The truth gets contorted when acrobats become suspects… An idyllic Hawaiian retreat turns deadly for a group of performers and designers when their director is found stabbed to death in the forest. It will be up to Pari Malik and her assistant, Campbell, to unravel the tangled web of intrigue and circus politics to discover the true culprit. They’ll maneuver to expose shocking secrets, hidden agendas, and veiled truths. The intricate personal relationships of the troupe complicate matters, as does the ultra-modern glass dome lodging they’re all housed in. The sudden appearance of ancient Hawaiian daggers only makes matters worse. And when a brazen accusation from the main suspect puts Pari’s reputation at risk, it’s a race against the clock to uncover the true murderer (or murderers) and see them brought to justice. "Lurking on the High Wire” is a clever and captivating novel, the fourth in the Pari Malik mystery series. It can be read as a stand-alone book or as part of the series.

Intrigue lurks in the most beautiful place on Earth. A scenic trip to a volcanic crater on Oahu turns tragic when two men disappear after a sudden clash. They’re supposed to be part of a group dedicated to preserving the Hawaiian Islands, but each of them is hiding secrets. Pari Malik is on the case, and she fears the worst. These same men had been at the center of an attempted murder case a year earlier. Nathan, the esteemed leader of a historic island preserve, had been stabbed and left for dead. Augustin, an enigmatic groundskeeper and womanizer, had been the prime suspect. Now both men have vanished and Pari’s looking for answers. Deception and tangled relationships abound. To solve the mystery Pari will need to dig deep within herself to deal with the complex emotions the case uncovers. Van Argan's enthralling debut novel Lurking on the Tightrope is full of surprising twists and revelations. It is the first book in the Pari Malik mystery series and can be read as a stand-alone story.

No means. No motive. No opportunity. No camera. The last time celebrity photographer Antoine Talon was in Oahu he left under a cloud of suspicion after a tragic death at one of his photo shoots. This time he’s leaving in a body bag. Discovered at a wedding rehearsal dinner on a dark rooftop, confusion abounds. Everyone says they have an alibi, there is no clear weapon, and no one had a reason to kill him. But one thing is obvious, his camera is missing and it may hold the key to unraveling the mystery. To solve the murder, Pari Malik must uncover the deep secrets and clever lies of the victim and the guests before the killer strikes again. “Lurking in Paradise” is the third novel in the Pari Malik mystery series, following “Lurking on the Tightrope: Mystery at Diamond Head” and “Lurking on the Precipice.” It can be read as a stand-alone book or as part of the series.

Exploring ties of life in story and experience, Bullhorn High Wire winds its poems with varying rhythm and structure, unhindered or refined for natural need, to capture moment and expectation. The poems elevate conversation into higher realms of hope and purpose like highlighting the wonder of the bedtime routines of the author’s children and witnessing the beauty and grace of growing up on the high plains. Bullhorn High Wire celebrates poetry and invites readers to have fun with it, especially if you think you don’t like poetry. The poems are accessible and dense with deeper meaning and often echo the wisdom of great voices while beckoning to true importance. In dealing with abstract themes, many of the poems employ narrative vision to highlight nature and structure in metaphor for the intangible. The throughline of it all is the author’s faith.

Women vanishing from a mountain resort, a reality star in hiding, and a stalker with a foolproof plan . . . A predator hunts for his prey among the guests and visitors at a luxurious retreat. He’s unable to control his brutal impulses to destroy innocence and beauty. But he’s perfected a scheme that he believes will keep him from ever getting caught. His victims vanish. No one knows what’s happened to them. No one can prove they’re even missing. But peculiar clues catch the eye of Paul Waterford, an infamous former coach and one time reality star. He’s trying to shed his scandalous past, and to help he’ll need to keep his identity a secret. Investigating while underground, with no assistance from the proper authorities, is the only way to make it work. To make matters worse, the disappearances aren’t the only mysteries at the resort and someone’s on to Paul’s biggest secret. Will the stalker stop him before Paul uncovers what happened to the women? “Prey Drive” is an intriguing mystery and suspense novel by Van Argan, author of “Lurking on the Tightrope.” It is a stand alone and complete story without a cliffhanger ending.

Her dreams were stolen in the tide pool where she took her last breath… Unfortunate accident or foul play? Either way, a luxury singles tour ends in tragedy for a woman who’d come to Oahu for a fresh start. The other tourists say Vanessa was secretive or desperate for excitement. She must have been alone when she snuck out to the treacherous tide pool in the moonlight. But when objects mysteriously wash ashore, including a luminous bracelet made of rare shells, it becomes clearer that her death was no accident. It’s up to private investigator Pari Malik to uncover the truth. She’ll dig up clandestine relationships, concealed motives, and hidden agendas. It’s a race against time to solve the perplexing mystery before an unknown killer strikes again or gets away with murder. The intriguing characters and thrilling mystery of Lurking Below The Surface will keep you guessing until the very end. It is the fifth novel in the Pari Malik Mystery Series and it can be read as a stand-alone book.

Prankster twins Edgar and Ellen think they have found kindred spirits when they join the circus to escape from their mysterious caretaker and the one-eyed creature Pet, but they soon discover that it is hard to tell friend from foe.

High Wire provides a novel and comprehensive analysis of how China regulates its tech sector and more broadly governs its economy. It focuses on electronic platform regulation in three key areas: antitrust, data, and labor. It also explains how Chinese platforms regulate themselves outside of state control, and how the two modes--public and self-regulation--interact. Finally, High Wire shows how the current tech crackdown in China is shaping the country's transition from soft-tech to hard-tech and considers how China will regulate the rapidly expanding field of generative artificial intelligence.

In the vein of The Creative Habit and The Artist’s Way, a manifesto on the creative process from a master of the impossible. Since well before his epic (and illegal) 1974 walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, Philippe Petit had become an artist who answered first to the demands of his craft—and not just on the high wire, but also as a magician, street juggler, visual artist, builder, and writer. He was a rebel and an autodidact, cultivating the attitudes, resources, and techniques to tackle even seemingly impossible feats. His outlaw sensibility spawned a unique approach to the creative process—an approach he shares, with characteristic enthusiasm, irreverence, and originality, in Creativity: The Perfect Crime. With the reader as his accomplice, Petit reveals fresh and unconventional ways of going about the artistic endeavor, from generating and shaping ideas to practicing, problem-solving, and ultimately pulling off the “coup” itself—executing a finished work. His strategies and insights will resonate with performers of every stripe (actors, musicians, dancers), practitioners of the non-performing arts (writers, artists), professionals in search of new ways of meeting challenges, and individuals simply engaged in the art of living creatively.

The first three books in L.G. Surgeson's 'Black River Chronicles', a series of fantasy novels, now available in one volume! Summer of Fire: To speak of a time before the Summer of Fire is to speak of a time more than four hundred years gone by. Very few have a genuine understanding of what lead to the time known as the Summer of Fire, of the rising powers that had grown with the patience of mountains. Only in looking back could scholars completely understand the full scale of events that preceded it. It is particularly difficult to distinguish what came 'before', as this is a relative term. Each individual will have a point in time that they consider to be the time 'before', after which their life will have irrevocably changed. General consensus suggests that by 1099 AC it was already too late. But for some, it started long before that. For some of them will live, some of them will die, and some of them will last forever. The Winter That Follows: The Summer of Fire has burned away. The younger gods and their champion have defeated Krynok the Hunter, General Salamander has been destroyed, and slowly Tartaria is reuniting to heal the Clans and the land. Those who survived find themselves standing amongst the ruins with empty hearts, waiting for faces they will never see again. It has not occurred to many that this might be the greatest challenge of all. For once the glorious struggles of the Summer are over, they will have to find their way through the Winter That Follows. The Freetown Bridge: Any who believe the Freetown Bridge to be a monument to freedom have sadly misjudged the dark intent of the Frisian Inquisition. Thousands of slaves have been snatched to help with its construction, and the fears of its purpose are building across the continent. Shrouded in mystery and heavily guarded, the Bridge nears completion. Unable to stop themselves, a small group of adventurers from Aberddu seek to join those who would destroy it. A ragtag gang of mercenaries, priests and greenskins prepare to stand up to the might of the Red Inquisition, before they discover that the enemy is closer than they realised.