Creative writing by

melissa e. ferguson

publications

  • “Couch” won the FINALIST prize in the 2025 F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival Short Story contest! Contest judge Nate Brown, Senior Lecturer and Associate Director of the Writing Center at Johns Hopkins University, said of “Couch”:

    “Moments like this are what great fiction are made of. You swing for the fences here rhetorically and narratively, and there’s a huge payoff: this is both meaningful, engaging, and thoughtful while also being very entertaining. You do a wonderful job in this story of building tension, which makes the ending all that much better. Very nice work!”

    LINK TO FULL STORY: https://fitzgeraldfestival.com/winners-of-the-2025-short-story-contest/.

  • “Killing It/Talent Show,” short story in Grit & Gravity, May 2025, vol. XI of the Grace and Gravity series

  • “Fair Winds,” short story in Pen in Hand, January 2025, Maryland Writers’ Association

in development

  • Currently seeking publication of upmarket, period fiction:

    In 1975, kindergartener Abernathy Gillum and his father, Ryle, are scraping out a living in an old sharecroppers’ cabin in rural Pittsboro, North Carolina when Abernathy’s mother, May-Rose Quigly, leaves town to chase her singing career and escape her Aunt Wilma’s legacy of bitterness and lost esteem. Abernathy seizes the chance to befriend the Black boy living in the Big House across the pond, fueled by his daddy’s ways of thinking about race relations...and unburdened by his scant knowledge of the two families' entwined history.

    When Ryle’s dependency on his best friend (and lover) turns for the worse, Abernathy’s needs are beyond what kind neighbors and school can offer. In steps Aunt Cody, Ryle’s sister, who anchors her life in an integrated community center in the decade since she lost her fiancé in Viet Nam. Will Aunt Cody’s budding relationship with her boss help or hinder her attention to Abernathy? And what happens when May-Rose returns with a chip on her shoulder?

    CATCH AND RELEASE follows Abernathy’s journey to age thirteen and Nashville—where Abernathy alone will decide to whom and where he most belongs.

  • AND more stories!

about melissa E. Ferguson

Melissa has been a storyteller since she was a child playing barefoot in the woods of North Carolina. She writes short stories, is seeking publication for a novel of upmarket, period fiction, and has many ideas in the cooker. Melissa earned a BA in creative writing from Penn State University and her MS in women’s studies from Towson University. She lives in Maryland between two streams that run under the Washington Beltway.

Photo credit: Jamie Wulfekuhle-Zaweski.

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