- SELECTED CREDITS OF: M.M.Hall
"Wishing Will Make it So," TWILIGHT ZONE, Nov. 1981, my official first story bought by T.E.D.Klein but a small press magazine, SumerMorn featured my actual first short story publication with "Waterlands," in Summer, '79. It also included my own very simplistic and quite dreadful magic marker illustration!
"In a Green Shade," TWILIGHT ZONE, Oct. 1982
"Mariana," SHADOWS 6, Charles L. Grant, ed., Doubleday, 1983; Berkley, 1987 (paperback)
"The Disintegraton of Alan," GREYSTONE BAY, Grant, ed., Tor Books, 1985; reprint, 100 HAIR-RAISING LITTLE HORROR STORIES, M. Greenberg, Al Sarrantonio, eds., Barnes and Noble, 1993, subs. paper reprint
"The Glass Doorknob," AFTER MIDNIGHT, Grant, ed., Tor Books, 1985
"The Children of the Gate," AMERICAN VOICE, spring, 1986
"Moonflower," SHADOWS 10, Grant, ed., Doubleday, 1986
"Confession of Innocence," DOOM CITY, Grant, ed., Tor Books, 1987
"The Unloved," WOMEN OF DARKNESS, K.Ptacek, ed., Tor Books, 1988, German ed., '90,
Spanish ed., 1992
"Calamity," NEW FRONTIER: , Joe R. Lansdale, ed., Doubleday, 1989, Best of Today's Western Fiction (This was the first story from CALAMITY, my novel inspired by the Galveston storm and its aftermath of 1900, as yet unsold.)
"The Brush of Soft Wings," POST-MORTEM, P. Olson and D. Silva, eds., St. Martin's Press, '89, British ed., '90, Japanese, Spanish, German editions, '92; Dell ed., '92
"The Happy Family," with Douglas E. Winter, MASQUES 3, J.N. Williamson, ed., St. Martin's Press, 1989, British ed., '90, Spanish, German eds., '92
"Buddy Morris, Alias Fat Man," THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT, Jane Yolen and M. Greenberg, eds., Harper and Row/HarperCollins, 1989
"Stampede," RAZORED SADDLES, J. Lansdale and P. LoBrutto, eds., Dark Harvest Press, 1989; Avon ed., '90 (subsequent novel and screenplay as yet unsold)
"Revelations," SEA HARP HOTEL, C.Grant, ed., Tor Books, 1990
"Listening," SKIN OF THE SOUL, Lisa Tuttle, ed., Women's Press of Great Britain, 1990; Pocket Books, '91, Spanish, Italian eds., '92; Finnish, '93
"The Pool People," WHISPER OF BLOOD, Ellen Datlow, ed., William Morrow,1991; Berkley, Finnish and Book-of-the-Month-Club eds., 1992
"The Looking Glass Hand," DEAD END: CITY LIMITS, P. Olson amd D. Silva, eds., St. Martin's Press, 1991
"Cat House," Cat Crimes III, Ed Gorman and M.Greenberg, eds., Donald Fine, '92, Ivy Books, '94, omnibus CAT CRIMES I,II,III, MJF Books, '95
"Playing Dolls," with Douglas E. Winter, FORBIDDEN ACTS, Nancy Collins, Ed Kramer and M. Greenberg, eds., Avon Books, 1995
"The Head," GAHAN WILSON'S ULTIMATE HAUNTED HOUSE, N. Collins, K.DeCandido, eds., HarperCollins, 1996
"The Child Star," MARILYN: SHADES OF BLONDE, Carole N.Douglas, M. Greenberg, eds., Tor Books, 1997, paper ed., '98
"Psychofemmes," WILD WOMEN, M.M. Hall, ed., Carroll & Graf, 1997; reprint, THE YEAR'S 25 FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES,E.Gorman, M. Greenberg, eds., Carroll & Graf, 1998 Currently OP but still available through Amazon.com.
Mary Carroll of BOOKLIST noted that "The selections are varied and challenging, destabilizing several varieties of conventional wisdom from a range of different perspectives. Worth considering for women's studies collections as well as literature shelves."
"The Sweet Reward," CROSSING THE BORDER, L. Tuttle, ed., Indigo/Cassell Group/UK, 1998, German, 2000
"Clay Dirt," NEW AMERICAN REVIEW, July 2002 (This is the second story from my novel, CALAMITY which has yet to be published in its entirety. I had the good fortune to be in Galveston, during the centennial of the storm. It took 20 years to complete the novel.)
"The Fence at the End of the World," REALMS OF FANTASY, August 2002
Novels not yet sold include: - STAMPEDE (a dark cowpunk comedy inspired by story of the same name), SACRIFICIAL FIRES (a coming of age mystery suspense novel set in '60s and early '70s) and CALAMITY.
Two other novels currently underway, one an historical fantasy and another coming of age dark comedy...as yet untitled.
Collected stories volume, GOING THROUGH WALLS also not yet published. - Jane Yolen wrote this in her introduction:
Melissa Hall's stories have a brutal vulnerability. A baseball bat covered with silk. Silver silk, blue stars. The bat has a core of iron.
Melissa herself is like that.
On the outside you get the soft southern girl, the twists of curls, swirls of long skirted dresses, goreous cheekbones, a promising mouth, stories about love lost, a sweet giggle.
Inside is the core of iron. She survives.
I've read a lot of Melissa's stories over the years--in anthologies, in magazines, in journals. As a sometime editor, I've bought a few myself. Her tales are often surreal needing a second and a third reading for all the hidden wallflower items to emerge. The moment of truth, like the lines: "The wind is hitting the latch hard. It will swing shut soon..." which only pierce the consciousness after the story is over. After we know what that gate leads to. After we think
we know what that gate leads to.
Melissa is also a photographer and a painter; her fiction works like her art. The chiaroscuro of her insights, those sharp contrasts, that fade suddenly into gray, make these stories memorable,. Haunting even.
Have I mentioned the last lines?
Her endings are both surprising and inevitable:
My tires roll backwards.
Marla keeps falling.
Simple lines that will mean everything to you once you have finished them.