Fear Street: if the Netflix series bought you here - welcome. You’re in for a real treat.
The series left viewers hungry for more, but readers already familiar with the series have been enjoying their expansive horror fix LONG before it hit our screens.
So, if you peeled yourself away from your couch, desperate to absorb anything and everything Fear Street, get away from the TV and head to your bookstore.
With 51 novels in its series, there’s a magnitude of Fear Street content you’ve yet to lay your eyes on. Intrigued? Well, let’s give you the low-down on what to expect from this iconic horror series (for some, they’re even more iconic than the holy Grail that is the Stephen King book series)!
Late to the party? No problem.
Fear Street is a book series created by R.L Stine. The first book in the series, ‘The New Girl,’ was published in 1989. As readers were left enthralled, excited, and somewhat disturbed. R.L Stine kept readers satisfied with plenty more Fear Street content throughout the years.
Oh, does the name R.L Stine sound familiar? Well, if you’re a Goosebumps fan… that might be why! Robert Lawrence Stine was also the genius behind these timeless children’s horror fiction novels which are still widely read today.
Although Fear Street has around 51 novels in the series, it has also been subject to plenty of spin-offs.
So, there are actually around 160 Fear Street books to date, all of them spanning an incredible four decades. Although the series took a hiatus in the 90s, it came back in full swing in the early 2000s, when Stine decided to treat us all to a few more books.
If you thought the Dune book series was large and complex, then you’ve seen nothing. Fear Street takes it to a whole other level!
So, if you’re not familiar with Fear Street… What is it?
On America’s East Coast, in the fictional city of Shadyside, danger is rife. The aptly named Fear Street often finds itself as the center of the danger, and time and time again, gruesome tales and scary stories are born here.
The teenagers of Shadyside always seem to be the ones getting caught up in these weird events, which consist of gory murders and paranormal events.
There is some continuity throughout the series, and most of the books tend to build on each other. So, if you want to know EVERYTHING about Fear Street, it’s best to start from the beginning.
With so many books in its series, it would be impossible to explore each one in too much depth here. However, we’ll walk you through the biggest names so you know what you’re looking for when you need your next horror fix…
The novels above are known as ‘original Fear Street.’ There are also a few new novels, including:
And the 2014 series “Give Me a K-I-L-L” which consists of the following books:
According to R.L. Stine himself, the Netflix Fear Street Trilogy wasn’t based on any one book in the series. Instead, the creative team worked closely with the author to capture the spirit of Fear Street and bring it to life on the big screen in a unique way.
So, if you were looking for the books the trilogy was based on, then we’re sorry to disappoint… there isn’t any!
Although the trilogy isn’t ‘based’ on any of the books (meaning, it’s not a complete, unaltered adaptation of them), it did take inspiration from a few in particular.
Although it’s unclear exactly which ones, it certainly seems like Fear Street Cheerleaders: The First Evil was a big inspiration for the series.
The first evil followed the story of sisters Bobby and Corky Corcoran. Although they had big hopes to become cheerleaders, one dies, and they maintain an ability to communicate in their dreams.
It seems that something at Shady Cemetary may have been responsible… This installment has plenty of supernatural evil, and it appears to have influenced the creative direction of the series in big ways.
At the time of writing, it’s unclear whether R.L Stine has any more Fear Street goodness up his sleeves. However, with such a huge amount of books to keep you occupied, unless you’ve finished them all already, you’ll have plenty to work through while we wait for confirmation.
And on the off-chance that you’ve actually finished all of them (voracious readers, are we?), the Five Nights at Freddy’s collection might be up your alley. Curious about how many FNAF books are there? Have a read!
There’s good news for fans of the Netflix Trilogy, though: although Netflix has NOT confirmed whether or not there will be a new series, rumors are flying, and R.L Stine has addressed them himself, saying:
“There’s still talk about more Goosebumps movies, and I also hear rumors about more Fear Street movies for Netflix because the first ones did so well last summer,”.
Considering how popular the trilogy was, there’s a good chance we could be in for another installment. Until then, we’ll wait with bated breath….
Fear Street is one of the most popular (and largest) horror series of all time. If you’re dying to absorb all things Fear Street-related, head straight to your bookstore - you definitely won’t be short on content!
While you’re there, have a look at some of James Pattern’s thriller/horror books. You might find yourself sinking your teeth in yet another book collection before you know it!
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