Guys. It's almost time!

Alright Fear Street fans, there is so much news that I had to make a post. My first post in YEARS! I’ve missed you all. I’ve missed discussing the finer points of R.L.’s writing with L.K. Most of all, I’ve missed reading amazing Fear Street books!

Let’s start us off: As I'm sure you all know, R.L. is releasing new Fear Street books this fall. In fact, the first one, Party Games, will be released on September 30^th! So soon. Don’t worry, I’ve already placed my pre-order. Here is the description of Party Games:

Her friends warn her not to go to Brendan Fear's birthday party at his family's estate on mysterious Fear Island. But Rachel Martin has a crush on Brendan and is excited to be invited. Brendan has a lot of party games planned. But one game no one planned intrudes on his party—the game of murder.

As the guests start dying one by one, Rachel realizes to her horror that she and the other teenagers are trapped on the tiny island with someone who may want to kill them all. How to escape this deadly game? Rachel doesn't know whom she can trust. She should have realized that nothing is as it seems… on Fear Island.

Soooo…basically “All-Night Party”? 

I’m into it. I mean, really, how could I not read any new Fear Street books? I cannot WAIT to read this book (although I should point out, I did not spring for overnight shipping. I guess I can wait a little bit.)!  To prepare his true fans for the release of the new Fear Street books, R.L. has done a little bit of promotion that I thought I would highlight. There was an article published on thebigthrill.org, which is an online publication of the International Thrillers Writers, which I did not know was a thing.  Here is the link to the article: http://www.thebigthrill.org/2014/01/special-to-the-big-thrill-r-l-stine-and-the-return-of-fear-street-by-dawn-ius/.

Great, right? Here are some of the talking points for those of you who don’t feel like reading an article about R.L. Stine (why are you reading this blog then?).

• He doesn’t like zombies and doesn’t get this new zombie craze. Well, I just feel like that is a blatant lie.  He wrote sooo many books with zombies in them! “Zombies are boring as characters,” he says. “You can’t disguise them as humans. There’s really not much that can be done with them.” Should we discuss the amazing novel The Perfect Date which included three zombies who were disguised as humans? What about InToo Deep where a male child zombie disguised himself as a hot teen and seduced a male camp counselor?

•  He thinks “vampires are sexy”.  Good to know.

• Best quote? “All I’ve ever wanted was to be funny”. I hope he knows how much laughter and joy he has brought to my life over the years.

• He’s afraid of water! Interesting! I would say that many more characters have died from fire, ghost attacks, being slashed with a skate than have drowned. Perhaps he doesn’t like to confront his fear too much? (A notable exception is Sarah Fier who drowned when her boat sank in the Atlantic. And then she haunted some cheerleaders for some reason).

• He said that after Party Games, he’ll probably bring back cheerleaders! L.K. will be so pumped!

• Mentions how he “never wrote from the heart” and doesn’t understand why authors would. He wants to sell his books! And I’m also guessing that whatever is in his heart is terrifying.

• He says that it usually takes him 3-4 weeks to write a Fear Street book, and it goes so quickly because he does a lot of planning before (He doesn’t say this but I imagine it’s also because he doesn’t mind gaping plot holes).  But the article references him finishing a novel in 8 days in the late 80s. He mentions in another article that the 8-day book was…The Secret Bedroom! That makes sense. Here is L.K.’s final review of The Secret Bedroom: "This book was cheesy and nonsensical. Skeletal corpses dancing around? Even the cover sucks, with the cheesy glowing door, and cheesy skeletal hand. This book belongs firmly in the ranks of Goosebumps, and I’m sorry to see it put in the category of Fear Street. 2 skeletal corpses out of 7.” Hahahah

That article was full of facts and gems. It really did heighten my anticipation for the Party Games release!

He also went ahead and made a list of his favorite Fear Street books: http://rlstine.com/rlstine-picks-his-8-favorite-fear-street-books/

1. New Girl
2. Silent Night
3. Switched
4. Fear Street Saga: The Betrayal
5. Haunted
6. The Perfect Date
7. Cheerleaders: The First Evil
8. The Secret Bedroom

Most of these are our favourites too. I have always had a soft spot for the original Fear Street Saga, and L.K. distinctly remembers Switched from her youth. In fact, she mentions Switched in both her top five favourite Fear Street list and top five scariest list.  But why is The Secret Bedroom on here? He says he loves it because it “wrote itself”. Maybe it would have benefited from some actual human editing? Just sayin…

I also wanted to mention that I just got a new R.L. book from the library – Temptation. It is a compilation of Goodnight Kiss, Goodnight Kiss 2 and Vampire Club. I won’t be reviewing Goodnight Kiss and Goodnight Kiss 2 since L.K. already reviewed those. Apparently Vampire Club is a short story, and I don’t believe we ever read it, so I will try to get that up on the blog before we get into the Party Games!

Exciting times, Shadyside fans!