Morris the Jewish wizard and this traveling companion, Trog the troll, enter a country where the king has his police grabbing and torturing people to make them confess that theyre part of what he believes is the International Dragon Conspiracy. There is a real dragon, one who keeps burning large areas of the kings land and burning any knights who come after him. Morris and Trog, who are traveling to a distant land to meet the wizard who controls the great dragon of Alhambra, decide that a good way to get money for their trip is to get rid of this dragon and claim the reward. A problem develops, however, in that the dragon turns out to be a nice fellow named Zil who is only burning things because he has serious allergy problems that make him spray fire whenever he sneezes. Morris cures Zils allergies, but knowing that the king will have Zil killed if they take him back, Morris, Trog, and Zil make a run for it and escape from the kingdom. Morris needs to disguise Zil. Trog can be passed off as merely a large, hairy man, but Zil is obviously a dragon. A cooperative tailor who believes that being a dragon is merely a valid alternative lifestyle, provides Zil with a monks robe that covers him from head to toe. While camping one night, they meet Ezzie, a runaway servant girl. Ezzie sees Zil uncovered, but Morris convinces her that Zil is really a good and noble monk who was cursed by an evil wizard. Ezzie joins them in their journey and becomes Trogs lover. She eventually learns the truth about both Zil and Trog, but accepts them for what they are. At a chapel in the middle of a large cemetery one night, Morris encounters a beautiful young woman who has gone into a coma called false death. At the urging of her lover, Morris performs a ceremony to raise her from false death; unfortunately, he also accidentally raises all the real dead in the cemetery. Zombies start digging their way out of the graves. Morris and the others make a dash down the hill to the nearest village to warn them that the zombies are coming. With the help of some ancient books on black magic, Morris manages to get rid of the zombies--but its a close call. Farther on, they enter a large forest and come to a village that that is plagued by vampires. The woman who runs the inn where Morris and his friends are staying is horrified, because her daughter is in love with a vampire boy. The boy is a vegetarian; unfortunately, the boys father is not. With a combination of his silver tongue and his wizard skills, along with help from Zil, Morris manages to unite the boy and girl while dealing with the vampire father. In yet another village, Morris and his friends encounter a man who turns into a werewolf at every full moon. The man, knowing that Morris is a wizard, pleads with him for help. Morris studies the problem and manages to cure him--but not at in the way the man was expecting. Later, while staying at an inn, Morris and the others meet three young witches who have accidentally called up Satan and need Morris to help send him back. Thats fine with Satan; he wants to be sent back, but no one can figure out how. Finally, they call up Satans wife, Lillith, and she uses her knowledge to send both Satan and herself back to their realm. Finally, Morris and his friends come to the end of their journey, a meeting with the wizard who controls the great dragon of Alhambra. The wizard proves to be the local baron. He also proves to be power crazed and insane. After dealing with him, Morris and the others climb a nearby volcanic mountain and go into a cave where the meet the great dragon himself. The dragon is grateful to them for freeing him from the grip of the wizard, but what he grants them is not quite what they were looking for when they started their journey

After solving The Grendel Affair, the agents have another SPI File to investigate... We’re Supernatural Protection & Investigations, known as SPI. We battle the real monsters of myth and legend, but this Halloween, we’re searching for diamonds… A gala opening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has attracted the upper crust of Manhattan—and thieves. A trio of vile harpies attacks the crowd and steals the stars of the exhibition: a colorful cluster of seven cursed diamonds known as the Dragon Eggs. In the right mage’s hands, each stone can pack a magical wallop. Together they have the power to “cure” the supernaturals of the tristate area—but for many of those vampires and werewolves, that means turning into dust. I’m Makenna Fraser, a seer for SPI. With the help of my partner, Ian, and the other agents, I have twenty-four hours to prevent total global panic, find the diamonds, and save the supernatural community. No biggie...

The Dragon’s Footprints: China in the Global Economic Governance System under the G20 Framework examines China’s participation in the G20; its efforts to increase its prestige in the international monetary system through the internationalization of its currency, the renminbi; its role in the multilateral development banks — the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank; and its involvement in global trade governance, in light of the dazzling growth its economy has experienced since its ascension to the World Trade Organization in 2001. Clearly, China has its own views on how to engage with governance bodies and what benefits it expects to reap from its participation in global economic governance. There is no doubt that China is leaving its footprint on many aspects of the international financial system through its growing engagement with and greater integration into the global economy. The Dragon’s Footprints provides an in-depth discussion of what China has gained and learned from this experience and considers the implications for its foreign policy and future economic development.

After solving The Grendel Affair, the agents have another SPI File to investigate... We’re Supernatural Protection & Investigations, known as SPI. We battle the real monsters of myth and legend, but this Halloween, we’re searching for diamonds… A gala opening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has attracted the upper crust of Manhattan—and thieves. A trio of vile harpies attacks the crowd and steals the stars of the exhibition: a colorful cluster of seven cursed diamonds known as the Dragon Eggs. In the right mage’s hands, each stone can pack a magical wallop. Together they have the power to “cure” the supernaturals of the tristate area—but for many of those vampires and werewolves, that means turning into dust. I’m Makenna Fraser, a seer for SPI. With the help of my partner, Ian, and the other agents, I have twenty-four hours to prevent total global panic, find the diamonds, and save the supernatural community. No biggie...

This up-to-date introduction to the complex world of conspiracies and conspiracy theories provides insight into why millions of people are so ready to believe the worst about our political, legal, religious, and financial institutions. Unsupported theories provide simple explanations for catastrophes that are otherwise difficult to understand, from the U.S. Civil War to the Stock Market Crash of 1929 to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. Ideas about shadowy networks that operate behind a cloak of secrecy, including real organizations like the CIA and the Mafia and imagined ones like the Illuminati, additionally provide a way for people to criticize prevailing political and economic arrangements, while for society's disadvantaged and forgotten groups, conspiracy theories make their suffering and alienation comprehensible and provide a focal point for their economic or political frustrations. These volumes detail the highly controversial and influential phenomena of conspiracies and conspiracy theories in American society. Through interpretive essays and factual accounts of various people, organizations, and ideas, the reader will gain a much greater appreciation for a set of beliefs about political scheming, covert intelligence gathering, and criminal rings that has held its grip on the minds of millions of American citizens and encouraged them to believe that the conspiracies may run deeper, and with a global reach.

Fully revised and updated, The Rough Guide to Conspiracy Theories sorts the myths from the realities, the allegations from the explanations and the paranoid from the probable. Who might be trying to convince us that climate change is or isn't real? What is the truth behind the death of Osama bin Laden and is he still alive? When did the CIA start experimenting with mind control? Where is the HAARP installation and did it have anything to do with the Japanese tsunami disaster? Why is surveillance in our cities and online so widespread and what are the real benefits? This definitive guide to the world's most controversial conspiracies wanders through a maze of sinister secrets, suspicious cover-ups hidden agendas and clandestine operations to explore all these questions - and many many more. Now available in PDF format.

Is the United States a force for democracy? From China in the 1940s to Guatemala today, William Blum presents a comprehensive study of American covert and overt interference, by one means or another, in the internal affairs of other countries. Each chapter of the book covers a year in which the author takes one particular country case and tells the story - and each case throws light on particular US tactics of intervention.