Nailpolish Stories is a baby. One that I’ve loved delivering and watching make surprising faces. This week, in honor of the new year, I thought I’d look back and post two “Best Of” pieces from each of the four months since NS’s birth. “Best Of” pieces were chosen for their unique language, breadth of story in so few words, emotional impact, and the complex and original relationship of the title to its story.
–Founding and Managing Editor,
Nicole Monaghan
From September:
Wife Goes On by Gary Percesepe
In Amagansett, the wooden houses sag. Her sunburned children walk the creaking floor. She rests her feet on the blue sofa. The ocean spills light.
A New Yorker living in exile in Ohio, Gary Percesepe just completed a novel titled LEAVING TELLURIDE, set in Telluride, Colorado. The novel features a goth girl named Anna, whose blonde roots keep showing above her Chrissie Hynde bangs. For more on the Tomboy No More girl you can go to NYC, or here: http://www.foundlingreview.com/May2011Issue1Percesepe.html Or, well, OK, here: http://wigleaf.com/201005bg.htm
Cherries In The Snow by Kierstin Bridger
The drifts were higher than our leg-warmers. We promised those cute college boys, thought we’d return with our undies in our back pockets, but no.
Kierstin Bridger lives a renaissance life in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, designing, writing, reading and planning the next great adventure. Her published works include Condomnation in the 2011 issue of the Porter Gulch Review, the one act play in The University of Washington’s literary publication Bricolage. Her short story Girl’s Room, was printed in UW Women’s Voices. Her flash fiction piece will appear Spring 2012 in Stripped: A Collection of Anonymous Flash Fiction from PS Books. She is the 2011 winner of the Mark Fischer Poetry Prize.
From October:
Bahama Mama by Sara Lippmann
Their hotel had one of those kids’ clubs so parents could drink away their vacation, staring past the pool, silent, swirling celery snappy as whips.
Sara Lippmann is a writer inBrooklyn. Follow her on twitter @saralippmann
Lady Like by Len Kuntz
I used to study them—bright bruises the color of mustard and plums, shaped like continents or crafty creatures—mother’s artwork on a flesh canvas.
Len Kuntz is a writer from Washington State. His work appears widely in print and online at such places as The Literarian, Boston Literary Magazine, Elimae and PANK. Every few days he writes about life and other things at lenkuntz.blogspot.com
From November:
Alpine Snow by Barry Basden.
Farther south, the snow’s pristine, but the Hürtgen’s dirty, trampled. We wait in holes, our weapons freezing, staring into darkness, afraid they’re coming for us.
Barry Basden lives in Texas and his writing has appeared in many fine places. He edits Camroc Press Review and has never had a manicure.
Shifting Power by David Tomaloff
Sundresses and summer have replaced her boys and winter. She walks lighter along the shore, casting names into the sea—beginning again, one by one.
David Tomaloff is a writer, photographer, musician, and all around bad influence. His work has appeared in fine publications such as Mud Luscious, >kill author, Connotation Press, HOUSEFIRE, & elimae. He is the author of the chapbooks 13 (Artistically Declined Press), A SOFT THAT TOUCHES DOWN & REMOVES ITSELF (NAP), Olifaunt (Red Ceilings Press), EXIT STRATEGIES (Gold Wake Press) and MESCAL NON-PALINDROME CINEMA (Ten Pages Press). He resides in the form of ones and zeros at: davidtomaloff.com
From December:
Cherries in the Snow by Angel Zapata
Blood stains the toilet seat. “We’re not pregnant?” I ask, softly. She falls to her knees, wails. Outside, a snowflake melts on a child’s tongue.
Angel Zapata was born in NYC, but now lives near Augusta, Georgia. Some of his fiction and poetry has appeared in The Boston Literary Review, Long Live the New Flesh, The Best of Every Day Poets, and The Flash Fiction Offensive. He is author of the Trestle Press short story horror series, The Man of Shadows. He also edits 5×5 Fiction: 25-word stories told in 5 sentences of 5 words each. Visit http://arageofangel.blogspot.com and http://5x5Fiction.blogspot.com
Curtain Call by M.C. Harris
He showers and hangs the towels in the wrong configuration. She deals with the damp spot, grown cold, with the flaccid sadness of surrendered condoms.
M.C. Harris waits for the approaching supernova, and writes.
Nailpolish Stories 