books i've grown up with - the sci-fi/horror stories

I grew up in the murderous minds of suspense thriller, sci-fi, and horror writers such as Christopher Pike, R.L. Stine and Marilyn Kaye. I became so indulged in reading them everyday 'til night that they produced many nightmares and horrifying images in my sleep. It was okay, though. I sort of like the feeling of having nightmares the night before. It gives me something to talk about to my siblings, cousins, and friends the next day. They actually sound more funny when told than remembered or maybe it's just me being fond of giving out side comments.

Last Thursday, I got the chance to see what I consider to be one of the most spiritual films ever made--Avatar. Lance and I enjoyed the film so much that until now we're still talking about the most remarkable and symbolic scenes of the film. It was a spiritual slash sci-fi film. I don't hate sci-fi films but I don't adore them either. It's probably because the beginning years of my life has been fed with sci-fi films like Dune, Aliens, Star Wars, Star Trek, Starship Troopers (okay, this is a little contemprary) etc. Then I remembered the stories of Christopher Pike which are mostly inspired by science fiction yet I loved so much. I have lots of favorite authors right now who I know are better than this writer but his writing holds a very special part in my heart because his "Spooksville Series" was what pushed me into the world of fiction. Adam, Cindy, Sally, Watch and Bryce. These five 12-year olds served as my company to the worlds of the extra-terrestrial, outer space, mythical creatures, witches, castles, and the undead. Pike's genre is focused on science-fiction with a touch of romance every now and then. Spooksville has 24 books in its series and my cousins, Kuya Alvin, Ate Maan and I actually completed 24 of them. After Spooksville, my cousins moved on to R.L. Stine books and Christopher Pike's young adult fiction. I was 10 years old then and was not ready yet to read a book without my five heroes and heroines to accompany me so I stayed with Spooksville by reading them all over again. I even wrote my own version of Spooksville when I was in grade 6 for the plain reason of having something "Spooksville-like" to read again. I guess I was 11 and a half when my cousins have finally convinced me to try R.L. Stine's Goosebumps and Fear Street. Okay, I wasn't fond of Goosebumps 'cause I found them too childish particularly "How I Got My Shrunken Head" and "Creature Teacher" (I remember Spooksville also has a similar story entitled "The Creature in the Teacher" and it was way better than R. L. Stine's). So, I started reading Christopher Pike's young adult fiction and some of my favorites were:

• Remember Me , a story about a girl who dies suddenly in the middle of a party but is unable to leave Earth because she hasn't completed her purpose yet. She is joined by another ghost, Peter, a childhood crush and together they find who killed her--if she truly didn't kill herself as some of her friends claim. I didn't like the 2nd and 3rd installment of the trilogy, though;
  

• Star Group, a story of a group of friends who calls themselves the Star Group goes on camping and discover supernatural entities in the forest. I narrated the story to my longtime friend, Mon and he actually dreamt of something similar to the story. This book actually inspired me to write a story about my friends during my junior year in high school based on Mon's terrifying dream. I do consider it to be one of the creepiest stories I've ever read;
  

• The Last Vampire series, the story of the last remaining vampire named Alisa. The series revolve around the idea of Hindu spirituality and reincarnation. It also has very interesting and new conceptions about vampires. One of the best vampire books I've read second to Anne Rice's;

• Final Friends Trilogy, how can I forget these trilogy! It is actually a typical high school love story which revolves around the main characters' quest to find answers regarding the death of a young girl named Alice. It is hilarious and touching at some points. I actually enjoyed Russ and Sarah's alcoholic-athlete-versus-sarcastic-school-president love story than the main characters' Michael and Jessica's simple nice-smart-guy-falls-for-beautiful-and-smart-but-socialite-girl.

Other favorite Pike books include Scavenger Hunt and See You Later. I love the adventures and twists in Scavenger Hunt and the creepy religion-related suspense in See You Later. I'm actually thinking about making a collection of all the books I have read when I was young. I hope to read them again 'cause it would be just like going back in time and reminiscing my childhood. You see, I was the typical homebody during my adolescent years. Then there came R. L. Stine who really crept out my nights the most with his Fear Street Series. I remember how the Fear Street Saga: The Betrayal/The Secret/The Burning was the first "thick" book I ever tried to read. His stories are usually set on school and, of course, the fictitious Fear Street where evil lurks and bad things happen. In this collector's edition, the history of Fear Street is retold through different characters and their horror stories. I've read a lot of Fear Street books. They're very easy to read and understand so I didn't really had a hard time learning my vocabulary back in 1st year high school. Some of the most remarkable books I can remember was The Boyfriend, The Thrill Club, Sunburn, The Mind Reader and The Runaway. I have read more but these are some of the books which stories I could still remember vaguely, though.
I also enjoyed some of his books which enables the reader to choose their own fate after every chapter. I think the books are titled "Choose Your Nightmare.." something. At the end of every chapter, readers get to choose their own action and decision as the main character of the story. Footnotes are located beneath the page which indicates the page number of the "fate" the readers have chosen. I'm not sure if you get the idea through my description but it sure was a hell lot of fun for me because I felt like I was making my own ending. I actually browsed all the pages to find out what the rest of the choices have in store had I picked another page.
I can also remember another sci-fi series which got me into trouble with my mother--the Replica Series by Marilyn Kaye. My parents did encourage my reading habits but they preferred that I borrow from my Kuya Alvin rather than buying from the bookstore. So, I literally had to beg them to buy me some books from the series because my aunt (Kuya Vin's mother) has been spending too much for my Kuya's collection. More often than not, my parents would buy me at least 4 books every school year. Anyway, Marilyn Kaye's series revolves around the story of Amy, a 12-year old girl who has extraordinary abilities which are very Superman-like to be exact but without any memories of her past. She then discovers that she is one of the 13 clones that an underground organization has been keeping secret. I've completed 11 books of the series. However, I'm actually not sure if the 11th book Lucky Thirteen is the last in the series because if it is, it surely does have many questions left hanging. (Okay, I just discovered that NO, it is not the last of the series. It has 13 more books and I forgot that I have actually read the 12th book where I fell in love with Paris.)

Like most young readers at my age, there is no denying that I was also once a Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys reader. But I was inconsistent because I was simply depending on my Kuya Vin and Ate Maan's collection of books. It is through Ate Maan's collection that I was able to read a couple of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. But since I have already been exposed to various suspense/detective stories in both Christopher Pike and R. L. Stine, I didn't find the books challenging and interesting to read anymore.

If I were to compare Christopher Pike and R. L. Stine, I'd still choose Pike over Stine because I'm more impressed with the stories that he has to tell. I like his twists, his incoporation of myths and spiritual ideas more than Stine's simple who-killed-who mysteries. For me, he is just the best young adult storyteller and someday I'm going to make sure that I have all his books available for my children to read.