Spooky Legends: Ellen Connor’s Dr. Chris Welsh on Blood Mary “MIDNIGHT”

I am very excited for today’s Spooky Legend, as we host the writing duo of Ellen Connor (aka – Ann Aguirre and Carrie Lofty).  Abigail and I are big fans of these ladies’ writing, both when they write as a team or when they fly solo.  Ann Aguirre’s Corine Solomon, Sirantha Jax, and Razorland books have about a bazillion bats between them all here on All Things Urban Fantasy, and fans of historical romance will know that Carrie Lofty has some serious romantic chops of her own (I particularly loved SONG OF SEDUCTION, whose musical hero and heroine both stole my heart).  With this kind of pedigree, it’s no surprise that together these ladies write one heck of a book.  Abigail reviewed NIGHTFALL, the first in the Dark Age Dawning series, and said it “[combines] thrilling danger and steamy romance in a magical post-apocalyptic world.”  Book two in the series, MIDNIGHT, came out this September, and is on both of our wishlists (Why can’t my birthday come four times a year?  Sure, I’d be 120 years old, but it would be worth it).  Hopefully we get to catch up before DAYBREAK comes out this December. 

Click to see the Spooky Legends Master List with links to all the previous posts and giveaways

Bloody Mary by Dr. Chris Welsh
by
Ellen Connor

Dr. Chris Welsh is the hero of MIDNIGHT, which takes a few years after the disastrous Change wiped out civilization. And yet, human nature is resilient. A new civilization has taken its place to defend against scavenger beasts, violent raiders, and creatures known as skinwalkers—human shapeshifters, some of whom have gone feral and have no qualms about eating people. Chris began his journey through the Change as a rather beta intellectual, resisting any temptation to believe in magic. But he has been wandering for years on his own. The terrible, incredible things he’s witnessed cannot be explained any other way.

Then he meets Rosa Cortez, the tough, independent leader of Valle de Bravo, a tiny human settlement in what used to be the American southwest. To say their romance is tempestuous and fraught with danger is an understatement. But there’s tenderness too, as each struggles to trust in the safety of their love.

Now, Dr. Chris Welsh will do his best to explain the legend of Bloody Mary:

 

Fear’s a funny thing. We court it when we’re kids. I still remember a dare I didn’t take when I was nine. My friends and I rode our bikes to a housing construction site where the elevated foundations sloped away at a steep angle for about 15 feet. We sat there at the top of the foundation, looking down the steep grade, daring one another to bike down it. In the end, none of us did. We made typically macho excuses. I think mine was that it was getting dark and I needed to get home.

My first wife, Mary Jane, told me about a slumber party she went to when she was about twelve. She and a bunch of girls told the story of Bloody Mary, about how a dead woman would appear out of a mirror if someone said her name over and over. MJ got tapped to try it because her name was also Mary. Years later, even, she had a nervous little laugh in her voice as she narrated what happened.

She locked herself in a bathroom, lights off. Some versions of the legend suggests to say, “Bloody Mary, I killed your baby.” It comes from a folk story that the Bloody Mary in question murdered her infant. In another version, the chant is “I believe in Mary Worth,” for those who decide the woman is innocent. I think that apparition was supposed to be friendlier, able to divine a person’s future spouse.

But of course, we’re talking about a bunch of junior high girls. MJ was pressured into doing the nastiest choice. She chanted “Bloody Mary” thirteen times. Started out low, whispering, spinning slowly. Each chant got louder and louder, her spins faster and faster. Bloody Mary was supposed to appear then, out of the mirror, ready to claw and kill and rip out fistfuls of hair. Others say that even those she doesn’t murder are doomed. She simply haunts them forever, or drags them into the mirror.

Obviously that last wasn’t MJ’s fate. But she didn’t tell me what happened. She got really quiet, then ended it with another nervous laugh. And she didn’t tell her friends either—said she wanted to punish them for making her do it in the first place. She let them stew in their own curiosity. They never let her sit with them at their cafeteria table again, but I’m sure she was better off without those little brats.

So, who knows what MJ saw in the mirror that night long ago. And who knows what would’ve happened to me had I ridden down that 15-foot drop. We face our fears as children through dares and peer pressure, perhaps as a means of preparing for adulthood.

Under normal circumstances, that may work. But believe me, not even a real Bloody Mary would be as terrifying as what I’ve seen in the days since the Change.

MJ’s gone now. The world where dares like Bloody Mary used to test kids’ bravery? That’s mostly gone too. And now the monsters are very, very real.

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About the author:

Who are we, you might ask? Well, we’re a collaborative writing team comprised of Ann Aguirre and Carrie Lofty. Our pen name comes from two bad-ass female SF characters: Ellen Ripley (from Alien) and Sarah Connor (from The Terminator). When you put them together, you get Ellen Connor…and we hope to rock your world. Together we’ve created the “Dark Age Dawning” trilogy of hot’n’dirty apocalyptic paranormal romances. Each of the three titles—NIGHTFALL and MIDNIGHT, both on sale now, and DAYBREAK, available December 6—are stand-alone romances featuring three couples caught in the turmoil vastly changed lives. And sometimes there are literal changes, such as shapeshifting. We keep our characters busy! Please enjoy our stories of love at the end of the world!

Visit Ellen Connor online: Website|Blog Want to read more from Ellen Connor?

Visit Ann Aguirre online: Website|Blog|Twitter|Facebook

Visit Carrie Lofty online: Website|Blog|Twitter|Facebook

Book Details

MIDNIGHT by Ellen Connor

Available now by Berkley Sensation

Description:

Their desire destroys her defenses.
Their love gives him a reason to live.

Three years of wandering the post-apocalyptic wasteland has stripped Dr. Chris Welsh of humanity and hope. He’s a dangerous man now, full of dark energy and yen for violence. A harrowing loss drove him from his home, and he hasn’t stopped moving since. Grim and sardonic, he never found anything worth sticking around for–until now.

Rosa Cortez runs Valle de Bravo, a haven of civilization amid the chaos of the Change. Soldiers take their orders directly from her–the iron hand within a velvet glove. The last thing she needs is a feral loner upsetting the town’s tentative balance. However, for the good of her people, she lets the sexy doctor stay. He evokes a delicious new longing, but she won’t submit to any man.

Tension rises as bloodthirsty raiders strike again and again, bent on possessing Valle and its resources. Together Chris and Rosa battle hellhounds and dust pirates while also fighting desperate attraction. To save them, love must overcome the pain of the past–and build a future in this brutal Dark Age…

Read an excerpt

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**Don’t forget to visit Dark Faerie Tales today for her Spooky Legends guest blog with Thea Harrison and a chance to win a copy of STORM’S HEART**