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Welcome to Goosebuds! A podcast where your hosts Paul Ritchey, Chad Quandt, and Kevin Cole dig into the Young Adult Literature of Goosebumps by R.L. Stine and give these tomes the deep critique and respect they deserve. Sometimes they get too scared and cover other adjacent 90s books and culture instead. Come join us and re-discover the stories you grew up with or jump in for the first time.
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We're back to Hark as the Goosebuddies Chad, Paul, and Kevin adventure through the second (and last) of R.L. Stine's sci-fi Choose Your Own Adventure series: The Invaders of Hark. We're thrust into the city of Hark where multiple alien factions fight for control and a beautiful princess. These books are brutal with only one correct path. Will we su…
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We gotta escape from Horrorland! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole read R.L. Stine's Goosebumps: Horrorland: Escape From Horrorland. A hell of a title. The last ten books have been building up to this; the YA equivalent of Avengers as all our survivng kids team up with original survivors Lizzy and Luke to run around in circles in…
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Help! We have a new podcast episode! Your hosts Chad Quandt and Kevin Cole check out R.L. Stine's 2009 Horrorland book Help! We Have Strange Powers. The powers these twin protagonists get are surprisingly easy to categorize: telepathy and telekinesis. Well, technically there's a subset of time power but it's really just a psychic baby ray. Enjoy th…
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The Goosebuds Boys check out the 90s sitcom Family Matters' late series episode 'Stevil'. Brought to life by a casual wish and a bolt of lighting, 'Stevil' is here to kill the Winslows and I guess help Urkel's ventriloquism career? They don't really work on their standup set at all. You know, this was once a sitcom about a blue collar family growin…
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S-s-s-so good to be back, Goosebuddies! We were doing a snake thing there-- was that clear? Your hosts Paul Ritchey and Kevin Cole enroll in R.L. Stine's Goosebumps Horrorland book Welcome to Camp Slither. There are rumors of man-eating snakes at camp, but no reports on if they'll eat the other genders. And when we rejoin the Horrorland arc a terri…
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Summer's over, Goosebuddies. How did you spend it? Were you hunting for buried cars at the beach? Attacking the pool lifeguard with psychic damage? Or tracking down a beloved but lonely ice cream man? The Goosebuddies check out The Adventures of Pete & Pete's classic episode "How I Spent My Summer Vacation", arguably one of the best in the series. …
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Behold the glory of the Helmacrons! Your hosts Chad Quandt and Kevin Cole take a Goosebumps break to read through arguably the weirdest Animorphs book; The Suspicion by K.A. Applegate. The kids' war campaign against the Yeerks is interrupted by the arrival of the Helmacrons, miniature space people with giant egos. Enjoy the episode! Book discussion…
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The Goosebud Boys Chad, Paul, and Kevin face the Horrorland version of R.L. Stine's infamous haunted camera: Say Cheese -- And Die Screaming! That dash is in a weird place, right? It's the wrong pause? Anyway, somehow the rules of these deadly photo predictions have changed since last book. Are the spirits getting more artistic? Or just lazier? And…
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Tighten your shoes and do some stretching, cuz we got a big track meet today! Your Goosebuds hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole check out the Choose Your Own Adventure book Track Star! by R.A. Montgomery. We're a high school athlete with a lot of pressure to run the fastest and longest to get that college scholarship and make dad proud…
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Holy hells, Goosebuddies. This episode marks our 10th Anniversary of the podcast. We started in 2014 with a mission to cover the works of R. L. Stine and we still have mountains of pulp to go through. But in honor of the celebration we take a look back at the story that started it all: Welcome to Dead House! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, an…
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It's time to morph into a shark! But sadly we're not reading Animophs and fighting an alien resistance, we're a dumb kid trespassing into an ancient temple and cursed by a vague monk! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole read through the 80s Choose Your Own Adventure book: You Are A Shark by Edward Packard. Despite the direct title,…
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Do you know what it's like to be considered a beast by your classmates? To be so big but also good at computers? A teenage Hank McCoy? At least one of hosts does and this episode hits hard. Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole cover R.L. Stine's Goosebumps Horrorland book My Friends Call Me Monster. This is a weird story about monst…
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This book tasks questions the reader: who is your mother and what do they do? Are they wrapped up in bandages? And are they being used as a fuel source for eternal life? Your hosts Paul Ritchey and Kevin Cole cover R.L. Stine's Goosebumps Horrorland book Who's Your Mummy? Protagonists Abby and Peter stay with their uncle who has a dark secret: a re…
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Get in formation, Goosebuddies! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole watch another classic The Adventures of Pete & Pete episode, "Day of the Dot". As Big Pete's marching band competes in the Regional Championship, he struggles with affections for Ellen and a tyrannical teacher. Meanwhile Little Pete is trapped on an endless school …
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Your Goosebuds Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole read through the 1985 CYOA book The Badlands of Hark, written by R.L. Stine! This is written before Goosebumps, Fear Street, or Horrorland; what sort of sci-fi fantasy world does a younger Stine have in his soul? Turns out it's one with an endless maze. A lot of death in this hellworld of R.L…
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Your Goosebuds hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole review R.L. Stine's Goosebumps Horrorland book Dr. Maniac vs Robby Schwartz where aspiring cartoonist Robby discovers his comic creations come alive to eat squirrels and torture local kids. But also none of this matters as Robby resets the narrative multiple times (it was all a joke, re…
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Beware of grues, Goosebuddies! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole check out another Choose Your Own Adventure book based off one of the first adventure games ever: Zork! This 'What-Do-I-Do-Now" Book is Zork #1: The Forces of Krill by S. Eric Meretzky. Is Krill the Ganon of this world? Would we be shaking in our +1 Boots at the men…
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There's a terrifying affliction of fear going around; so we're enforcing a Haunted Mask mandate! Your Goosebuds hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole read R.L. Stine's Goosebumps Horrorland book The Scream of the Haunted Mask. It's been a year since the original story and Carly Beth is worried she'll put the mask back on and become evil. …
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This episode is part of a balanced bookfast-! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole read the third of R.L Stine's Goosebumps Horrorland series: Monster Blood for Breakfast. The iconic green growth slime is back for a fifth time. And somehow this is the least-scary story!Protagonist Matt Daniels deals with the terrifying idea of... be…
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The corn state is in trouble, listeners! Small robotic drones designed like metal wasps are terrorizing the youth. They are not being used for war. Let us make that clear: this is not a metaphor about drone warfare at all. Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole cover Johnathan Rand's American Chillers: Iron Insects Invade Indiana. And…
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Giddyup, Pegacorn! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole wrangle the Choose Your Own Adventure book Flight of the Unicorn by Deborah Lerme Goodman. In a previous episode we had a great adventure in Deborah's Scottish-ish fantasy world. In this book we're the apprentice to some sort of horse-mancer? It involves sewing wings onto cats …
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We're back in Horrorland, Buddies! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole cover R.L. Stine's Goosebumps Horrorland book 'Creep from the Deep'. We're reunited with Billy and Sheena Deep and their uncle Dr. D. What sort of doctor is Deep? A water scientist? He does not have respect for the ocean like he should and his children suffer on…
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Just in time for the holidays we have a new Adventure! episode: Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebook #3 'Sonic v. Zonik' written by Nigel Gross & Jon Sutherland. These two authors watched their kids play Sonic for five minutes and then free wrote a Choose Your Own Adventure baded on that. What? Yes, Sonic is a Christmas character. Every kid gets a…
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Ding dong, Goosebuddies! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole are back to cover the third episode in the 2023 Goosebumps TV series involving the fabled Cuckoo Clock of Doom! In this Groundhog Day-ish episode a bunch of evil clone James are threatening to... throw kids in pits? Unclear what their plan is. They're also very susceptibl…
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We're just getting started with the new 2023 series, Goosebuddies! We check out Episode 2 of Disney/Hulu's Goosebumps series, "The Haunted Mask". This story touches upon the classic book and also steps down new paths as the kids and parents both piece together the mystery of Harold Biddle. Also Justin Long does physical comedy! Enjoy the discussion…
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As the fall air turns crisp, enjoy this episode revisiting the 90s classic The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole cover this season 3 episode focused on Little Pete and his magic coin which can only be recharged by endangering a train. Please understand: each year dozens of trains go off the rails becaus…
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Goosebumps is back on TV! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole check out the pilot episode of this new Hulu Goosebumps (aka Hulusbumps) series about five teenagers discovering supernatural forces in their small town. And this first episode starts off with ghost arson! We take big guesses at where the series goes from here and antici…
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Keep your weekend open, we're throwing you a surprise party! The Goosebuddies bring in the spooky season with another of R.L. Stine's Fear Street book The Surprise Party. A well intentioned teen party uncovers a woodland tragedy. Plus there's tabletop roleplaying! We're joined by returning guest, writer Kyle McVey (Yesterday's Tomorrow Today, LOLJK…
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Slappy' back, Goosebuddies! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Kevin Cole, and Paul Ritchey read through the first book in R.L. Stine's Goosebumps Horrorland series: Revenge of the Living Dummy. The Horrorland series promises an ongoing story connecting these spooky tales; does it start strong with the iconic puppet monster? What is Slappy's connection to a t…
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Sharpen your horns on the nearest elderwood, Goosebuddies! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole are reading a Choose Your Own Adventure: Deborah Lerme Goodman's The Magic of the Unicorn. Our kid heroes are on a quest to find a unicorn horn to purify their village's water supply. Presumably you put the horn in a water filter. Maybe y…
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With Goosebumps 2000 in our rear view mirror the boys drive to R.L. Stine's Fear Street. We've visted Shadyville in previous episodes but are thinking about putting down podcast roots. The community seems nice. Despite this episode's title it is not about an 'adorkable' Zooey Deschanel moving in with three sexual dudes. Instead in this first book o…
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What danger lies beneath our very feet? Could it be morlocks? C.H.U.D.s? Or something even worse: giant nightcrawler worms that have no real senses and just flop around crushing everything! Doesn't that sound positively spooky? We hope so, because Chad Quandt and Kevin Cole are reading Johnathan Rand's American Chillers series #15: Nebraska Nightcr…
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Wait, who's that running across the moonlit beach? It's Camp Counselor Domi (Paperback Paradise) who rejoins Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole to check out the infamous 90s TV procedural Baywatch Nights. In this spinoff of the phenomenon Baywatch, David Hasslehoff's Mitch Buchannon moonlights as a Californian P.I., dealing with paranormal p…
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It's the end of the millennium! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole read the last Goosebumps 2000 book: R.L. Stine's Ghost In The Mirror. In this episode young Jason gets a thrifted mirror that is secretly a portal to a mirror dimension. It's sort of like that episode of Infinity Train but not as well written. Can Jason stop his mi…
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Blast off, Goosebuddies! Your hosts Paul Ritchey, Chad Quandt, and Kevin Cole read R.L. Stine's Goosebumps 2000 book Earth Geeks Must Go! It is a 'story' about young boy Jacob Miller who finds himself on an alien planet with strange differences than his own. For example, everyone here eats food with arm pit mouths! Gross! To be honest, it's mostly …
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Hey Goosebuddies! We're taking a book break and visiting some classic 90s television; Craig Bartlett's animated slice of life Hey Arnold! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole watch two episodes: 'The List' (written by Joe Ansolabehere) in which Arnold tries to have a perfect day, and 'Haunted Train' (written by Josephine Nericcio) w…
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Wake up, Goosebuddies, it's time for another episode! Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole read through R.L. Stine's Goosebuds 2000 book Slappy's Nightmare. In a bizarre turn, Goosebump's iconic main monster is the protagonist of the book as the dummy tries to be good for once. Just look at that cover. Slappy is scared! Upside is down, ketchup…
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Happy 150th episode, Goosebuddies! If episodes were Pokemon this would be MewTwo, which is a pretty cool thing to be in any comparison. Speaking of mutant monsters, this episode has Chad, Paul, and Kevin reading R.L. Stine's Goosebumps 2000 book Full Moon Fever. We need to be clear: this is not about werewolves! Yes, these beast children are suppos…
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Start your ear-engines! Paul, Chad, and Kevin are joined by Austin (aka the internet's preminent Arthur scholar PeanutButterGamer) to read R.L. Stine's Goosebumps 2000 book The Haunted Car. This is a story about one sick ride, traumatic child death, and being very evil. We also talk with Austin about R.L.'s involvement with the cartoon series Arthu…
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Ding ding! In this episode Chad, Paul, and Kevin read through R.L. Stine's Give Yourself Goosebumps book Elevator to Knowhere. In this story our wacky Uncle Darius-- not Larry David as this cover may have led you to assume-- is kidnapped by a knife-wielding doppelgänger and he can only be saved with his multiverse elevator. We'll travel to fantasti…
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The Goosebuds Boys Paul, Chad, and Kevin read R.L. Stine's Goosebumps 2000 book Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid. One may argue that title could apply to virtually anything in the Goosebumps bibliography but we got it for this one; a surprisingly meta tale about board games and choose-your-own-adventure books that would make Charlie Kaufman wince. Can we …
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Hope you had cable in the 90s because the Goosebuddies are checking out the Disney Channel cult show So Weird and its pilot episode 'Family Reunion' about paranormal believer Fi, her rocker mom, and the tour bus family that explores the things in the world that make a teenager cryptically whisper 'So weird...'. In this episode it's specifically the…
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This episode the Goosebud Boys cover R.L. Stine's Goosebumps 2000 book Return to Ghost Camp, a sequel that has no returning characters or plot threads. It's not even the same camp. Can protagonist Dustin Minium evade the shape-shifting fox monster known as The Snatcher? At least this book gives us a great opportunity to reflect on the Kevin Era (ak…
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Whoever knows fear burns at the touch of the Man-Thing! And we had a similar response to reading this comic book! Chad, Paul, and Kevin are joined by expert Adam Teterus (Man-Thing Minute), to cover R.L. Stine's infamous 2017 Marvel series. This story shows the usually-horrifying Man-Thing now a joke machine trying to survive the entertainment indu…
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We're putting a ring on it! Chad, Paul, and Kevin read through R.L. Stine's Goosebumps 2000 book Horrors of the Black Ring. That's multiple horrors, not just one. Little Beth has to deal with a possessed teacher, poor sweet animal violence, and a Nazgul attack on her school. Also we will all be going by our new nicknames P.B. Crisps, Maggot Freak, …
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It's a new year with new book crimes being committed, Goosebuddies. Chad, Kevin, and Paul cover R.L. Stine's Goosebumps 2000 The Werewolf In The Living Room. In this the scariest thing isn't the possible lycans' it's the international crime of moving a person against their will to a new location. In this story can little Aaron Freidus learn that hi…
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We're squeezing out the year with one last Body Squeezer story. R.L. Stine's Give Yourself Goosebumps book Revenge of the Body Squeezers. Having defeated the green Squeezers in the Goosebumps 2000 books, you now face the kinkier blue variation. They're gonna squeeze you down into little black balls! Can Paul and Chad survive as a vengeful dwarf chi…
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This episode Chad, Paul, and Kevin retreat from the harsh horror winter to the safe shelter of The Adventures of Pete & Pete to discuss the episode 'Nightcrawlers', a charming story from the first season about Little Pete and his friends trying to stay up for eleven nights in a row. We do not recommend doing this in real life. OFF TOPICS: Incubus v…
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Prepare for the horror of complex Middle East politics, Goosebuddies. That's right, Chad, Paul, and Kevin cover R.L. Stine's Goosebumps 2000 book The Mummy Walks. It has surprisingly little undead emperors and a lot of political intrigue about a fictional country. Did Tom Clancy write this? Also why does this book suddenly turn cyberpunk? Book disc…
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Plug in, y'all. We're going web crawling! Chad, Paul, and Kevin go on an Adventure! with R.L. Stine's Give Yourself Goosebumps book It Came From The Internet. Our computer has a virus named Spydie, a charming little sentient vampire bug that certainly has franchise potential. Can we find a way to stop it or will we become slaves to this newfangled …
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