Circus Before Dawn

The world's most glamorous circus is haunted by a mysterious curse that has endured for decades and follows the show like a shadow. An unheralded performer seeks to break the spell. Someone else is displeased. * * * * * * Shortly before the dawn of the new millennium, a video arrives at the postbox of internationally acclaimed motorsport journalist, Trevor Banks. The startling images depict the elite driving talents of an intriguing racecar driver. Banks is assigned to investigate the story. As he does so, he discovers that the talented performer also has attracted the attention of a psychopathic saboteur. From Northern California's legendary racetracks to multiple European venues, including the dazzling jewel that is the Monaco Grand Prix, the story takes the reader on a wild, unpredictable ride within the dangerous circus that is Formula One racing. With an engaging style and a journalist's sharp eye for detail, David Miller has crafted a compelling drama that hurtles toward its shocking climax with the purposefulness and hair-raising excitement of a Formula One racecar as it rockets toward the chequered flag. * * * * * * A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Circus Before Dawn shall be donated to the Hole in The Wall Gang Camp for seriously ill children (www.holeinthewallgang.org) and to the Ayrton Senna Institute, the mission of which is to create opportunities for human development for children and young people (www.senna.globo.com/institutoayrtonsenna).

These fifty-eight stories make up the most thorough collection of Thomas Wolfe's short fiction to date, spanning the breadth of the author's career, from the uninhibited young writer who penned "The Train and the City" to his mature, sobering account of a terrible lynching in "The Child by Tiger". Thirty-five of these stories have never before been collected. Lightning Print On Demand Title

The popularity of the circus in the United States reached its zenith in the early 1900s; as the century progressed, the circus gradually came to reflect traditional American values. In this book, Patricia L. Bradley analyzes the extent to which Warren's 1947 novella "The Circus in the Attic" and its use of the circus trope establishes a critical matrix for interpreting his fiction, poetry, essays, and literary criticism.

This book documents and discusses the meaning(s) of the creative process at play in the crafting and staging of circus acts. It highlights the experience of circus artists as their skills develop and mature into public performances that create aesthetic and emotional values in the modern economy of live spectacles. It scrutinizes the meaning that circus acts produce for the spectators and for the artists themselves who live this process from the inside. This is a book for those studying semiotics and wanting to see it applied to a real life milieu in accessible and passionate prose. The Meaning of the Circus is grounded on the personal experience of Professor Paul Bouissac as both a circus entrepreneur and a researcher with decades of primary material on the significance of past and contemporary circus acts. It is based on substantial accounts provided by many men and women who have agreed to share the challenges, joys, and anxieties of their life as artists. Personal and rigorous, it contributes to the hermeneutics of the circus arts by adding existential depth to the production and reception of their performances.

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Two starcrossed magicians engage in a deadly game of cunning in the spellbinding novel that captured the world's imagination. • "Part love story, part fable ... defies both genres and expectations." —The Boston Globe The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.

Laurell K. Hamilton has captivated readers with her gritty, seductive tales of vampire hunter Anita Blake for thirty bloody fantastic years. Now, in the thirtieth novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series, wedding bells are ringing. But before Anita can make it to the altar, she must face an obstacle more daunting than any supernatural threat.... Necromancer Anita Blake is small, dark, and dangerous. Her turf is the city of St. Louis. Her job: U.S. Marshal—Preternatural Branch. She’s faced horrifying monsters and brutal killers and come out the other side still standing. Considering how things in her life tend to go, Anita never expected her walk down the aisle with Jean-Claude to go smoothly. They’ve already been confronted with naysayers and a power-hungry ancient evil, but now Anita has to do the one thing that actually scares her: introduce her very religious, very human relatives to her fiancé—the newly crowned vampire king of America. As Anita tries to keep the peace between the family she left behind and the family she’s chosen, dark forces jump at the chance to take advantage of the chaos. With her happy-ever-after at risk and everyone’s immortal souls hanging in the balance, Anita grapples with a hard truth: Blood makes you related, but loyalty makes you family.

An intimate biography of the avant-garde poet and spiritual seeker who abandoned his career to join the circus and live among fishermen in Greece. Robert Lax inspired Thomas Merton, Jack Kerouac, William Maxwell and many others with his quest to live a true life as both an artist and a spiritual seeker. Known in Europe as a avant-garde poet, Lax worked at The New Yorker, wrote Hollywood screenplays and edited a Paris literary journal—when he wasn’t studying philosophy, serving the poor in Harlem or living in a sanctuary high in the French Alps. Lax called his approach to life pure act: a way of living in the moment that was both spontaneous and practiced, God-inspired and self-chosen. By devoting himself to simplicity, poverty and prayer, he expanded his capacity for peace, joy and love while producing distinctive poetry of such stark beauty critics called him “one of America’s greatest experimental poets” and “one of the new ‘saints’ of the avant-garde.” Biographer Michael N. McGregor met Lax in Greece when he was a young seeker himself. He continued to visit him regularly over fifteen years. Pure Act is a tale of adventure, an exploration of friendship, an anthology of wisdom, and a testament to the liberating power of living an uncommon life. Excellence in Publishing Award, Association of Catholic Publishers Honorable Mention, Catholic Press Association Book Award Finalist, Washington State Book Award

Veteran journalist Len Barcousky shines a light on the hidden corners of Pittsburgh's history. When Mark Twain visited in 1884, he claimed to spy a little bit of hell in Pittsburgh's smoky appearance. Twain's observations are among the many riveting firsthand accounts and anecdotes to be found in the archives of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Great War hit home after the sinking of the Lusitania, which carried more than a dozen Pittsburgh residents. A few years later, cheering throngs of black and white residents lined downtown streets to welcome African American soldiers returning home from the conflict. The Ringling Brothers Circus held its last outdoor performance here in 1956 and left eight hundred show workers without jobs in the city.