Best of 2020

What a painful year. So much suffering and loss, however, does not quell the human desire to create. Rather, it so often stokes the flames. I am grateful to the writers, the artists, the photographers, the film makers, the actors, the dancers, the musicians for doing what they do–cobbling together a beautiful thing from the pieces of their shattered hearts, and unifying all of us in the process.

“Best of 2020” stories were selected for their unique use of language, breadth of story in so few words, emotional impact, and the complex and original relationship of the titles to their stories. Congratulations to the writers whose work was selected for this special issue.  And thank you to every submitter, contributor, and reader of 2020. Nailpolish Stories wishes you an abundance of good health and a most happy 2021.

from October:

999 Happy Haunts

Mother dropped my cake, the word happy in chocolate ruins. She said she wouldn’t fail next year, eyed the half-empty champagne. So many next years.

Brooding In Burgundy

When Mom finally came back, she had me rearrange her room. Just like before, she said. There were always spaces, no matter how I tried.

Yash Seyedbagheri is a graduate of Colorado State University’s MFA program in fiction. A native of Idaho, Yash’s work is forthcoming or has been published in WestWard Quarterly, Café Lit, and Ariel Chart, among others. 

from July:

Blueberry Pie

It’s picnic weather. We emerge from our house, cheeks burning and jaws sweating beneath our masks. The public pool is empty, filled with poisonous spit.

Kelsey Styles (she/her) is a Media Technologist with Wilmington University. She has an undergraduate in Communications Studies and Creative Writing from Widener University, and is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Communication Management from Wilmington University.

Plum Passion by James Bates

Six feet apart in line our eyes met, twinkling.
“I like your face covering,” she said.
“Yours, too,” I replied.
The pandemic just got bearable.

Jim lives in a small town twenty miles west of Minneapolis, Minnesota. His stories have appeared in CafeLit, The Writers’ Cafe Magazine, A Million Ways, Cabinet of Heed, Paragraph Planet, Mused – The BellaOnline Literary Review, Nailpolish Stories, Ariel Chart, Potato Soup Journal, Literary Yard and The Drabble. You can also check out his blog to see more: http://www.theviewfromlonglake.wordpress.com.

from April

Cliff Hanger by Suzanne Cottrell

Starlings swirled.  Annette covered her head and dashed to her car.

Hitchcock’s The Birds weighed on her mind.

A bloody beak pecked at her windshield.

Suzanne Cottrell, a Buckeye by birth, lives with her husband and three rescue dogs in rural Piedmont North Carolina.  An outdoor enthusiast and retired teacher, she enjoys reading, writing, knitting, hiking, Pilates, Tai Chi and yoga.  Her prose has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Bearing Up,Exploring, Pop Machine, Unwanted Visitors, Empty Silos, Dragon Poet Review, Dual Coast Magazine, Parks and Points, and Nailpolish Stories, A Tiny and Colorful Literary Journal.  She’s still riding her writing wave.

from January:

Making Harmony

Parlor ivories, garage drums. Rounded, mellow, brash and dissonant. From opposite sides, brother-sister duets ease the house’s tension, music keeping our newly shaky familial peace.

Kelly Kotewa is a college instructor in Madison, Wisconsin. When she’s not writing, she is riding her bike.

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