Welcome to RRBC Author Michael P. King

Interview of the character the Traveling Man

I’m Michael King, the author of The Traveling Man, and I’m here to share an interview I recently did with the character at the center of that novel, an

anonymous con artist who calls himself the Traveling Man.

What’s your real name?

Are you really going to ask me that?

So it would be a waste of time to ask you where you’re from or how you came

to be a con artist?.

I’m not going to tell you anything that might help someone figure out who I used to be. I’m saving that identity for a rainy day.

Every time you set up a con, you change your name. Why?

I change my name after I finish a job. I’m a belt and suspenders kind of guy. I don’t want to make it easy for enemies or cops to find me. I change my name, I disappear, I reappear for the next job with a new identity. It’s more difficult than it used to be. Nowadays, an identity has to stand up to a Google search.

You cheat people for a living. How do you decide who to cheat?

I scam criminals, amateurs or professionals—I don’t care which. I don’t scam

civilians. Stealing from honest people is too complicated. They run to the police.

They have nothing to hide. And there’s too few of them anyway.

I understand, I think, what a professional criminal is. But what’s an amateur

criminal?

An amateur criminal is the person who thinks they can get something for nothing, right? The person who will cheat on their taxes, cheat on their insurance, or take a few dollars from the till—you know, the kind of person who thinks the rules apply to everybody else.

But you don’t cheat a partner?

That’s all about how far inside the con a partner is. Partners who are all the way

inside the con can’t be cheated because you can’t work the con without them. The trick is to keep as few people as possible all the way in.

But when a partner betrays you?

You better be wearing your grown-up underpants because you’re probably only

going to get one chance to save yourself. Especially if you plan to get even.

I don’t want to give away the plot of The Traveling Man, but what about your

wife? Your relationship seems complicated, to say the least.

Yeah, I know. But the heart wants what the heart wants. Know what I mean? And anybody who’s been married knows that the person who loves you can still do terrible things to you.

One more question—

I’ve said too much already. Anyone who wants to know more should read The

Traveling Man. http://amzn.to/1WNGtPF