Perhaps my favorite list of the year

Washington University in St. Louis has a fairly active student newspaper, and its staff rounds up some of their favorite young adult writers in a sort of mock “where are they now?” feature. Really, it’s a little more bizarre than that. Take their description of bestselling juggernaut R.L. Stine:

If there’s a distinctly ’90s young adult
fiction author, it’s certainly RL Stine (Robert Lawrence, for those who
were always interested). Back when we were first discovering the joys
of literature, Stine was there to make sure our reading material was
short, scary and completely disposable. As soon as you read one
Goosebumps book, whether “The Haunted Mask,” “Monster Blood (Pts I-IV)”
or perhaps “Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes,” the man had already written
roughly seven new books. Even today, Stine writes one book every two
weeks, which would seem physically impossible without the aid of
massive amounts of amphetamines or perhaps a secret headquarters full
of Oompa Loompas. No matter how he accomplishes his amazing feats, one
would expect a man who frightens children for a living to be a pretty
sick individual. As a matter of (quite boring) fact, he’s a rather
nebbish-looking man with big glasses and several prominent moles who
lives a quiet life with his family in New York. Whether or not he
drinks goat’s blood and holds Black Masses remains unknown.

Never mind that their final candidate for beloved author is, well, not like the others.