A white woman with long dark hair and light eyes smiles at the camera. We only see her head and shoulders. She is wearing a black and white cardigan over a red shirt. Behind her is the underside of an umbrella showing stars and galaxies against a background of dark blues and purples

Melissa Burkart

Stories

Constellations Falling, Trollbreath Magazine (March 2025)

The Wander Problem, Sudden Fictions podcast (June 2024)

Rain in the Nightmarket, Sudden Fictions podcast (April 2024)

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I spent a long time believing that I couldn’t write the kinds of stories I do now, though by some miracle I was fortunate enough to see a few of the stories I wrote then come out in the world. They make me cringe and they’re written under the name M. J. King, but I want to include them anyway. Learning the craft of writing has been a journey, and I’m nowhere near the end!

  • “A Trick of Shadows”; Fight Like a Girl, April Steenburgh and C. Lennox, ed.
  • “Ice and Fire”; What Follows, April Steenburgh and C. Lennox, ed.
  • “Property of Afterlife, Inc.”; The Word Count Podcast, Episode 32
  • “Snarktopus and the Awkward Tingle”; The Word Count Podcast, Episode 33
  • “Ashes”; The Word Count Podcast, Episode 38
  • “Full Deck”; The Word Count Podcast, Episode 52
  • “Monster”; The Word Count Podcast, Episode 78