Last summer, 16-year-old Barney had a run-in with some nasty extraterrestrials, all contestants in a role-playing board game in which players battle to be the first to locate the Piggy. Although the game appears innocuous, it actually has life-threatening consequences for all participants. A stroke of luck allowed Barney to escape unscathed, but he’s compelled to continue playing despite his close call. That decision that proves dangerous when he and his friend Katie are abducted by an oversized, parasitic worm and a huge alien wasp. Transported to a distant planet and imprisoned, Barney and Katie are pleasantly surprised by conditions on J'koot. They have fine living quarters, frequent swims in fragrant pools, oil massages, and sumptuous meals. It isn’t until they realize they are being marinated and fattened up in anticipation of their role as main course at some future feast that escape becomes paramount. Events hurtle toward an exciting conclusion in this entertaining sequel to Interstellar Pig (Dutton, 1984) that works as a stand-alone novel for those who haven't read about Barney's previous alien misadventure. (Ages 11-14)

Barney's stuck at a boring after-school job, earning money to repay his parents after their beach house is destroyed in a battle with aliens. Of course, they don't believe that aliens did the damage. No one, in fact, realizes that sixteen-year-old Barney saved the world by outsmarting the visitors at their violent game, saved the world by outsmarting the visitors at their violent game, Interstellar Pig. No one but the aliens-and for them the game is far from over. Barney is about to become the unwilling partner of a chatty intestinal parasite; the potential snack of giant, man-eating crabs; and the competitor of a stinger-happy seven-foot wasp woman. Life just got a lot more interesting...