I have lots of scars. Some from misadventures, like the first time I tried to shave my legs. I’m still missing a chunk of flesh on one knee cap. I have a bunch of other old wounds from various surgeries: I’ve had my shoulder pieced back together twice. I have some lower belly scars  from when doctors removed my ovaries. (Don’t worry. I wasn’t using them.)  Recently, I acquired a couple of beauties after I got Covid, passed out, and broke my leg. Because I didn’t like that particular story, I asked the surgeon to mess up my incisions a bit.

“Can we make it look more like a shark bite,” I asked just before surgery.

“No!” the doctor said, completely devoid of a sense of humor.

“But it’s a better story,” I pleaded.

He just shook his head and walked out.

Then, a few weeks back, my sweetie pie took a fall of his own and smacked his head. The subsequent injury resulted in three stitches in his eyebrow. The funny thing was he too asked the doctor to mess up the wound a little, requesting a more jagged-looking scar. (In case you’re interested, his doctor said no, too. Spoil sports!)

Now, before you surmise that we’re both a bit off, note that studies show scars are cool. Psychologists at the Universities of Liverpool and Stirling in England did a study on whether facial scars were attractive. And it turns out…they are! Men with scars are alluring to women, the idea being that these tough-looking dudes are strong, brave, and more exciting than those sweet-faced boys with flawless skin. The scarred man is perceived as a risk-taker which ups his masculinity quotient. But here’s the thing. Those rugged-looking types are popular for a fling, while those who are scar-free are thought of as more gentle and caring, and so are better marriage material. In regard to women, studies show they are seen as no less attractive than if they didn’t have scars.

If you’re still not sure that scars are hot, I present exhibit A: Lethal Weapon 3, with Mel Gibson and Rene Russo. When Russo’s character gives medical treatment to a wounded Gibson, the resulting I’ll-show-you-mine-if-you-show-me-yours is both hysterical and sexy. Since we’re talking film scars, there’s also the famous scene in Jaws where the crazy captain, played by Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfus’ oceanographer get drunk and start comparing scars, several of the shark-bite variety.  The moment when Roy Scheider’s police chief glances down his own pants and decides not to mention his appendix scar is a scream. (Yes, I know this has nothing to do with scars being sexy, but I couldn’t pass up a good shark-bite scene.) Then there are TV shows like Vikings, where bare-chested, long-haired, scarred-up dudes strut around smacking each other with swords. And you know what I say? All that imperfection is damned alluring!

Obviously, I go for rugged men. Perhaps because on the rare occasion I dated a Mr. Pretty Boy, reality would eventually strike: He’s better looking than I am! So, give me a tough guy who’s not perfect.

Oh, wait! I already have one.

The past and present collide when a tenacious reporter seeks information on an eleventh century magician…and uncovers more than she bargained for.

WOLF CATCHER

Anne Montgomery

Historical Fiction/Suspense

TouchPoint Press

February 2, 2022

In 1939, archeologists uncovered a tomb at the Northern Arizona site called Ridge Ruin. The man, bedecked in fine turquoise jewelry and intricate bead work, was surrounded by wooden swords with handles carved into animal hooves and human hands. The Hopi workers stepped back from the grave, knowing what the Moochiwimi sticks meant. This man, buried nine hundred years earlier, was a magician.

Former television journalist Kate Butler hangs on to her investigative reporting career by writing freelance magazine articles. Her research on The Magician shows he bore some European facial characteristics and physical qualities that made him different from the people who buried him. Her quest to discover The Magician’s origin carries her back to a time when the high desert world was shattered by the birth of a volcano and into the present-day dangers of archeological looting where black market sales of antiquities can lead to murder.

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