Halloween Greetings from Your Fiends at THE STACKS!

Happy Halloween from the Ink Splot 26 bloggers! To celebrate we thought we would show you our faces, Goosebumps PhotoShock style! If you missed our behind-the-scenes look at the making of Goosebumps PhotoShock, let me fill you in. Goosebumps PhotoShock is an app for the iPhone^TM and iPod touch® that lets you take a regular, boring old photo and Goosebumps-ify it! Trade out those teeth for fangs, your brown eyes for some creepy, yellow ones, dose yourself with some slime, and . . .Voila!  

Carly H., STACKS Staffer:

Karen, STACKS Staffer:

Morgan, Scholastic Staffer:

Nick, STACKS Staffer

 
 

Ratha, STACKS Writer:

Sonja, STACKS Staffer:

Would You Survive Goosebumps HorrorLand?

Welcome to HorrorLand amusement park, the scariest place on earth!

Have you read the HorrorLand series by R.L. Stine? The series is about someone — or something — that is summoning ordinary kids to an amusement park of horrors where they have to find a way to escape. Fright-master R.L. Stine takes you on a thrilling adventure in the Goosebumps HorrorLand series.

In HorrorLand your nightmares come to life and you'll need the new book Welcome to HorrorLand: A Survival Guide in order to make your escape. This book will give you behind-the-scenes info on:

• The Stagger Inn doom service menu
• Ratings for the scariest rides in HorrorLand
• Tips on how to avoid top Egyptian curses

Read this excerpt from the book to find out the top 3 things NOT to do in HorrorLand. . .

How to Get in Trouble in HorrorLand

While we were preparing this chapter, the Guest Relations team took a survey. We asked hundreds of Monster Police to answer the following question: “What are your favorite reasons for bullying visitors?” Below are the three most popular answers. Don't say we didn't warn you!

Reason #3: Monster Blood Due to a recent at the /hungry Crocs Piggyback Ride, anyone caught with Monster Blood will have to eat it. And then you'll be in BIG trouble!

Reason #2: Meddling “Some things are nobody's business but ours,” said Sergeant Clem. “Why? BECAUSE WE SAID SO!”

Reason #1: Mirrors “No mirrors of any kind are allowed,” said an officer named Benson. “It's for your own safety, really. You don't want to see what you look like after one day at HorrorLand.”

Goosebumps Webcast and Writing Contest

If you were at the live webcast yesterday with R. L. Stine, wasn't it COOL??!! (If you missed it, you can watch the video here.) He talked about his favorite books, advice for future writers, and a starstruck moment with HIS favorite author. Plus, he revealed that he's always hated Halloween. Surprised? You'll have to watch the video replay to find out why!

R. L. Stine was really funny, and Slappy was there too, being his nasty, creepy self. Kids in the audience got to ask questions, listen to R. L. Stine tell a new HorrorLand story about a zombie canoe ride, and he made a super-exciting announcement. . .

. . . A writing contest where YOU get to be the Fright Master! R. L. Stine wrote three scary story starters for you. Choose one and finish the story. Then send it to Scholastic, and R. L. Stine and his editors will choose the winning story!

Enter the Contest

And for more about R. L. Stine, read this Kid Reporter interview where he tells where he gets his ideas.

R.L. Stine Goosebumps Webcast Today!

Last week, author and fright-master R.L. Stine wrote about how excited he was for the live Goosebumps Webcast where he will be here in the flesh for a webcast to talk about his creepy books and answer questions.

Well, the fateful day has arrived! Prepare yourself!

1- 1:30pm (ET) today — Get Goosebumps with R.L. Stine!

Join the webcast.

(Yes, we know, it's during the school day, and you might have a math test or something. If you can't make it at that time, don't despair, you can watch the video recap afterwards.)

GET GOOSEBUMPS MALL TOUR

The GET GOOSEBUMPS Mall Tour kicked off earlier in October and now that it has been to a couple of cities, we thought we would tell you about some of the cool stuff the tour offers and where it has been so far. The most popular part of the tour has been the viral video activity. This is where someone can get their picture taken and then go online to find out what exactly they got their picture taken for . . . just a little hint, it provides a bit of a SCARE where it is least expected. Visitors to the tour also had the opportunity to try out the Goosebumps video game for the Wii and get their photo taken as a Goosebumps Horror!

Here are a couple of photos and quotes from the cities visited so far —

The tour started off on October 3rd in Seattle, Washington at the Tacoma Mall. There were many intrigued Goosebumps fans that couldn't wait to see what the event was all about.

“I love Goosebumps. It is my favorite book of all time!”
–A Goosebumps fan, Tacoma, WA

“Goosebumps is so scary! Well . . . I mean, not that scary but it kind of freaks me out but I love it.”
–A Goosebumps Fan, Tacoma, WA

 
The next stop on the tour was the Westminster Mall in Westminster, California. Some Goosebumps fans stopped by in their Halloween Costumes! This location was a hot-spot for Goosebumps fans of all ages:

October Live Chat: Get Goosebumps!

DARE to chat with us?
Join our LIVE CHAT on the Goosebumps series, other spooky books & more!

WHEN: Tuesday, October 27, 6-7 PM E.T.
TOPIC: Scary books!
HOW: Follow the instructions below.

Halloween is right around the corner! And to celebrate, our October Live Chat will be about the Goosebumps series and other spooky scary books. Join in the chat to talk with other kids about the books that give YOU goosebumps!

For more about the Goosebumps series by R. L. Stine, visit the Goosebumps site and learn more about lots of other Halloween Goosebumps events!

And if you're in New York City on October 24, stop by the Scholastic Store in SoHo at 3pm for a demo of the Goosebumps HorrorLand Wii game, and more Halloween fun!

— STACKS Staffers

---

UPDATE: 10/30 — Thanks for joining the chat! Read the transcript here. We'll be announcing the date and topic for our next chat soon!

Watch out for Goosebumps!

Not quite getting into that Halloween spirit? Need a little Goosebumps to get you going? Maybe some classic Goosebumps episodes might help? R.L. Stine's classic tales were made into the quirky Goosebumps TV series back in 1995 and are still alive and well today. Fox Kids aired 3 seasons of half-hour episodes and an occasional 1-hour special back in 1995.The 4th season of Goosebumps was made up of 1-hour specials– totaling 74 episodes for all 4 seasons combined!

Did you know that there are some famous faces in Goosebumps TV episodes?

• Hayden Christensen of the Star Wars Trilogy was in Night of the Living Dummy Part 1 & 2 back in 1997
• Ryan Gosling of The Notebook was in Ultimate Goosebumps back in 1996
• Maria Vacratsis of Degrassi: The Next Generation was in Deep Trouble and Werewolf Skin Parts 1 & 2 back in 1998
• Katherine Issabelle of Smallville plus other TV shows, was in Ultimate Goosebumps back in 1996

Now, due to popular demand, the episodes are exclusively airing on Cartoon Network during the Halloween season, and are also available on DVD AND for download on iTunes. Goosebumps TV show fans are young and old — the series definitely has a wide age range when it comes to fans!

To get your fill of classic Goosebumps TV, check out some episode clips at http://www.scholastic.com/goosebumps/tv_dvd/index.htm or on Cartoon Network through October 30th.

Get Goosebumps Webcast

Well, everyone, I've got a lot to do to get ready for my Goosebumps HorrorLand webcast. I've got to press my black cape. . . sharpen my fangs. . . practice my terrifying wolf howl. . . and drink lots of warm blood to keep my strength up. . .

Is it possible for the full moon to show itself at one in the afternoon (ten a.m. Pacific time)? Don't worry. It will be as scary as midnight once we start sharing ghost stories and telling our scariest Halloween tales.

We'll talk about my scary books and I'll tell a scary story. And I hear that maybe a few of my scary friends might drop by. Slappy the evil dummy wouldn't dare come alive and interrupt our fun—would he?

We'll see. I'll be waiting for you.

What: Get Goosebumps Live Webcast Event
When: October 28, 1-1:30pm (ET) / 10-10:30am (PT)
Where: scholastic.com/goosebumpswebcast

Make sure your teacher tunes in, or watch the video recap afterwards.

Readers, beware—see you there!

— R. L. Stine, Goosebumps Author

Get Goosebumps at the Mall!

Hey all you ghoulish Goosebumps Fans, it's that fabulously fearsome time of year again to give everyone you know GOOSEBUMPS! Lucky for you, Scholastic is bringing Goosebumps to a mall near you with the Get Goosebumps Mall Tour! On this tour, you can have the opportunity to star in and send your own Goosebumps prank video, try out the Goosebumps HorrorLand video game for Wii and take your picture as a Goosebumps Horror. You can also enter for a chance to win a Goosebumps prize pack consisting of Goosebumps books, DVD's and more. Dates and locations are HERE. Hope to see you there!

If there isn't a location close to your home this year, keep an eye on The STACKS continued coverage Goosebumps activities and updates throughout the Halloween season.

—Julia, Scholastic Media Staffer

A picture is worth a thousand screams!

I'm Sam, a producer with Scholastic Interactive. It's a really exciting time of year for us because we're launching our first ever apps for the iPhone^TM and iPod touch®! I got the coveted assignment of producing the app for Goosebumps^TM. I'll be giving you an inside look at what it takes to make an app.

Goosebumps is funny and frightening all wrapped into one. So what would be funny and scary on the iPhone? We had a bunch of early ideas for apps:

• A “Scream Machine” that gives you a sound bank of Goosebumps noises.
• A “Haunted iPhone” that looks like the standard iPhone desktop but replaces all of your functions with twisted versions of themselves.
• “My Pet Goo,” like a virtual pet game except that you're raising a disgusting glob of goo. Take good care of it and it might grow teeth, change colors, or even split into two globs of goo.

Maybe we'll make one of those next, but our favorite idea was PhotoShock, which lets you take any picture from your iPhone or iPod touch and give it the full Goosebumps treatment. So you can turn your friends into ghastly ghouls or even give your dog The Haunted Mask! 

 

The app gives you a collection of stickers that you can put on your photograph and then move, resize or rotate to create some truly horrifying compositions. We brainstormed every scary thing you might want to add to a picture: Googly eyes, splatters of slime, hanging spiders, crawling bats, a full moon, a tombstone… well, you get the idea.

We then had to draw and create the stickers in the Goosebumps style. We worked closely with the Goosebumps gurus (aka brand managers – what a cool job!) to ensure that the stickers had the right balance of scares and humor. We also were able to include Goosebumps monster masks so you can make yourself into Slappy or change a photo of a group of friends into the ultimate Goosebumps monster crew around!

With over 95 stickers and icons, the possibilities are endless. And what good are photos if you can't share them and show them off? Once you're done, you can email your photos to friends to show off your masterpiece!

Happy PhotoShocking!

— Sam, Scholastic Interactive Staffer

Feeling Any Goosebumps?

"Here it is, heart of New York City, Times Square. Named for the good times you have when you are . . . in it. Most people, when they come to New York, they go straight to the Empire State Building. That’s very touristy. I come here."
— Michael Scott, The Office

Times Square is about as touristy as it gets, but Michael is right  — it's the heart of New York. Smack dab in the middle of Manhattan and packed with people, stores, cars, music, food, theaters, and lights, it can be a little overwhelming. So imagine how cool it was to see Goosebumps take it over!

On Halloween, Times Square turned into Goosebumps HorrorLand. There were signs, screens, and events everywhere. I headed into the city that morning to check it all out.

The first thing I saw was a group of people gathered on what's called the "fence island" in the middle of Times Square itself.

Goosebumps HorrorLand -- Get Ready to Play!

We know you have questions about the making of the Goosebumps HorrorLand Video Game, so here are some answers! In this final InkSplot 26 entry about the game, we're giving you Splotters an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at what went into creating the game. For this insight, I went straight to the source! I sat down and got the scoop from Sam, Senior Producer for the Goosebumps HorrorLand video game:

The game features a unique Goosebumps story, and it's your job as the player to earn frights to unlock the five areas in HorrorLand to move this story forward. How did the team come up with the brand new plotline?

Well, the story of HorrorLand has been told in a lot of places over the years, and we looked at all of them. There was R. L. Stine's classic book One Day at HorrorLand, and also the sequel, Return to HorrorLand. In addition, there was an episode of the TV show based on the original book. And of course, there was Stine's terrific new HorrorLand series, which was only partly written at the time we were developing the game.

We took inspiration from all of these, but in the end decided to tell our own story, with our own twists and turns. The game starts with the idea that one of the Horrors (my favorite characters from the books) decides to start a brand new HorrorLand, kind of like making Disney World when there was already a Disneyland. Without any human supervision, this new park could be scarier, deadlier, and crazier than ever, with no exit and a total disregard for safety.

As the Splotters learned from last week's blog entry, each area of HorrorLand has its own theme with different characters, rides, and attractions. What inspired some of these cool ideas?

When designing the game, we started with the idea, 'What if we were making a real horror-themed amusement park? What would we definitely want to see?' We tried to hit all of the Horror staples: vampires, mummies, swamp monsters, evil robots, scary clowns.

Mummy

For the rides and attractions, we started with things you might find in a "normal" amusement park, but with a fiendish twist. So we have a Batting Cage, but it features live bats. Instead of Bumper Cars we have Bumper Carnage, which has a giant pit in the middle of the arena and where the drivers are really trying to destroy each other. The Calamity Canyon ride was inspired by the Cyclone at Coney Island, which if you've ever seen it, looks like it's about to fall apart. I'm sure the Cyclone is entirely safe, but our ride really is falling apart. In fact, the announcer tells you so at the beginning of the ride, and your job is to dodge missing tracks and duck under collapsing overpasses.

We took inspiration from all of these, but in the end decided to tell our own story, with our own twists and turns. The game starts with the idea that one of the Horrors (my favorite characters from the books) decides to start a brand new HorrorLand, kind of like making Disney World when there was already a Disneyland. Without any human supervision, this new park could be scarier, deadlier, and crazier than ever, with no exit and a total disregard for safety.

As the Splotters learned from last week's blog entry, each area of HorrorLand has its own theme with different characters, rides, and attractions. What inspired some of these cool ideas?

When designing the game, we started with the idea, 'What if we were making a real horror-themed amusement park? What would we definitely want to see?' We tried to hit all of the Horror staples: vampires, mummies, swamp monsters, evil robots, scary clowns.

Mummy

For the rides and attractions, we started with things you might find in a "normal" amusement park, but with a fiendish twist. So we have a Batting Cage, but it features live bats. Instead of Bumper Cars we have Bumper Carnage, which has a giant pit in the middle of the arena and where the drivers are really trying to destroy each other. The Calamity Canyon ride was inspired by the Cyclone at Coney Island, which if you've ever seen it, looks like it's about to fall apart. I'm sure the Cyclone is entirely safe, but our ride really is falling apart. In fact, the announcer tells you so at the beginning of the ride, and your job is to dodge missing tracks and duck under collapsing overpasses.