Role-playing game historian Ben Riggs unveils the secret history of TSR— the company that unleashed imaginations with Dungeons & Dragons, was driven into ruin by disastrous management decisions, and then saved by their bitterest rival. "Ben Riggs manages to walk the fine line between historical accuracy and fun about as well as anyone and SLAYING THE DRAGON is equal parts historical accuracy and entertainment. It was an essential read for me while directing and producing the Official D&D documentary but I’d recommend it to anyone regardless of the subject material. It’s a wild and fun ride through the turbulent history of one the most influential brands in our lifetime." - JOE MANGANIELLO Co-created by wargame enthusiasts Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, the original Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game released by TSR (Tactical Studies Rules) in 1974 created a radical new medium: the role-playing game. For the next two decades, TSR rocketed to success, producing multiple editions of D&D, numerous settings for the game, magazines, video games, New York Times bestselling novels by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, and R. A. Salvatore, and even a TV show! But by 1997, a series of ruinous choices and failed projects brought TSR to the edge of doom—only to be saved by their fiercest competitor, Wizards of the Coast, the company behind the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering. Unearthed from Ben Riggs’s own adventurous campaign of in-depth research, interviews with major players, and acquisitions of secret documents, Slaying the Dragon reveals the true story of the rise and fall of TSR. Go behind the scenes of their Lake Geneva headquarters where innovative artists and writers redefined the sword and sorcery genre, managers and executives sabotaged their own success by alienating their top talent, ignoring their customer fanbase, accruing a mountain of debt, and agreeing to deals which, by the end, made them into a publishing company unable to publish so much as a postcard. As epic and fantastic as the adventures TSR published, Slaying the Dragon is the legendary tale of the rise and fall of the company that created the role-playing game world.

One June 25, 1950, a massive surprise North Korean invasion sent Allied forces reeling back to a last-ditch defensive perimeter around the far-southern port city Pusan.

It is 6 cycles since Genesis Star has taken the throne as King Of The War Gods. Ja Mina Larie, a "Soul Stealing" Alchemist, has fallen in love with Genesis Star. The powerful Alchemist is now a maiden within Star's many houses. Queen Orikanatana has except Ja Mina into her line of maidens, and the Dynasty is even more powerful than before. The Ice Princess and Sleeping Leopard has postponed their retirement to help Genesis Star with her maidens. General, Paheya, Tach-Orum, and Mon-Daf have all been promoted. The Dojo games are coming soon, this is the largest Martial Arts tournament in all seven Earth Realms. Genesis Star must make her final decision on 6th Earth Realm. Will she take her powerful Dynasty Warriors and crush them, or will she listen to her compassionate, and beautiful Queen. Batanara is undecided about the beautiful Kapriya. Will their relationship last, and will they be the next leaders of Pum Dam Province? What challenges will the Dynasty have to face in the future?

A dark and riveting fantasy of three dragon siblings, from the author of The Vampire Earth novels The fourth in the Age of Fire series following Dragon Champion, Dragon Avenger, and Dragon Outcast... Scattered across a continent and scarred by their harsh experiences on the path to adulthood, the three dragon siblings are among the last of a dying breed, the final hope for their species’ survival. After being separated by dwarf slave traders who found their nest, the three—AuRon, the rare scaleless gray; Wistala, the green female; and Copper, the embittered cripple—are reunited. But their reunion is not a happy one, since the three find themselves at odds over the coming human war. AuRon thinks dragons should have no part in the affairs of humans. Wistala believes dragons and man can peacefully co-exist. And Copper has designs of his own on the world. And the civilized humans who have turned to Copper for assistance against their savage enemies have just given him the perfect opportunity to fulfill his plans…

"This is fabulously funny stuff." — John D. MacDonald. Good-natured and witty, this expert compilation samples the best of the worst in 20th-century mystery writing. Introduction by Ed McBain.

Liz and Shaelynn are two typical teenage girls, two cousins just trying to get through high school together. That changes when they read a spell on the tag of Liz's new bracelet. The girls find themselves transported to a fantastical world full of fairytales and legends and magnificent creatures. But they haven't come to this world on accident: Zathos, the evil sorcerer king, wants to get rid of them before they can end his tyrant reign. Now Liz and Shaelynn must find a way to defeat the evil king and save the land, before Zathos gets to them first.

Branded as "the new Falun Gong" by local authorities, The Church of Almighty God is the most persecuted religious movement in China today. Thousands of police officers are deployed full time to identify and arrest its members. Hundreds of thousands of its devotees are in jail. Authorities claim, perhaps hyperbolically, that it has some four million members and accuse the group of serious crimes. Yet, the movement continues to grow. In this ground-breaking study, Massimo Introvigne offers an inside look at this once-elusive movement, sharing interviews with hundreds of members and the Chinese police officers who hunt them down. The story of The Church of Almighty God is one of rapid growth, dramatic persecution, and the struggle of believers to seek asylum in countries around the world. In his telling of the story, Introvigne reconstructs the Church's idiosyncratic theology, centered in the belief that Jesus Christ has returned in our time in the shape of a Chinese woman, worshipped as Almighty God, to eradicate the sinful nature of humans, and that we have entered the third and final time period in the history of humanity: the Age of Kingdom. A major book from one of the world's leading scholars of new religious movements, Inside The Church of Almighty God is a critical addition to the scholarship of Chinese religion.

This story is about a group of teens. They are like brothers and sisters but from different mothers. They are like family and are always close to each other at school, but when the evil Zoonan ruler Sladdar sends his right-hand man Garmondom to attack earth, their lives changed forever as they are granted power of the dragon rings. They are bonded with the might of a dragon. When they met their master, they were called to become a team, Power Rangers Dragon Strike. They will encounter monsters, new tech, and many more. If you want to know what happened, find out for yourselves and read Power Rangers Dragon Strike.

The entertainment world lost many notable talents in 2017, including iconic character actor Harry Dean Stanton, comedians Jerry Lewis and Dick Gregory, country singer Glen Campbell, playwright Sam Shepard and actor-singer Jim Nabors. Obituaries of actors, filmmakers, musicians, producers, dancers, composers, writers, animals and others associated with the performing arts who died in 2017 are included. Date, place and cause of death are provided for each, along with a career recap and a photograph. Filmographies are given for film and television performers.