United under the banner of flash fiction, this is a collection of stories, or little 'cells', complete in themselves but connected by the overarching themes of betrayal and revenge. Featuring teenagers and often with an unexpected twist, these frighteningly realistic stories takes you to the very edge and beyond.
In this provocative collection of short stories, Aidan Chambers explores moments of truth, when a character or an event suddenly reveals an often surprising meaning: a girl loses her humanity when she takes a summer job as a theme-park character; a boy tries to save a girl from a fiery death, only to discover the same event happened one hundred years before. And the titular story, in which an innocent game takes a fatal turn, will haunt the reader for a long time. These thought-provoking stories lend themselves beautifully to discussion, and once again Chambers treats us to his fiercely intelligent, finely crafted prose and incisive understanding of the wonderings of young people on the verge of adulthood.
Aidan Chambers lives in Gloucestershire with his American wife, Nancy, who is the editor of Signal magazine. He divides his time between his own writing and lecturing which he does extensively in Australia, the USA and Europe. His provocative and challenging novels for teenagers and young adults have won him international acclaim.