Temptation (2012)
• Scream and Scream Again (2018) (editor)
• Stinetinglers (2022)

• "The Head Start" (2016)
• "Welcome To My Nightmare" (2016)
• "Lucky at Cards" (2016)
• "Don't Open The Box" (2016)
• "How To Color A Monster" (2016)
• "The Terror After School" (2017)
• "The Kid Behind the Door" (2017)
• "Curse of the Smiling Mummy" (2017)
• "Can You Keep a Secret?" (2017)
• "Do Some Damage!" (2017)

• The Protectors #1: The Petrova Twist (1987)
• The Protectors #2: The Jet Fighter Trap (1987)

• Man-Thing (2019)

• Crosswinds #21: Broken Date (1988)
• Crosswinds #32: How I Broke Up With Ernie (1990)

• The Time Raider (1982)
• Golden Sword of Dragonwalk (1983)
• Horrors of the Haunted Museum (1983)
• Instant Millionaire (1984)

• Indiana Jones and the Curse of Horror Island (1984)
• Indiana Jones and the Giants of the Silver Tower (1984)
• Indiana Jones and the Cult of the Mummy's Crypt (1985)
• James Bond in Win, Place or Die (1985)
• Indiana Jones and the Ape Slaves of Howling Island (1986)

• Golden Girl and the Vanishing Unicorn (1986)

• The Forest Of Enchantment

• The Forest of Twisted Dreams (1984)
• The Siege of the Dragonriders (as Eric Affabee) (1984)
• Challenge of the Wolf Knight (1985)
• The Dragon Queen's Revenge (as Eric Affabee) (1986)
• The Impostor King (1986)
• Cavern of the Phantoms (1986)
• Attack on the King (as Eric Affabee) (1986)

• Operation: Star Raider (as Eric Affabee) (1985)
• Operation: Deadly Decoy (1986)
• Operation: Mindbender (1986)
• Serpentor and the Mummy Warrior (1987)

• Siege of Serpentor (1988)
• Jungle Raid (1988)

• Horror High #3: Grave Intentions
• Horror High #4: Fatal Kiss
• Horror High #6: Deadly Rumours

• Blind Date (1986)
• Twisted (1987)
• The Babysitter (1989)
• Beach Party (1990)
• The Boyfriend (1990)
• The Babysitter II (1991)
• The Girlfriend (1991)
• The Snowman (1991)
• Beach House (1992)
• Hit and Run (1992)
• The Hitchhiker (1992)
• Halloween Night (1993)
• The Babysitter III (1993)
• The Dead Girlfriend (1993)
• Call Waiting (1994)
• Halloween Night II (1994)
• I Saw You That Night! (1994)
• The Babysitter IV (1995)
• Summer Sizzlers (1995) (Point Romance Short Story Anthology)

• Welcome To Smellville (2020)
• Thrills and Chills (2021)
• Camp Daze (2021)

• Dynamite (magazine)
• Weird fiction

• Interview in You Can’t Say That! Writers for Young People Talk About Censorship, Free Expression, and the Stories They Have to Tell. Candlewick Press, 2021, a young adult non-fiction book about book censorship, edited by young adult author and literary critic Leonard S. Marcus. ISBN 9780763690366

• Official website
• R. L. Stine at IMDb
• R. L. Stine at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• R.L Stine on Wattpad
• Writers Talk video Interview on YouTube
• R. L. Stine at Library of Congress, with 477 library catalog records
• Jovial Bob Stine at LC Authorities, with 17 records, and at WorldCat