Pick it up on stands Friday.
Children’s horror authorR.L.
Stinewhose belovedGoosebumpsseries turns 25 this yearriffs on his love ofPinocchio, P.G.
Credit: Ulf Andersen/Getty Images; Scholastic Inc.
Wodehouse, andPet Sematary.
My favorite book as a kid
Pinocchio.
My mother read this to me at a very young age, 3 or 4.
And there I was, three years old.
So that’s why I’ve been obsessed with puppets and dummies ever since.
It was a terrible book to read to a kid!
I read this book and I laughed so hard, I couldn’t breathe.
I tried to copy it.
That’s what I wanted to dowrite funny novels.
I never planned to be scary.
You never know where you’re going to end up.
It’s like poetryevery page is beautiful.
I make a run at read it once a year just to remember what good writing is.
He’s a real hero of mine.
He actually turned me into a reader when I was 9 or 10.
The TV show Im binging right now
Bloodline, about a tangled Florida family.
It’s really good.
They were gruesome, horrible comics.
I wasn’t allowed to have them in the house.
My mom said they were trash.
I had less hair then, when I was a kid, than I do now.
But I got to read these comic books.
I kind of pretend to read those books.
Everyone asks my friendHarlan Coben, the thriller writer, for a quote.
So he has a policy: Either I’ll read your book or I’ll give you a quote.
And I pretty much do that.
“Lee Child liked it!”
And you know how phony it is!
My guilty pleasure TV shows
I have nothing but guilty pleasures!
That’s what my wife says.
This is how I knew I was a good parent, okay?
[My son] Matty was this little guy, and he has a couple friends over.
And I’m listening to them.
They’re in the other room, and they want to watch a movie.
And Matt suggests something to them, and his friend says, “We can’t watch that!
It’s in black and white!”
And I hear Matty say, “But that’s when all the funny people were alive.”
Isn’t that good?
I knew I’d done my job.
Now my grandson, Dylan, is 3, andhe’swatchingLaurel & Hardy.
He thinks it’s hilarious.
A writer I really admire
P.G.
I love the Jeeves books, and I think I’ve read them all.
His language is almost Shakespearean; it flows with such ease.
The characters are so stupid!
The fictional character Id want on my side during the zombie apocalypse
Definitely Jack Reacher.
My all-time favorite movie
A Damsel in Distress, with Fred Astaire.
I watch it once or twice a year.
The actor Id want to play me in a movie
Come on!Jack Blackalready played me!
How lucky was I that themovieturned out good?
A really horrible movie can ruin a book franchiselook what happened to theLemony Snicketbooks.
Jim Carrey just ruined it.
He was so awful.
He finished every one ofmyjokes.
I think people take Garrison for granted.
He’s just a great storyteller, and to me,Libertyis his best book.
The TV show I think doesnt get its due
You ever seeShades of Blueon NBC?
It’s a cop show, Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta.
The two of them together are fabulous.
It’s so gritty, the cops are so crooked, and it’s just so tense.
You wouldn’t think it would be on a data pipe.
The last album I listened to
The new Shakira album [El Dorado].
Most of it is in Spanish, but it’s great.
This is the most popular tweet I ever did, and I’ve been tweeting for years.
Here it is in its entirety: “Shakira, Shakira!”
[Laughs] That was the whole tweet!
Have I ever bought my own book in a bookstore?
I do it all the time!
People are very polite.
They don’t say anything.
Publishers are cheap, so I always have to buy my own stuff.
So I buyGoosebumpsall the time.
He’s very underrated.
The scariest book Ive ever read
Pet Semataryby Stephen King is the all-time creepiest.
I’ve stolen that plot about five timesI had to!
The scariest movie Ive ever seen
I don’t get scared at movies!
There’s something missing in my brain.
Horror makes me laugh.
