A little while ago, I found myself in R.L. Stine's living room. A friend of mine who's a friend of his extended an impromptu invitation to me. Talk about six degrees of separation!

R.L. Stine was wearing a guitar-printed shirt and looked relaxed. He welcomed me into his apartment, and introduced me to his wife, Jane and his dog Nadine.

Stine is a prolific author who tells great scary stories. In person, he's a good storyteller too.

He told me that the Weekly Reader was the first magazine he ever read. "When I was a kid, they used to print the Weekly Reader in Columbus, OH. Every year, our school would take us on a school trip to the Weekly Reader publishing plant. There we would watch how the papers were printed."

Stine got nostalgic as he remembered his amazement at seeing the steam driven printing press operate . This was his first view of the world of writing and publishing. It inspired him to be a writer.

As a writer, it was interesting for me to listen to a grown-up author remember his first love, Weekly Reader -- and I couldn't help but feel proud to be associated with the place that inspired him.

I learned a few other things about Stine that night.
His favorite dessert is bread pudding.
His dog Nadine loves to chew on napkins.
The Stines are major Yankees fans.
And, they are collectors of the works by the Italian poster artist Leonatto Cappiello .

It was fun to meet the man behind Goosebumps in the flesh, but I wish I had asked him to show me his study. I wonder what other neat tid-bits I would have found there!

Do you have questions for R. L. Stine? Now at Weekly Reader's "Ask a Celebrity," you can Submit a question for the best-selling author and ask him to tell you his story. If your question is chosen, it will be posted alongside Stine’s answer on the their website for all to see.