What? Goosebumps Author Writes Horror Novel Where Kids are the Bad Guys?

By now most of you know I am a major R.L. Stein fan.  I love his style. He has done so much for boy readers and continues to do so.  Here is something new for the author.  He has turned his villains on their heads as it were.  Have a look at what he has written. 

Red Rain may have some tropes in common with R.L. Stine's best-selling series of scary books for children, but the audience here is clearly readers who enjoy the likes of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Villainous lawn gnomes and ventriloquist dummies are replaced by real people who cause real pain.

The horror is grisly. Stine likes food metaphors to convey the gore: Windpipes ripped out of throats like "some kind of long pasta noodle." A young woman holding her intestines as "a gusher of pink and yellow sausage" oozes through her fingers.

It's not really spoiling any suspense to say Stine has flipped his "Goosebumps" formula and made the kids the villains instead of the good guys.

 When twin 12-year-old boys Samuel and Daniel are adopted by a travel writer after a deadly hurricane off the South Carolina coast, there are ominous signs that all is not well with the "bruvvers." Readers understand something's amiss immediately, even if it takes the book's characters awhile.
It's a page turner until the end, with short chapters that help increase the pace. Stine enjoys himself writing not for kids but about them.

For parents, there's plenty here to keep you up at night. Stine deftly makes one of his characters a child psychologist whose questions mirror our own: How much freedom of choice should kids have? When do they deserve to be treated like adults? And if you suspect they're up to no good with their friends, how quickly should you step in?
Quicker than they do in this wicked little book, that's for sure.

ROB MERRILL Associated Press

Two Loggerhead Sea Turtles Released After One Year in Rehab

Two loggerhead sea turtles rescued on Isle of Palms at the  have been released following a year's worth of rehabilitation thanks to the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Rescue Program.

Jammer Before and After

Both turtles were brought to the center near death, according to an Aquarium news release. After a full recovery, the Aquarium is partnering with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission.

Here is a bit of information on each turtle:



Heading Home

Jammer is a 93-pound juvenile loggerhead sea turtle. S/he was rescued on the Isle of Palms near the Windjammer beach bar in April of last year. When brought into the hospital by SCDNR, Jammer was extremely debilitated, suffering from emaciation, dehydration, and had a heart rate of only 7 beats per minute.

  Upon admittance, there was concern that Jammer had neurological damage because s/he was swimming in circles in the same direction, but after several weeks of intensive care, Jammer began swimming normally. Treatment included antibiotics, fluids, vitamin injections, barnacle removal and treatment for shell damage due to secondary infection. After more than a year of treatment, Jammer is finally ready for the journey back into the Atlantic Ocean!

Celebration for All

Hamlin Creek is a 75-pound juvenile

loggerhead sea turtle found in Hamlin Creek, also located on the Isle of Palms. S/he was rescued in June of last year suffering from severe dermatitis, dehydration, and had poor blood work.

  Treatment for Hamlin Creek included fluids, vitamin injections, and antibiotics. Since being admitted to the Sea Turtle Hospital, Hamlin Creek has gained weight and his/her skin has fully healed. Feisty and healthy, Hamlin Creek is ready to venture back into the open ocean.