Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Awkward Kisses, Terrifying Garburators and Bad Teenage Poetry: What Makes Fear Street So Awesome?


Happy Halloween, Fear Street lovers. And could there possibly better news, EVER, then the fact that the fear master himself, R. L. Stine, is set to revive the Fear Street series with new books! Holy crap, I am over the moon about it. According to his Twitter, which I now follow with absolute delight, he is halfway through the first book, Party Games. Things couldn't be better. Of course A.M. and I will be following these new developments.

So, in honour of the awesome news, and of course for Halloween, I put together some of the things that make Fear Street so very special in our hearts. I am so eager to see how much of this ends up in the new series.

Some of the best things that make Fear Street books so awesome are the little details. For A.M. and I, that means the awkward description of kisses between chaste teenagers, or the mind-bogglingly gross-out ways that R.L. has thought up to off his characters. I also started to make a list of all the books we've deemed have abusive relationships within them, but it was basically every one of them, so I just stopped. Also, it seemed a little wrong to highlight that aspect of the Fear Streets too much. Just know that we here at Shadyside Snark frown on abusive relationships and you should never date someone who dumps a bucket of leeches on you. In case you needed that bit of life advice.


Best description of awkward kisses

Make no mistake about it - one of my favourite things about Fear Street is the really awkward way kisses are described. They rarely sound enjoyable at all. Just one more part of the teenage horror experience?


Letter openers

The letter opener, bar none, is the best murder weapon ever, and much more common than you would think. It does make me wonder, though - who are all these people with letter openers? If people could see the stats on how many of these lead to terrible deaths, maybe they'd just stick to opening letters with their fingers, paper cuts be damned.


Best poetry attempts

And by best I mean worst.


Most gruesome/memorable deaths

I started to compile the deaths that gave me the creeps, but I eventually had to stop. R.L. is super creative when it comes to death. Here is just a sampling of some of the gruesome ways you could possibly go. A surprising amount of these were found in the Evil Cheerleaders series - that Sarah Fear was a complete ghoul!

Bobbi Corcoran scalded to death – Cheerleaders: First Evil
Impaled by camera, stunt double – The Third Horror
Face torn off in tobogganing accident – The Perfect Date
Death by pottery wheel – Lights Out
Death by printing press – Final Grade
Buried alive – The Burning
Skinned as a cat, rat stuffed down the throat – Evil Moon
Piano wire across ski hill – The Face
Death by water cooler – Cheerleaders: The New Evil
Head ground in mill; head boiled in a vat of potatoes – The Awakening Evil

Special mention

These are some of the scenes that just stick in your head - we remembered them vividly even after years since reading Fear Street for the first time.

Garberator scene – 99 Fear Street: The First Horror
Killer vomit – The Third Horror
Needle in lipstick – Silent Night
Triple threat chase scene – Sunburn
The time-traveling car – Cataluna series, Evil Moon

10 comments:

Chad Walters said...

I've been waiting for this for years! Maybe it'll lead to a Fear Street tv show?

A.M. Stine said...

Things I am excited for:

The return of Fear Street. THAT IS ALL

A.M. Stine said...

Also: I can't figure out how to sign in as AM Stine anymore! GACK. L.K., come over, I need your help.

A.M. Stine said...

So many comments!
My personal favorite awkward kiss was left out: Sweet Homosexual Zombie Kisses! There is literally a kiss between a teenaged boy and a male zombie child. It's forced, of course. Read the review to find out more!

Anonymous said...

Haha. I love the way you both write... "Sweet Homosexual Zombie Kisses." Ridic. I think death by pottery wheel is the most vivid that I remember. So... Longer books means more death?! On Fear Island for the first one?! Can't wait.

Harper said...

I think that Suki Thomas should be a counselor at Shadyside High in the new novels. Or a sex therapist.

Anonymous said...

I just spent the past two weeks reading ALL of your blog entries! You two evil twins better blog abour the new books!

And how can you forget about the girl Nikki in Fear Street Nights that got her face crushes by the bleechers? Eek!

Anonymous said...

I just spent the past two weeks reading ALL of your blog entries! You two evil twins better blog abour the new books!

And how can you forget about the girl Nikki in Fear Street Nights that got her face crushes by the bleechers? Eek!

Anonymous said...

I just spent the past two weeks reading ALL of your blog entries! You two evil twins better blog abour the new books!

And how can you forget about the girl Nikki in Fear Street Nights that got her face crushes by the bleechers? Eek!

john dorian said...

A few notes about the revival:
a. The publisher bought 6 books.
b. He rags on AM's favorite: "“Zombies are boring as characters...You can’t disguise them as humans. There’s really not much that can be done with them.”
c. Party Games will be about Brendan Fear...I really hope we get to see exactly how he's related to Robin, Nicholas, and Nora. Maybe he's somehow descended from Savannah/Tyler from Forbidden Secrets, if undead characters are able to procreate?
d. He wants to do yet another Cheerleaders book.