✨ CHARACTER INTERVIEW ✨
An interview with RJ Tucker
What impression do you make on people when they first meet you?
A: Most people underestimate me. That’s okay—I lean into it because it gives me an advantage.
How about after they’ve known you for a while?
A: They realize there’s more going on beneath the surface.
What is your profession?
A: I’ve worked behind the scenes as a roustabout, roadie, or ‘carnie’ for circuses or carnivals since I was fifteen. Now, I’m focused on taking care of old business.
Tell me about your best friend.
A: I don’t have one. Too dangerous—for them, and me.
Describe your ideal mate.
A: I’d like to find someone who enjoys the same interests, someone I can talk to and relax with and not feel like I have to be ‘on’ all the time.
What’s the most important thing in your life?
A: Finding justice for my family
Your thoughts on love?
A: Probably not in the cards for me, but it would be nice if I could find someone special.
What are you most afraid of?
A: Getting caught before I finish finding justice for my family.
Favorite food
A: Carnival food—sausage sandwiches, cotton candy, everything you can buy on the midway
What would you consider your perfect night out?
A: I like going to the movies and walking in the woods, but I have always loved going to fairs and circuses.
What do you like most about the person you fell in love with?
A: I feel safe with him. That’s a rare thing.
Roustabout
(a Carnival of Mysteries Book)
by Morgan Brice
Publisher: Darkwind Press
Cover Artist: Dianne Thies
Release Date: August 23, 2023
Genre: Paranormal MM romance
Tropes: adversaries-to-lovers, hurt/comfort, forced proximity, rogue with a heart of gold, secret agent/con man, redemption arc
Themes: overcoming the past, settling old wrongs, second chances
Length: 230 pages
Heat Rating: 4 flames
Roustabout is a standalone book, but also part of the shared-world, multi-author Carnival of Mysteries series and is connected to Morgan’s Kings of the Mountain series.
It does not end on a cliffhanger.
🛒 Purchase Links
Available in Kindle Unlimited!
A con man and a government agent walk into a carnival…
Blurb
Bartlett Gibson is a necromancer and an agent for the Tennessee Bureau of Supernatural Investigation. He’s hot on the trail of RJ Tucker, a psychic con man who has eluded him at every turn and led him on a merry chase. Pursuit leads to grudging respect in their game of cat and mouse, which becomes a high-stakes game of seduction. Bart chases RJ to the Carnival of Mysteries and realizes that nothing is as it seems. A dark witch’s curse ups the ante, creating a deadline for revenge and redemption, and the clock is ticking.
Falling in love breaks all the rules. Can Bart and RJ stop the witch, break the curse, and find a way around RJ’s spot on the “most wanted” list before time runs out?
Roustabout is a fast-paced MM paranormal romance filled with supernatural suspense, snarky humor, crafty carnival workers, sarcastic ghosts, midway magic, hurt/comfort angst, adversaries-to-lovers tension, and a very happy ending!
Part of the multi-author, shared-world Carnival of Mysteries series. Can be read as a stand-alone.
Excerpt
He knew he was fussing too much over his hair—manicuring his stubble and manscaping— but it had been a long time since there’d been anyone to notice, and he was going to make the most of it.
RJ wore his best shirt, a russet one that complemented his hair and warmed his pale complexion. Together with a new pair of jeans and a pair of Timberlands that were a rare splurge, he knew he cleaned up well.
He drove to Rosco’s Barbecue and parked, then realized his palms were sweating as he gripped the steering wheel.
It’s just dinner, he told himself. But nobody had ever made him feel like Bart did.
He grew up fast on the circuit surrounded by roustabouts and wranglers who didn’t follow convention and largely lived outside the restrictions of polite society. RJ had plenty of boyfriends and lovers over the years. Those in the carnival life rarely expected permanence, and relationships seldom lasted more than a season.
Moving from place to place had been a necessary distraction in those years. He hadn’t wanted more than temporary connections since he still mourned the people he had loved and lost. The dream of vengeance had sustained him, and for a long time, that was enough.
But now, with the end of his quest in sight, RJ found himself wanting more. Maybe he could never tell a partner everything about his old life and the recompense he had dealt out, but perhaps he didn’t need to live in self-imposed solitude.
After all, people in WITSEC get married. This isn’t too much different.
God, I’ve got the cart before the horse. We haven’t even fucked properly, and I’m picking out china patterns. It’s just dinner. And maybe a blow job if I play my cards right.
He went inside and looked for Bart. When he didn’t see the tall man waiting, his stomach tightened, fearing he had been stood up.
Bart came in a moment later, looking harried. “Sorry. Work ran over. Have you been here long?” He looked like he really cared whether RJ had been worried.
RJ relaxed and gave a broad smile. “Just got here myself.” His stomach growled. “It smells so good in here, and I’m starving.”
They followed the hostess to a table. RJ saw Bart slip her a twenty to get a spot out of the thick of the fray. Rosco’s did a booming business, with food that deserved the buzz.
“Did you have a good day?” Bart asked after they had ordered. RJ thought it was charming that Bart seemed flustered.
Maybe he’s as out of practice as I am.
About the Author
Morgan Brice is the romance pen name of bestselling author Gail Z. Martin. Morgan writes urban fantasy MM paranormal romance, with plenty of action, adventure and supernatural thrills to go with the happily ever after. Gail writes epic and urban fantasy, with less romance, more explosions.
All of the modern-day Morgan Brice and Gail Z. Martin series crossover, so characters from one series appear in cameos and on page in important secondary roles in books from other series. Each book can be read as a standalone, but the more you read the more the expanded universe of friendships and connections becomes clear.
Morgan and Gail believe that paranormal elements make any story even better, and her worlds are full of ghosts, psychics, shifters, creatures, vampires, monster hunters, and magic.
She’s also a huge fan of the TV show Supernatural. (Chibi art by Kamidiox)
Author Links
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