ROBERT SWINDELLS left school at fifteen to work on a local newspaper. At seventeen, he joined the RAF for three years, then trained and worked as a teacher. Now a full-time writer, he is the author of a number of bestselling titles for the Random House children's list. In 1994 he won the Carnegie Medal for STONE COLD (Hamish Hamilton), a teenage novel about a serial killer. RUBY TANYA won the Salford Children's Book Award 2005. 'Plots which grip the reader from the opening paragraph' THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Robert Swindells writes the kinds of books that are so scary you're afraid to turn the page' YOUNG TELEGRAPH