Gooseblog: More & More Tales To Give You Goosebumps

We're into the fifth of the six Tales To Give You Goosebumps books, and now you can tell that we're definitely running out of titles for these books. But let's see what's up for grabs with More & More Tales to Give You Goosebumps.

COVER STORY

Curly and Drool return once more, and Curly has return to being naked! Well, except for those Converse sneakers. Perish the thought of Tim not adding those. I think this cover is... cute. Like, Goosebumps covers were intended to be scary obviously, but look at those skeleton frogs and turtles with their little Goosebumps ball caps (the freebie for this book) and tell me that's not cute. It's quaint, simple and fun. Like I mentioned with the last cover of this series. Good to see the trend continues.

STORY #1: THE HAUNTED GUITAR

Jeffrey is a world class slacker, as made evident by his best friend Beth early in the story. He's so lazy he tried vacuuming the lawn instead of mowing it. He is teamster lazy. Beth and Jeffrey are leaving the post office with a package for Jeffrey's mom when it starts to rain. The kids stop at an old music shop that was recently destroyed in a fire. This premise is feeling very Blob That Ate Everyone, I might add. They go inside and find an old guitar, the only one not destroyed by the fire, which Jeffrey decides to just up and steal. Beth calls him lazy and a thief, but Jeffrey doesn't really care.

That night he hears blues music coming from the guitar. Upon closer inspection, he sees a ghostly old man playing the guitar. The ghost says that it was his guitar that Jeffrey stole. Jeffrey offers to give it back, but the ghost says that can't be done, what with being dead and all. The ghost introduces himself as Memphis Willy and his guitar as Gertie. Willy offers to help Jeffrey play the guitar, and immediately Jeffrey is a pro. Willy then offers a deal for the two to be partners, and Jeffrey, seeing this as a great shortcut, accepts.

TWIST ENDING: However, Jeffrey soon finds out he can't ever stop playing the guitar. He pleads for Willy to help, but Willy tells him that even after he died, he couldn't stop playing the guitar. Now with Jeffrey's body, he can play it forever. Jeffrey's dad enters his bedroom and sees what's going on, and instead of dealing with his possessed son, just wants him to keep on playing.

CONCLUSION: Our first story of the batch is extremely rushed, even for Tales standards, but the idea is neat enough. A rather simple parable about why you shouldn't cut corners. Unfortunately it gets started and goes into overdrive way too fast to leave any impact. I honestly would have preferred a full book version, at least to build on stuff like Memphis Willy. Even if the twist would up the same, it would have felt more impactful. C+

STORY #2: TUNE IN TOMORROW

Elizabeth Stephens is an average kid who moved to the town of Westgate a few months ago. She used to live in Philadelphia before her father moved to take the job as chief of police. Bored on a rainy day and unable to visit her friend Lauren, she decides to watch some TV, after talking about how awesome cable TV is. She turns to channel six and stops on a show called Looking Toward Tomorrow, a soap opera starring a kid named Elinor. Elinor's life seems to feel eerily similar to Elizabeth's, what with her being bored and all. Elinor gets a glass of juice, Elizabeth does the same. Elinor gets startled and drops the glass, Elizabeth does the same. I think I see where we're going with this one.

The doorbell rings on the show. Elinor answers it and is greeted by a strangre man who hands her a pink envelope. The same happens to Elizabeth, but it's a purple envelope mistakenly sent to her neighbor Joe Trent. However,  while Elinor's letter seems to be bad news, Elizabeth's is just a note from her friend Mary back in her old place. The next day, Elizabeth watches another episode of Looking Toward Tomorrow. In this episode, a loud bang is heard offscreen, to which Elinor finds her mother on the ground in pain after a boiler explosion, now suffering from amnesia. After the show ends, a loud bang is heard upstairs as a tree crashed into the house, falling onto Elizabeth's mother, who now also has amnesia. Even Elizabeth is getting concerned that things are getting a bit too eerie.

So, instead of going to see her mother the next day in the hospital, Elizabeth stays home to watch the next episode. She sees Elinor opening her front door, about to be attacked by a vicious rottweiler, when suddenly the TV goes black. Elizabeth frantically tries to turn the TV back on, but nothing doing. She tries to call Channel Six, but learns there is no channel six. Then she hears noises outside. She opens the door and...

TWIST ENDING: Then we cut to two other kids complaining how stupid Elizabeth is. They were hoping this show Life With Elizabeth would be good, but it's just another dumb soap opera.


CONCLUSION: This one was all right. Compared to the last story, it was given a few more pages to breathe, thus giving us a story that was allowed some time to have suspense in it. The twist was kind of predictable, and really feels like the only way this could have ended. Could this have been a full book? Probably. As it is, I think it works much better, giving us the best thing this compilation has offered so far. B+.

STORY #3: LIVE BAIT

Timmy is afraid of fish, which is why he hates when his family spends their summers at Lake (Bam Bam) Bigelow. It's made no better when a tough kid named Duke continues to mock him over his fishy phobia. He dares Timmy to go fishing with him, so the two end up heading to the pier. We get a scene where Duke puts fish eyes in his mouth to gross Timmy out, then the two search for a boat. And wouldn't you know it? The only one available is at the creepy end of the pier close to the creepy forest. After Timmy almost falls through the dock, they arrive at the end of the pier where a weird shp with a sign that says "Live Bait" can be seen.

They're greeted by a strange old man who welcomes them inside his bait shop, which is filled with every type of bait imaginable. When it comes down to renting a boat however, the old man says that if they can catch the biggest fish in the lake, he won't charge them. They agree and head out. After a few hours of nothing, the kids get attacked by a whale-sized fish. They end up being eaten by the fish. All seems lost until they notice the fish being moved, and suddenly they pop out of the mouth to freedom.

TWIST ENDING: They're back on the pier as the old man saved them. He's happy that he's finally found the perfect bait. Before Timmy and Duke can react, he throws a net over the two kids and places them in a giant jar labeled "Live Bait".

CONCLUSION: This one was fine, albeit a victim of having a rather predictable twist. Even more so than the last story. The story is about 11 pages, but unlike the first story, feels like it uses that time for enough gross out, enough story building, and enough action to at least make it memorable. Could it have been a full book? Nah. I'll give it a B.

STORY #4: SOMETHING STRANGE ABOUT MARCI

Our protagonist never gets a name, nor their friends, but they continue to journal the strange appearance of a girl named Marci. She just appeared out of nowhere and has been just sitting in a bush, spying on everyone. Marci won't come up to the protagonist or the others, so they continue to think something's not quite right about her. How do they even know her name is Marci? Save that for later. A few rainy days pass and no sign of Marci. It isn't until a while later when the protagonist is shoved down a hill that they spot her once again. They wave to her to join in their picnic, but she doesn't react. So the protagonist is left with one thought, Marci must be evil.

The next day, the protagonist is walking by themselves when they spot Marci once again. Only this time, she's definitely following them. The protagonist goes to greet her, but when they see Marci pulling something out of a black case, they make a break for it. The protagonist's friends have no interest in whatever Marci's planning, but the protagonist decides that this time they'll follow her to her home. After another altercation with Marci and the black case, the protagonist hides into the bushes, but then follows her as she makes her leave. The protagonist then sees that Marci has no family. She lives alone in a tent. The next day however, Marci finally comes close to the protagonist and their friends. Opening the bag, she takes out some snacks, which they accept. Then she pulls something out of the case and begins to speak to it.

TWIST ENDING: She says that her name is Dr. Marci Gould and she's been studying these specimens for nine days and here on the tenth, she's finally made contact with them. It's then that the protagonist realizes "Oh, she's not like us. She's not an orangutan". Which means

BOOM! Secret Primates, Bitches!!!

CONCLUSION: Okay, this one was actually a really good one. It handles its structure far differently from almost any other Goosebumps story, not giving us names for characters aside from Marci, while giving just enough information to make you think that if there's anything strange going on, it pertains to the protagonist. There's enough things happening within the daily life of the protagonist that feels like the life of an orangutan, yet it still works in leaving it up to suspense until the very end. Bravo. Bravo. But this could definitely work just as a short story. Even at 11 pages, it did feel like it stretched. But yeah, I approve. Gonna give an A.

STORY #5: THE GHOST SITTER

Ray's family have moved into a strange old house on Beech Street, with two staircases and a crooked chimney. Turns out Ray's parents are kind of house flippers and have moved out of houses they've fixed, but they promises this is their forever home for realsies. But Ray is worried, mainly due to the kids talking about a house on the end of Beech Street that is supposedly haunted. Ray, worried that it's his house, asks if it's the house on the left or right. A girl says it's definitely the right, which means that while Ray's less worried his home is haunted, he still lives next to one that is. Upon returning home from School, Ray and his older brother Mike get news from their mother that they have to house sit in the house next door over the weekend. Turns out that the neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Hodge have lived there for a long time and are leaving for the weekend, so the two kids only have to stay there over the weekend and take care of it.

Things seem normal at first, but Ray and Mike notice a strange smell in the house. They spot an old dumbwaiter and pull it down. It contains an expired bowl of oatmeal, which they throw out. They hear loud banging inside the house, but despite their trepidation, stay inside the house. That night, as things get dark they make their way around the house as they hear even more crashing noises. As they get some light, they see the house has been totally trashed. They run out to tell their parents, but they're busy dealing with Dad's injured arm due to a cellar door incident. Dad feels as if the house is intentionally trying to get him. The two kids are about to go in their house when they remember they left the house keys inside the Hodge home. So they return inside. They grab the key and run out, only to see two ghostly figures emerge outside. It turns out it's just the Hodges, who returned home earlier.

TWIST ENDING: At school the next day, Ray brings up the old Hodge house not being actually haunted, but a kid actually corrects them, telling them that it's the house on the right with the crooked roof that's the haunted house. No one ever survives that house.

CONCLUSION: I liked this one. It was another predictable twist, but made up for it with a story that had decent pacing and good suspense. Granted, in a rushed setting like most of the short stories, but it never made the story itself feel dull. It doesn't really break the mold like the last story, but for a simple little haunted tale, it's definitely a decent sit. Fitting of the short story format. B+

STORY #6: FUN WITH SPELLING

Kari's aunt Vera is a bit of a superstitious nut, always wearing a garlic necklace and chanting. Kari had to share her room with Vera, but now that she's leaving, she can breathe a sigh of relief. But Kari is also into magic herself. But instead of finding her own spell book, she finds an old spell book that belonged to Aunt Vera, with a note saying that it might be useful to her. She finds a forgetfulness spell and casts it on Lisa McFly, the meanest girl in school. Sure enough, the next day, the spell appears to work as Lisa forgets her homework. However, after being insulted by Lisa, Kari decides to cast another spell, this time causing Lisa to burp loudly and continuously.

Not content with her actions on Lisa McFly, she decides to cast one more spell, this time making Lisa fly whenever her name is heard. Sure enough, it works, only this time it causes her to start floating out of the classroom, which is on the third story of the school. Kari panics, realizing she went too far. She rushes home to get the spell book.

TWIST ENDING: Suddenly she starts burping loudly and doing backflips. It turns out that her little sister Libby was reading the spell book. Not only that, but she was in cahoots with Lisa to get revenge on Kari.


CONCLUSION:

Before we can talk about this story, we have to bring up some interesting news regarding it. For years, it's been questioned if R.L. Stine wrote everything Goosebumps-related or not, with the long standing belief that he hired ghostwriters to help him, especially in the later era of the series. Well, for this occasion, we can indeed confirm that THIS IS A GHOSTWRITTEN STORY! It was actually written by Carolyn Crimi, a regular writer for R.L. Stine's Ghosts of Fear Street, a series that was commonly known as ghostwritten works. So with that out of the way, let's judge the story for itself.

This one was interesting as honestly, for as bad as Kari makes Lisa out to be, Kari comes off as a more unlikable character, mainly in how she wants to essentially destroy Lisa's life to the point of nearly killing her with the flying stunt. As for the rest of the story, it flows well enough and is given enough time to breathe. For a ghostwritten story, it feels close to the regular Goosebumps formula, giving more credence to the rumors, but whatever. A decent middle of the road story. Could it have been a book? Nah. We already got Be Careful What You Wish For..., only at least the ending here felt more fair. B.

STORY #7: MATT'S LUNCH BOX

Matt Green, preoccupied with baseball tryouts, forgets his old lunchbox on the back of the school bus. He asks his mother to get him a new box, but isn't too pleased with the result. All she could find him was a red lunchbox with some weird cartoon characters on the front. Matt's being a whiny ass about it, and storms up to his room. He examines the box a bit more and notices the creatures are weird gargoyle-like monsters with leather wings and red bug-like eyes. He also notices that the creatures on the picture are flying out of a lunchbox and scaring the kid in the picture. Curious, he almost opens the lunchbox, and hears what sounds like someone telling him to feed them. He panics and closes the box.

The next night the lunchbox starts rocking back and forth to Matt's shock. Eventually it crashes to the ground and opens, with three monsters popping out of it. They tell Matt that they're really hungry and since this is his lunchbox now, he has to feed them. They eat his leftover Halloween candy, then anything else Matt can give them. However, this also means that whenever Matt tries to eat something himself, they eat it before he gets the chance, causing him to starve overtime. Matt's mother is a Goosebumps parent, so she doesn't believe him when he says he's being starved to death by monsters. Eventually Matt's at his wits end, until he spots a yard sale where everything is fifty cents. He finds the perfect moment and leaves the lunchbox there, pawning it off to the next victim.

TWIST ENDING: After a hearty meal, Matt answers the door to see his uncle Murray, a travelling salesman. He gives Matt a thermos to match the lunchbox his mom gave him. Matt looks inside, and
sure enough there's a monster inside that's very thirsty.

CONCLUSION: This one was okay. Concept feels kinda Gargoyles meets Gremlins meets Little Shop of Horrors meets those cool kids lunchboxes from the 80s. I remember having a Ninja Turtles one. Not a really scary one, though the idea of being starved to death beyond your control does feel like a nightmare, so it has that. Works better as a short story than a full book, so I'll give it a B.

STORY #8: STUCK IN 1957

Shanna is a girl obsessed with her hair. Specifically, her latest haircut, which she hopes will impress the kids at her new school. The family arrive at their new home, an old brick building built in 1957. After some reminiscing about how cool the 50s must have been, Shanna finds a pair of what look to be cat woman glasses, which she puts on. Her body tingles and she suddenly finds herself in a much younger looking place, complete with Elvis pillows and poodle skirts. She goes downstairs to see a blond woman with a beehive claiming to be her mother, confused at the weird clothing Shanna is wearing. It clicks on Shanna pretty quick that she's "Insert Title Here". She goes to put the glasses back on in hopes of warping back, but hesitates. Maybe 1957 would be a fun time to visit.

But alas, 1957 kinda sucks, what with no remote or juice boxes. And the fact that Shanna ends up with her bangs cut. However, the glasses no longer seem to work. She tries to get others to help her, but they don't believe in the idea of time travel. All except one kid named Marvin, who invites Shanna to his place. It's there she sees he has a strange time travelling helmet, which has materials made in Hawaii, which wasn't a state yet. Shanna puts on the helmet and it works, she wakes up back in her room, back in 1997 (The year this book came out).

TWIST ENDING: However, her hair is still the same as it was in 1957, and not wanting to look like a weirdo, decides that maybe she should just go back to 1957 instead. She puts on the cat glasses once again.

CONCLUSION: Not a bad little time travel story, albeit a victim of being rushed. This is one that could have worked as a book, or maybe a movie. You know, one starring some kid from a sitcom who goes back in time to the fifties in some old car. What was that called again? Overall, no real scares here, but flowed fine. I'll give it a B-.

STORY #9: MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL

So we go from one image obsessed girl to another with Bonnie Sue Bowers. While Bonnie is reflecting with herself in the mirror, her little brother Ricky shows up, intent on dirtying her. In the skirmish, she notices that her reflection doesn't seem to move with her. It appeared to have just stood there, mouth shut. But when she looks again, everything is back to normal. Later that day, when she is at a clothing store, she sees what looks to be her reflection in the mirror again sticking her tongue out. However, again things seem fine. That is until she thinks she sees the reflection's hand coming out of the mirror. That's enough for her to high tail it home.

She returns home and looks in her mirror, and sure enough her reflection talks back to her. Then, suddenly, Bonnie's reflection bursts out of the mirror. Bonnie's reflection says that she's tired of having to spend all day looking at her, and now it's time to turn the tables. The reflection tries to shove Bonnie into the mirror, but Bonnie manages to smash the mirror with a lamp, causing her reflection to vanish as well. However, this just causes more Bonnies to pop out of the mirror, surrounding her. Her mother and Ricky actually see this happen and freak out, but Bonnie manages to prove that she's the real one, which somehow is enough to defeat the other reflections.

TWIST ENDING: However, that night, the reflection grabs Bonnie and shoves her in the mirror, while also exiting. Now Bonnie's the reflection's reflection, and she's kind of a slob. Wah-wah.

CONCLUSION: I like this one. It's again, a victim of feeling rushed, but the concept does present a creepy idea. Something close to what Let's Get Invisible gave us with the evil reflections, but more malicious and with the power to attack from any mirror, not just the one attic mirror. If given enough time to breathe more, this could have been a book idea. And for that it gets an A-.

STORY #10: WHAT'S COOKING?

We open in 1947 in a school cafeteria with a deranged cook named Sue Chopman, also known as "Chop Suey" for her terrible "Chinese Surprise" meal. After supposedly making human finger hot dogs, the kids revolted and mocked her, calling her "Chop Suey" over and over until she snapped and went on a hacking spree inside the school. Not to any kids, but the tables, you see. This book does want to get released, don't you know? She died years later, supposedly falling on her beloved meat cleaver in a packing factory. But the school was haunted ever since, with chopped rats and cleaver marks. The school was closed after that.

Cut to 1997 where Robert is telling this story to his friend Diana, just as they're arriving at the boarded up school for their Summer School program. It turns out there's a bit of a crowding problem with their regular school, so just their luck, they wind up at the murder school. Diana brings up the story that if someone says "Chop Suey" on their tiptoes three times, she'll come back from the dead. So, being stupid kids who tempt fate, they do just that in what was Chop Suey's old kitchen. After the faucets explode, they get paranoid, thinking it must be Chop Suey, but one of the maintenance workers says it was just plumbing. Later, Robert eats a PB & J sandwich... but the inside is liver! Also, hi 1997 when peanut substances was allowed in schools!

As the kids get ready to go home, they get their backpacks. Only Diana's has been chopped up by some sort of cleaver. They chalk it up as some kid playing pranks. The next day at lunch, they encounter a large woman who gives them tomato soup with hot dogs. A woman named Aunt Sue, which of course sets off alarm bells. It's made no better when they see the menu for tomorrow is Live Bait... wait, wrong story... Meat Surprise. They start to make a run for it, but then have a case of the stupids and go back for Diana's math book. They get encountered by Aunt Sue, who is unhappy they didn't enjoy her "tomato surprise". She grabs her cleaver and starts floating above them. So, to no shocker, she's Chop Suey, and she plans to make them tomorrow's meat surprise. Since they realize the chant is like a Beetlejuice thing, they chant it three times again, and it makes her disappear.

TWIST ENDING: That night, Robert goes home as her mother mentions that they ordered out. She's also pissed that their father always orders Chop suey! Chop suey! Chop suey! Then the doorbell rings. And Serj Tankian asks why she left her keys up on the table.

CONCLUSION: This one was definitely the one with the most thought put into it. Hell, more than most Goosebumps books. It actually tries for scares, for suspense, for gore. And I'll give it credit, it does work pretty well. The twist is kinda flat, but I guess there's no other way to bring Chop Suey back without dumb coincidence. This could have worked as a full book in some capacity, though this feels like something that Shivers or a competing scary book would do instead of Goosebumps. But for what we got, I approve. A.

CONCLUSION

This is another weird batch of stories. Nothing outright awful to the level of say Something Fishy, but very few stories with any lasting impact either. Just a bunch of middle of the road tales. Biggest point goes to Something Weird About Marci, which is the best subversion of the basic Goosebumps tropes I've ever seen (and given that there is proof of ghostwriting with this book, I'm somewhat convinced that was ghostwritten too) and I can't stress that one enough. The only one that comes close is What's For Dinner?, which feels like the most intense story Goosebumps has ever offered, even if it doesn't get enough time to breathe. And that is the ultimate damning piece to the book. It's a decent series of shorts, but barely have enough pages to build on their ideas. But that's been the damning piece to most of the Tales series. In the end, this sits at a decent B rating.

STORY RANKING

#10. The Haunted Guitar

#9. Stuck in 1957

#8. Matt's Lunch Box

#7. Fun With Spelling

#6. Live Bait

#5. The Ghost Sitter

#4. Tune In Tomorrow

#3. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

#2. What's For Dinner? 

#1. Something Strange About Marci