Fear Street: The Ultimate Guide

Contents

In this ultimate guide we will explore the following facets of the Fear Street universe:

• A very quick intro!
• The Plot
• Places in the Fear Street Universe
• The publication timeline of each of the spin-off series, and appearances on the small screen
• Lists of all the Fear Street spin-off series and their authors (yes, R. L. Stine did not pen every Fear Street book!)
• A Brief summary of Fear Street hitting the small screen

Intro

Fear Street is a YA (Young Adult) horror fiction novella series written by R. L. Stine that began in 1989. Some of these made it to bestseller lists, including those of USA Today and Publishers Weekly. In the original series, Fear Street sold 80 million copies worldwide. The original series spawned 13 spin-off series. This brings the total published books in the series to 159.

In 2021, they “experienced a resurgence in popularity“. This is most likely due to the release of the film trilogy released on Netflix.

But if you’re here, you probably know all this already, right? Let’s dig a little deeper, and explore this rich and dark land within the Stine-verse!

The Plot of the Fear Street Universe

All the books in the Fear Street series take place in the fictional town of Shadyside. Each book depicts regular adolescents who are older than the traditional Goosebumps preteens and who face malicious, often otherworldly, foes. The exception to the rule is the ghost-written Ghosts of Fear Street spin-off series. In the Ghosts of Fear Street series, these foes are often monsters – like in Goosebumps.

In contrast to the Goosebumps novels which feature very few controlled deaths. Deaths in Fear Street are more horrible, with more blood and gore. This is especially true in the Sagas (1996 to 1999).

The series title is derived from the name of a fictitious street in Shadyside named after the Fear family. Their surname was originally spelt Fier. After learning that the family was cursed and that the letters could be rearranged to make ‘fire’, Simon Fier altered it to Fear in the 19th century. The curse lasted despite the family renaming. Simon and his wife (Angelica), carried the curse with them when they came to Shadyside after the Civil War.

The Curse on the Fier Family

The curse began in the 17th century when Benjamin and Matthew Fier sentenced an innocent child and her mother to death. This was by burning at the stake for the crime of witchcraft. William Goode, the father and husband, cursed the Fiers to avenge their deaths. This brought sorrow and death to the family. Although a fire is said to have killed the last of the Fears, the series includes some surviving Fears and implies that one of the brothers survived. The Fear Street Sagas explains these happenings.

Character Archetypes in Fear Street

Characters vary in each book, like in the Goosebumps series. Yet certain characters live on mentioned or appear several times throughout the books. Unlike Goosebumps, the characters are not guaranteed to make it out of the story alive.

Also, some plots from earlier published novels are built upon in later works. The plot of the series takes place between the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Yet, many novels take place in the same year.

R. L. Stine did not spend a lot of time on character development within the Fear Street novels. This is because he wanted the characters to be relatable, allowing the reader to experience the story as the main character. This writing technique is often used in action films.

Fear Street, Shadyside and Beyond

The town of Shadyside is the setting for the Fear Street series. Much of the paranormal activity, murders, and other unexplained events take place on Fear Street itself. In the woods around the street, and on Fear Island – much of the main plot happens here also.

Contextual indications in the text infer that Shadyside is located in either of 2 places. The southern New England or in a northern Mid-Atlantic state. For example, in the third book of the original Fear Street series, The Overnight, a character mentions going to ‘BU’ (up in Boston). This indicates Shadyside lies south of Boston.

The Canononka River

The Canononka River runs behind Shadyside Park, which stands behind Shadyside High School. We know this from descriptions in the first book original Fear Street series, The New Girl. The Canononka River is also referenced as marking the perimeter of town in book #4, Missing.

This river is also mentioned in How to Be a Vampire (Ghosts of Fear Street book 13), in which the school bus cannot cross it whilst the protagonist is aboard (as vampires cannot cross water). This also indicates that the bridge that crosses the river is suitable for motor vehicles.

Several other books often describe a parking area between the school and the park. This is alternately referred to as the teacher’s lot and the student lot. A practice pitch and tennis courts may be seen from here.

Fear Street Woods

The Fear Street woods sit between Fear Street and the rest of town. Yet some books claim they are at the end of the street. If you travel straight through the woods from Fear Street, you will arrive in another Shadyside neighbourhood where people’s backyards meet the woods. However, because the woods are densely forested, it is difficult to keep a straight path (according to Missing).

It’s also worth noting that “there are no birds in the Fear Street woods.” Scientists from around the country have been unable to determine why. This latter part is first referenced in The Wrong Number. It is also referenced later in How to Be a Vampire (Ghosts of Fear Street book 13).

Division Street

Division Street divides Shadyside into north and south sections; the local mall is located on this street. This street crosses Old Mill Road, which then crosses Fear Street in the town’s southern part. Fear Street appears to run at least partially parallel to Division Street based on this description.

The street is described as twisting, with no clear view from one end to the other. Fear Mansion’s burned-out shell can be found anywhere on this street. There is a cemetery on the East end of Fear Street, which is also flanked by the Fear Street forests, according to book The Wrong Number (1990).

Dalby’s Mall

Dalby’s Mall features in both Silent Night and Fright Christmas. More on this soon.

The Mill

Between the first original Fear Street novel, The New Girl, and the third book, The Overnight (1989), the “…ancient collapsing mill built at the end of Old Mill Road before the town of Shadyside even existed, had recently been resurrected and re-opened as a teen dance club called The Mill.”

Old Mill Road intersects Hawthorne Drive. Along this road, a tiny coffee shop called Alma’s serves as a hangout for many local college students, as described in Missing (1989).

North Hills

In The Overnight (1989) there is a neighbourhood described in the book called North Hills. It is separate from the rest of Shadyside; it includes huge residences and well-kept lawns. It’s regarded as “…a quiet, peaceful neighbourhood, the nicest in Shadyside.” The Old Village is mentioned in several literature, and it appears to exist.

Waynesbridge

Waynesbridge is around a 20-minute drive away from Shadyside. Between the two towns, there is a business park housing Cranford Industries, as described in Missing (1990).

The Fear Street Series Publication Timeline

The Fear Street Original Series Book List

There are 51 novels in the original Fear Street series starting with The New Girl, the first book published in 1989. The series ended with the last novel Trapped being published in 1997.

Fear Street Super Chiller Book List

The Fear Street Super Chiller is a spin-off series that ran in tandem with the original Fear Street series. This spin-off series ran from 1991 to 1998, starting the year after The Stepsister (1990) was published. There are 13 books in this series.

The broad themes and story aspects are nearly identical to their mainstream equivalent. They differ by being longer books than in the original series and being separated into parts or acts. The series differs from Fear Street in that it covers more holidays, for example, Christmas and Valentine’s Day. This series also has 2 sequels to the Fear Street: Cheerleaders mini-series.

New Fear Street Book List

This was a newer spin-off series in the Fear Street canon published in 1998:

• The Stepbrother (1998)
• Camp Out (1998)
• Scream Jennifer, Scream! (1998)
• The Bad Girl (1998)

Fear Street Nights Book List

Fear Street Nights centres around “the Night People”. They are a secretive group who just like to hang out at a bar called “Nights”. But death always seems to follow them! Here is the list of books in the series:

• Moonlight Secrets (2005)
• Midnight Games (2005)
• Darkest Dawn (2005)

A Fear Street Novel Book List

Six new Fear Street books were released starting in September 2014. Although Give Me a K-I-L-L was the last contracted novel, R.L. Stine indicated through Twitter (X) that more Fear Street books were in the works:

• Party Games (2014)
• Don’t Stay Up Late (2015)
• The Lost Girl (2015)
• Can You Keep a Secret? (2016)
• The Dead Boyfriend (2016)
• Give Me a K-I-L-L (2017)

It should also be noted that these books would have contributed to the relatively recent resurgence in popularity of the Fear Street franchise, however, it would most likely be down to the movie trilogy on Netflix that was the main driver for this.

Return To Fear Street Book List

The Fear Street series was taken up by HarperTEEN in 2018 with Return to Fear Street. You May Now Kill The Bride, the first novel in this series, was released in 2018:

• You May Now Kill The Bride (2018)
• The Wrong Girl (2018)
• Drop Dead Gorgeous (2019)

Fear Street Hits The Small Screen

A TV Show that Didn’t Air

In 1998 ABC Television aired one episode of Ghosts of Fear Street (not to be confused with the earlier spin-off book series). This episode was also the last. Blood Disgusting said the following:

The show was written by Karl Schraeder, the co-creator of cult series “Eerie, Indiana.” You’d expect a better quality pilot judging by that name, but “Ghosts of Fear Street” suffers from a rushed narrative at only twenty minutes total, and a tone that jumps from black comedy, to horror, to family comedy, family drama, science fiction, and even fantasy.

Felix Vasquez Jr (Bloody Disgusting), 2018

I will give my own thoughts on this sometime in the near future. The episode is not available to buy, although you can watch this artefact on YouTube:

Netflix: The Fear Street Trilogy 2021

The Fear Street Trilogy contained a variety of horror subgenres. Most notably, the trilogy can be categorised as both slasher and supernatural subgenres.

The plot centres around a group of teens who are working to dispel the curse that has been hanging Shadyside for hundreds of years. The film’s distribution rights were subsequently bought by Netflix. The films were produced and developed by 20th Century Studios and Chernin Entertainment.

The three films were shot in quick succession and were released weekly as Netflix Original Films in July 2021. As the reception of these films was incredibly positive, more films in the trilogy are in the works.