Mary: An Awakening of Horror is heavily influenced by Kate Chopin’s proto-feminist novel The Awakening (1899), in which a woman seeks to understand and embrace her identity outside of being a wife and mother, and Stephen King’s horror classic Carrie (1974), which is about a teenage girl who is severely bullied but eventually seeks violent revenge against everyone who harmed her.

In his author’s note, Nat Cassidy admits to being heavily influenced by King, writing that inspiration for Mary

came from a simple question: What would happen if Carrie didn’t have any special powers? Where would she be as a grown-up? Would she still have a story? I knew right away I’d even give this novel a title that acknowledged the connection. I’d call it Mary (VI).

The two names rhyme, but Cassidy’s choice of name carries several other connotations: Because, in Christianity, Mary is Jesus’ mother, the name is associated with motherhood and sacrifice. Accordingly, while some of the horror of Carrie centers on the beginning of menarche, one thematic element of Mary is that its middle-aged woman protagonist is going through perimenopause without ever having had children.