Let me tell you about Rose Marshall...
Everyone knows the one about the girl who asks for a ride home; the one who turns out to have been dead all along. But where did she come from? Who was she? And how did she die?
It's time for her story to be told.
ROSE
the woman at the diner?" —Rose Marshall
Rose was sixteen years old in 1945, pretty as a picture, and in the wrong place at the wrong time. A midnight drive along Sparrow Hill Road turned into a fight for her life—a fight that she was destined to lose. Her story could have ended there, but a lucky break and a well-timed ride home set her on a different path. She's been running down the ghostroads ever since, one more casualty who never made it home.
A lot of people have said a lot of things about her; she's been called everything from angel to devil, from ghost story to myth to something more. They whisper her name everywhere from Michigan to Maine, from Wyoming to Washington...but no one knows what really happened that long-ago night at the top of Sparrow Hill.
Not until now.
SPARROW HILL ROAD
Deliver me from the arms of Bobby Cross." —Rose Marshall
The Sparrow Hill Road series was published exclusively through The Edge of Propinquity, starting in January of 2010. All stories were accompanied by stunning black and white photography and archived online.
Welcome to the midnight America, the place where people go when they slip into the cracks between light and darkness, a world of routewitches and oracles, demons and ambulomancers. It's the place where a man named Bobby Cross sold his soul to live forever...and where one pretty little dead girl is racing to save herself and stop the killings that began on Sparrow Hill Road. The rules are different here, and everyone's playing for keeps. Be careful. Be cautious. And listen to the urban legends, because they may be the only things that can save you from the man who waits at the crossroads, hunting souls to keep himself alive.
Welcome to the ghostroads.
THE STORIES
as badly as I do right now." —Rose Marshall
- "Good Girls Go to Heaven." Everyone knows the story of the Girl in the Diner, but how many know the truth behind it? One man, Larry Vibber, is about to learn exactly how the story goes as he takes a ride with Rose Marshall down the midnight road that runs between the layers of America. (January 2010)
- "Dead Man's Party." When a dead man takes a diner full of living people hostage, it's going to take a miracle to get any of them out alive...a miracle, or someone who doesn't need to be afraid of dying. Enter Rose Marshall, who was looking for a cup of coffee, and found herself a heap of trouble. (February 2010)
- "Tell Laura I Love Her." When Rose helped a racer named Tommy find his way to the ghostroads, she never expected to have his girlfriend come seeking vengeance. Caught in a trap she can't break out of and accused of a crime she didn't commit, is there a way for Rose to escape the punishment ahead of her? (March 2010)
- "Building A Mystery." Still reeling from her encounter with Laura Moorhead, Rose is heading for the Old Atlantic Highway to meet with the Queen of the North American Routewitches. It's time to start looking for answers, and time to learn a little more about how she wound up on the ghostroads in the first place. (April 2010)
- "El Viento del Diablo." On her way back to Michigan to visit the Last Dance diner, Rose finds herself drawn to help a doomed motorist in his confrontation with her greatest fear: Bobby Cross, the man who killed her in the first place. (May 2010)
- "Last Dance With Mary Jane." It's story hour at the Last Dance Diner, as Emma finally convinces Rose to tell the one ghost story no one else knows; the story of the night she died. (June 2010)
- "Do You Want to Dance?" Prom Night is here again...and in Buckley Township, Michigan, Rose is having a family reunion that she never expected. Let's hope she survives it. (July 2010)
- "Dead Man's Curve." When you combine a real ghost with wanna-be ghost hunters, the results can't be anything but bad. Between the living and the dead, Rose is having a night she'll never forget. (August 2010)
- "Last Train." When the Queen of the North American routewitches calls in the favor Rose owes her, she has no choice but to quest for the crossroads, a mystical place where any bargain can be made...if you're willing to pay the cost. (September 2010)
- "Bad Moon Rising." Halloween night means different things to the living and the dead, and on the ghostroads, "trick or treat" can spell the end of just about any journey. Rose is on the run, and she'd best hope that sunrise finds her before the trick or treaters do... (October 2010)
- "Faithfully." Rose only loved one boy during her short lifetime. Now, when Gary Daniels lies dying, she must do the one thing she can still do for the living. She has to make sure he gets home. But where is home, exactly? How far can love really go? (November 2010)
- "Thunder Road." When Bobby Cross brings the fight to the Last Dance Diner, Rose must gamble everything she's fought for to win the one thing that really matters: the lives of the people she loves. If she wins, Emma and Gary may survive. If she loses... (December 2010)
All stories are available to read free, exclusively through The Edge of Propinquity.
SONGS
The sweetest girl that you'd ever see..."
—from 'Pretty Little Dead Girl.'
Music plays a large part on the story of Rose Marshall, and Rose herself has been the topic of several songs...some more accurate than others. Songs involving Rose Marshall include:
- "Pretty Little Dead Girl." This is the title song of my first album, Pretty Little Dead Girl, and appears on Stars Fall Home. I consider this the "urban legend" version of Rose's story, as well as the "filthy libel" version.
- "Graveyard Rose." The other side of Rose's legend. This is the one they tell in truck stops all across the country, at least inside my head.
- "Waxen Wings." Rose always knew she wanted out of the life that she'd been born to. She just didn't know how much she'd have to lose to get what she wanted.
- "When I Drive." A variation on "Waxen Wings," at least thematically.
- "Counting Crows." Rose's relationship with her boyfriend was never destined to work out. She knew it. She loved him anyway. This song appears on Wicked Girls.
- "Hanging Tree." Being dead doesn't mean your heart stops getting broken. Rose has had to learn that the hard way.
- "On Dead Man's Hill." ...and a little silliness to end the list, at least for now.
Artwork by Amy Mebberson.