The Hive
The Hive is a story of class in America and the fates of four sisters and their family business in a politically divided Midwestern town. The Fehlers provide a working-class lens on a messy family facing a recession. After the patriarchy’s sudden death, the sisters have to sort succession while they face medical bankruptcy. The strength of their hive is tested and each of the Fehler women must endure and overcome to survive.
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Flood
Leaving town when she was eighteen had been Laura’s only option. She feared a stifling existence in a town ruled by its past, its mythological devotion to Mark Twain, and the economic and racial divide that runs as deep as the Mississippi River. She can’t forget that fateful Fourth of July when the levees broke or the decisions that still haunt her. Now as the Mississippi rises again, a deep wound threatens to reopen, and Laura must decide if running away once more might be the best way to save herself.
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Edited Volumes
Grit & Gravity
Grit & Gravity is the 11th volume of the Grace and Gravity anthology series, a literary journal devoted to women writers in the DC region. Grit & Gravity features 38 fiction and nonfiction pieces about personal triumphs, resilience, bravery in the face of danger, and ultimately, hope. In the past twenty-two years, the project has published eleven volumes of more than 300 local women writers. The project was founded by Richard Peabody and is now edited by Melissa Scholes Young.
Grace in Love
Grace in Love is the 10th volume of the Grace and Gravity anthology series, a literary journal devoted to women writers in the DC region. Grace in Love features fiction and nonfiction stories about heartbreak, romance, desire, self-love, family bonds, and more. In the past twenty years, the project has published nine volumes of more than 300 local women writers. The project was founded by Richard Peabody and is now edited by Melissa Scholes Young.
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Furious Gravity
Furious Gravity is the long-awaited ninth volume of the Grace and Gravity series, a literary journal devoted to women writers in the DC region. This volume will be the second edited by Melissa Scholes Young, a DC writer and associate professor at American University, who has taken over from founder Richard Peabody (Gargoyle and Paycock Press). Scholes Young delivers a gorgeous and vivid volume of fifty vibrant voices. Her vision for the ninth volume is a platform in which women write about the gravitational forces that bind them together or push them apart. Fury is useful fuel as they respond to a world they wish was more just. Amidst the darkness provided in generous and unrelenting doses by the current political climate, this collection delivers a compilation of stories and essays with undeniable pull – and, of course, grace.
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Grace in Darkness
Grace in Darkness is the long-awaited eighth volume of the Grace and Gravity series, a literary journal devoted to women writers in the DC region. This volume is the first edited by Melissa Scholes Young, a DC writer and professor, who has taken over the task of assembling this journal from the previous editor and founder Richard Peabody (founder and editor also of Gargoyle). Young delivers us a gorgeous and vivid volume of twenty-five vibrant voices. Her vision for the eighth volume is a platform in which women speak – shout, whisper, bellow, and sing – unapologetically and with a confidence so often stripped from women and girls in a society built from a blueprint with a glass ceiling. Amidst the darkness provided in generous and unrelenting doses by the current political climate, this collection delivers a compilation of stories with undeniable light – and, of course, grace.
Story Cycles: A Conversation with Brandon Taylor
“Every time I write a story, I’m writing it as part of a manuscript or a cycle.” Brandon Taylor talks with Melissa Scholes Young about his short story collection, Filthy Animals, as well as story cycles, social codes, and the Midwestern way of being.”
Our Full Humanity: A Conversation with Deesha Philyaw
“Like my predecessors, I want to show us grappling, resisting, and (hopefully) healing, to show our full humanity in a country that was not designed with our freedom in mind, and in which those freedoms are still threatened, daily.” Deesha Philyaw talks with Melissa Scholes Young about her award-winning collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.”
Psychogeographies: A Conversation with Steven Wingate
“There’s plenty of great fiction about belonging to a place and being part of a community—with the opportunities and obligations this brings—but that’s not a state of being I understand well.” Steven Wingate talks with Melissa Scholes Young about The Leave-Takers.”
What You Are Living Is Your Life: A Conversation with Danielle Evans
“More broadly, the book, and the short story form in general, is interested in the way that certain choices preclude others.” Danielle Evans talks with Melissa Scholes Young about her new collection, The Office of Historical Corrections.”
The Glory and Failure of Football: An Interview with Katherine Hill
“In contemporary life, sports are a lot like politics or religion in that they activate these very deep-seated affinities, which we re-enact continuously, and often without examination.” Melissa Scholes Young talks with Katherine Hill about her new novel, A Short Move.”
The Germ of Something: An Interview with Clare Beams
“I’m not the kind of historical writer who takes an event or a thing and tries to factually inhabit it. But I love to take the germ of something and pull it in a weird direction.” Melissa Scholes Young talks with Clare Beams about The Illness Lesson.”
Characters Driving Fiction: An Interview with Jami Attenberg
“Every character gets understanding. That’s what a writer does. But abusive humans only get two pages. That’s it.” Jami Attenberg talks with Melissa Scholes Young about her new novel, family secrets, the desire for happiness, and more.”
Melissa Scholes Young 