Roid Rage

by Lesley Choyce

Craig has finally made first string on the high school football team and is looking forward to the season ahead. But suddenly his best friend Ray is surpassing him and everyone else on the football field. When Craig learns his friend is on steroids, or what Ray calls his "vitamin program," he decides to start a steroid program of his own.

At first Craig is on the top of the world and on top of the team, until he begins to experience terrifying side effects, including "roid rage," when feelings of aggression and violence threaten to send him out of control. Craig must come clean with his coach and his family before he endangers his health and loses his girlfriend Cheryl forever. Most difficult of all, Craig has to convince Ray that his health is also in danger - before it's too late.

Fast-paced and socially relevant, Roid Rage explores the challenges of friendship and peer pressure, both on and off the playing field.

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1999

About the author

Lesley Choyce is a novelist and poet living at Lawrencetown Beach, Nova Scotia. He is the author of more than 80 books for adults, teens and children. He teaches in the English Department and Transition Year Program at Dalhousie University. He is a year-round surfer and founding member of the 1990s spoken word rock band, The SurfPoets. Choyce also runs Pottersfield Press, a small literary publishing house and hosted the national TV show, Off The Page, for many years. His books have been translated into Spanish, French, German and Danish and he has been awarded the Dartmouth Book Award and the Ann Connor Brimer Award.

Lesley Choyce was born in New Jersey in 1951 and moved to Canada in 1978 and became a citizen.

His YA novels concern things like skateboarding, surfing, racism, environmental issues, organ transplants, and rock bands.