Release Blitz, Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway:
You Can Do Magic by R.L. Merrill
Carnival of Mysteries Shared Universe
Summer of Hush, Book 3
From the author of Foreword Indies Finalist Summer of Hush and BookLife Prize Quarterfinalist Brains and Brawn comes a new installment in the series, a contemporary gay romance with a side of time travel and magic.
Musical prodigy Kallos Alexandrou has played his calliope for countless visitors at Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, but his one-year residency has come to an end. Scars from a terrible tragedy in his past are the only explanation he has for his loss of speech and memory, but it’s time to move on, so when a music festival sets up next to the carnival, Mr. Ame sends him off with identification, a bottomless billfold, and a set of new clothes. Outside the carnival’s perimeter, Kal finds himself in an unfamiliar world surrounded by strange instruments and vibrant people like nothing he’s ever seen.
Ryan Wells is the troubled and celebrated lead singer of the metal band Backdrop Silhouette. He’s brought more than his share of baggage on the last cross-country Warped Tour, including harsh restrictions placed on him by his parole officer and the band’s label, but it’s the treatment from his bandmates that have him feeling unsettled. After a tough morning, he spots a strange young man playing carnival music on a keyboard backstage, and the sound takes him back to a particularly vulnerable time in his youth. Intrigued, Ryan asks the young man’s name, but he flees only to appear later as a replacement stagehand for the tour.
An invitation from the band Hush to ride on their bus gives Ryan and Kal a welcome distraction. They find the camaraderie and support they’ve both been craving…as well as a little magic and a fresh new romance. But the music business makes personal relationships difficult to maintain, and when the tour ends, Ryan and Kal will have to make a choice: move forward together on an uncertain path, or let fear keep them from trusting that sometimes you really can have everything you desire.
You Can Do Magic is part of the multi-author Carnival of Mysteries Series. Each book stands alone, but each one includes at least one visit to Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, a magical, multiverse traveling show full of unusual acts, games, and rides. The Carnival changes to suit the world it’s on, so each visit is unique and special. This book contains a Depression-era calliaphone, a Ouija board with a purpose, and tour bus hijinks that will warm your heart and make you gigglesnort. Reading Summer of Hush and Brains and Brawn before this book will give you the full Warped Tour
experience, but You Can Do Magic can be read as a standalone as well as the other books in the shared universe. Recommended 18+.
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I walked back to the Red Dawn stage, the food churning in my gut, and Howie put me straight to work. The hours flew by as we set up and tore down for several more bands. On my afternoon break, I wandered until I found the Left Foot stage and was there in time to watch Hush. Krish spotted me and waved me over to the side stage to watch with him.
They were something else.
Silas was captivating to watch. You never knew what he would do next, whether it was throw his bass guitar to a tech, jump off the stage, climb on Los’s back and scream into the mic with him. They were highly entertaining.
I kept thinking of Ryan.
That look he gave me as he’d walked away had me convinced he was a deeply troubled man. My heart broke for him. I didn’t blame him for walking away. Who was I to think I could walk beside him in this unfamiliar world?
No. It was up to me to make a fresh start, not rely on someone else to help me.
I swatted at that creepy-crawly feeling on my neck once more—and then gasped as a realization hit me.
I’d been left behind before. More than once. By people who were supposed to care for me. People who I’d worked for, lived with. Family. I’d been a part of something…
A sharp pain stabbed the side of my head, and I sucked in a breath. These memories coming back in pieces were debilitating. I wished they’d all come back at once instead of this piecemeal process of torturing me.
Was I strong enough to handle them all? The ghosts from my past?
“They’ve really gotten into a groove with Bowie, their new drummer,” Krish was saying. “He only started playing with them a few shows ago.”
I shuddered when Krish looked away and took a deep breath. I tried to focus on what Krish was talking about and hoped it would keep the memories at bay.
Krish explained that Hush’s drummer had broken his leg the first week of the tour when a meet-and-greet session got out of hand and some fans collapsed the table on him. He was back on the tour but couldn’t play, so Bowie was filling in. Krish pointed to Brains watching
from the other side of the stage.
The drummer looked miserable. His shoulders hunched over the crutches he leaned on to support his leg, which was protected by some sort of contraption wrapped around it. He bobbed his head to the music, but he seemed like he wished he were anyplace else. He must have, to see his band playing without him. He looked across the stage and our eyes met. I recognized the loneliness I’d felt as Ryan walked away.
Seemed like a lot of folks on this tour were struggling. How they continued to give their all while performing when they were unhappy astounded me.
“You should come hang out with us tonight,” Krish said, pulling my attention from the sullen man he’d called Brains. Hush had finished their set, and Silas and his bandmates were throwing small plastic disks into the audience. The young people screamed and hunted around on the ground for them. “Ryan seems to really like you, and he could use a little lift right now. We all could.” He glanced at me and gave me a sad smile. “I want you to know what you’re getting into. Hush had a big blow-up fight last night. My best friend, Jake…he’s Jordan’s brother? Anyway, they’re fighting, and Jake moved off of our bus and into the RV with the techs and Jessica. Ryan is fighting with his band. I think everyone needs a little space from each other, but they won’t get it if they stay here and party. Add alcohol to this mix and it’ll get worse.”
“I don’t know.” My voice box decided to work. I cleared my throat and tried once more. I shook my head and pointed to myself as I spoke. “Make it worse.”
“No way,” Krish said. “It’ll be fun. And maybe you can help me keep them in line.” He winked at me, and I understood. Krish was worried about his friends and wanted to make them feel better.
I nodded and gave him a weak thumbs up. Then I gestured that I needed to get back to work and he told me to meet them after the show at their bus. “Ours is the one with the pink dingleberries. We just added them.”
I loved how everyone personalized their spaces and had fun while they were on tour, but I was starting to see that a show like this could really wear on you. I was used to living on the move, but I was alone in my sleeping quarters. The carnival had been my life, and at this point it was all I could remember. Taking people out of their normal lives for a limited amount of time and forcing them to be together all day, every day, was a lot to handle.
Maybe I would go with them. I could be sure they saw the best the carnival had to offer.
I could protect them. There were attractions that toured with the carnival that were…dark by nature. I didn’t want any of them getting lost.
I hoped I wasn’t breaking any rules. Mr. Ame had said my time was up. Surely I could attend the carnival as a guest? That wouldn’t be breaking the rules, would it?
I worked alongside Howie, learning more about how the soundboard worked and learned how to use tiny tuning devices rather than tuning the instruments by ear. I loved learning all of these new skills. It gave me hope that I might find a permanent place after this tour was over.
“You’re a quick study,” Howie told me after we cleaned up the last act of the day.
The guests were filing out of the fairgrounds, exhausted, sunburned, and dehydrated. I heard one of the techs saying that there had been dozens of young people who required medical attention due to heatstroke. I hoped they were all okay. What a terrible way to end such a day of fun. I’d developed a film of sweat early in the day and it never went away, but the water Krish made me drink really helped. I thought about all of the folks here who didn’t have someone to look after them, to care for them.
I thought about Ryan. Who was there for him?
To celebrate the release of You Can Do Magic, R.L. is giving e-copies of Summer of Hush and Brains and Brawn and a $30 Spotify gift card!
Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win!
About the Author:
Whether she’s writing swoon-worthy contemporary romance featuring quirky, queer, and relatable characters or diving deep into the supernatural to give readers a shiver, R.L. Merrill loves creating compelling stories that will stay with readers long after closing the book. Ro writes inclusive romance for the Happily Ever After collective, contributes paranormal hilarity to Robyn Peterman’s Magic and Mayhem Universe, and pens horror-inspired tales and music reviews for HorrorAddicts.net. A mom, wife, daughter, and former educator, you can find her rocking out in her Bronco with Great Dane pup Velma, being terrorized by feline twins Dracula and Frankenstein, or headbanging at a rock show near her home in the San Francisco Bay Area! Stay Tuned for more…
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