​Melissa Glenn
writer
Four Plaits Publishing, LLC
A Calling Across Skies
© Copyright 2026 Melissa Glenn
The first night a waxing gibbous moon appeared directly outside of Jocelyn's bedroom window was the night she couldn't sleep and couldn't stop crying. Todd was staying out late when he came home at all and with smoke on his breathe. The gum he stuck in his mouth just before entering the house didn't conceal the smell from the sensitive nostrils of a non-smoker. Visibly evident, his lips were black. His perfectly colored lips. The transformation was happening right before Jocelyn's eyes. The hairs on his once full face were growing wild. His eyes no longer held their clear color but looked cloudy and tear filled. Even his voice, hoarse and heavier, was affected by whatever he was smoking. Before it all, a 5'10" Todd had been strikingly handsome with smooth, mocha colored skin, dark eye brows, and long lashes. And teeth so straight it was hard to believe he never wore braces. A subtle mix of both his parents. Jocelyn wondered if he could ever look the same again. How quickly his new lifestyle was destroying his features. Couldn't he see it? Didn't he even care?
It hung directly outside of Jocelyn's bedroom window at eye level, frighteningly enromous and glowing an unparalleled gold. It beckoned her to turn in its direction and when she rolled over, it was impossible to go on crying. In amazement, she sat up in her newly purchased bed and uttered the words that stuck partially in her throat, my God. The next tears fell out of gratitude.
He was near. Seeing the pain and fears of her motherly heart. God meant for Jocelyn to know with no uncertainty that He was near. Even more, He was with her. The distant God that she'd been taught to know, the one full of both sovereignty and wrath was right before her just as He had been when she was a little girl. He always had been, that glowing moon spoke gently to her spirit. She, it was she who allowed herself to grow far from Him.
While she couldn't get it to make sense yet, the moon and the woman from Egypt felt connected. Jocelyn tried to imagine what the moon looked like in Egypt that night. Did it hold a different form, feel threatening or promising? And what did Analise think when she first beheld an American moon? Or had she not been surprised because in fact she was not a woman at all but from the very skies herself?
My Story -
© Copyright 2025 Melissa Glenn
I'm proof that it's not too late to actualize a creative necessity.
Creating stories that charge the heart and mind is what keeps me charged. I can't recall a time that I did not want to author fiction. It wasn't the odds of success that delayed my works for so long, though that was a factor, but rather it was trusting in what God had given me to forward the process of completion that I needed to tune in to. As I reflect on my life experiences, it seems I've always been a late bloomer. There's a benefit to that! But now I'm happy to give authorship to what has been brewing in me and in my numerous drafts for many years. I attest that doing and releasing the work is success. I'm happy to finally share mine with you.
​​Enjoy the excerpt from my forthcoming novel A Calling Across Skies.
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Fiction
A Calling Across Skies
God gives gifts. He’s given Christian believer Jocelyn James the gift to write fiction, yet for plans greater than her own gain. And as the city of Philadelphia sparkles during the Christmas season, God also gives her a personal invitation. One that expires.
But Jocelyn’s tried religion before, and though she values a simple life, church robs of freedom, fun, and fairness to women. Or so she thought.
What Jocelyn hopes for after losing love is loyalty, consistency, and reason to believe for a long-awaited dream. The guidance a mysterious stranger from Egypt and an unordained priestess provide brings into spiritual question: the woman the church says Jocelyn should be, who the world claims she can be, and who God affirms she is.
When works fail to reward and lived-for magic can’t be found, what remains is an invitation to look up!
Coming Soon!
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Creative Non Fiction
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Available on: Amazon
In store at booked.
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Perhaps the two most powerful tools I ever held - Paper & Pen
Children's Fiction
Wombat Kitten Cat
(Book 1)
The Red Store On Wolf ST
LISTEN
(a neuro-spiritual series)
Seek
Kill The Witch
Just A Day Out With Mom
FOUR PLAITS PUBLISHING, LLC:
A signature hair style imposed on me when I was a little girl. I once hated seeing pictures of me in those puffy joined strands but would come to rely on the tradition for my baby girl's hair (see her childhood pic at the top of this website). And even now, four plaits are the go-to for my own nighttime maintenance.
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Four Plaits Publishing, LLC offers Christian-based fiction, creative non-fiction, and children's stories by its Sole Proprietor.
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The name occurred to me rather instantly for the independent publication of my writings, as I pray my words reach readers at the four corners of the earth and stimulate the four lobes of brains. Established 2025.