The Odditorium, one of "16 BOOKS TO WATCH FOR IN JANUARY 2012 . . . The stories in this strange and original collection bend genres - horror, mystery, Western - into wondrous new shapes." -O, the Oprah Magazine (January 2012 issue).

The Odditorium was named "Book of the Week" on Life Lift, Oprah's blog (January 9-15, 2012).

Melissa's novella, "Captain Brown and the Royal Victoria Military Hospital," which will appear in The Odditorium, was published first in the magazine Ecotone (Fall 2011).

Melissa's work will be featured alongside that of Richard Bausch's at a reading by acclaimed actors for WordTheatre in New York City on May 6, 2012.

On May 21, 2012, Melissa will participate in a series of events sponsored by Sarabande Books, including a student writing workshop at Kentucky School for the Blind, and a public reading--with the “Four Short Story Writers of the Apocalypse” (Melissa with Robin Hemley, Michael Marton, and Caitlin Horrocks)--at 21C Museum Hotel in Louisville, KY.