SHORT STORIES ORGANIZED BY RELEASE DATE (Most recent first)

ELLIPSIS ZINE “Meet the Vines” January 2020

Russell and Jana Vine move into a new neighborhood. Russell hopes this will be the time Jana is included in whatever it is women seem to do in other neighborhoods.

THE BALTIMORE REVIEW “The Air in Here” May 2019

After forty years of marriage, Joyce Goldfarb realizes upon her husband’s sudden death that she does not know how many of the details of their life together worked, including how to work the thermostat.

MATCHBOOK LITERARY MAGAZINE “Academic Questions” December 2018

They were halfway between Kansas City and St. Paul on their way to Joanna’s mother’s wedding to a man nobody in the family had met when Greg admitted . . .

AFTER THE PAUSE, “The Largest Pancakes in Minnesota” September 2018.

Originally published as “Son” in Sleet Magazine and nominated for a Pushcart Prize by the editors of Sleet.

TYPISHLY, “The Pleasure of Your Company” November 2017

In this story the editors issued a challenge to fit the following into the last line of a story or poem: “Her half-smile floated in the air between them, residual lust held aloft in a dissipating cloud of desire.” I blushed doing so.

COMPOSE JOURNAL, “An Act of Charity”  May 2014

Rachel and Jared, a pair that used to date in college, run into each other 15 years later at a charity event. Neither is in a particular happy marriage and spending an evening together forces them to evaluate some of the choices they’ve made since deciding to go their separate ways. Rachel is the same character featured in the story “David” published in Literary Mama and The Drum. (see below)

THE ILANOT REVIEW, “FOR THE LOVE OF BUBBIE FAY” January 2014

Cousins navigate a complicated relationship with their judgmental grandmother. The story also features a Disney-themed Bat Mitzvah, a conversion to Christianity, and more.

MIDWESTERN GOTHIC, “A FRESH LIFE” July 2011

“A Fresh Life” is about a woman in her early thirties whose first funeral and shiva she has to attend is her mother’s, who was a local Martha-Stewart-esque celebrity, adding to the crazed sensation of the one-day shiva that the family is willing to observe.

MONKEYBICYCLE, “THE MESSENGER” June 2011

The last day of a childhood friendship is documented in “The Messenger” when one friend makes the bad decision to give the other some very awkward news.

THE DRUM LITERARY MAGAZINE, “DAVID” May 2011 (audio recording!) 

From The Drum’s editors: In Nina Badzin’s short story “David,” a post-delivery hospital room is the setting for a skirmish between husband and wife as they debate their new son’s name. The decision is rife with social, cultural, and religious implications, seeming to set husband and wife apart even as it brings mother and child together.

THE POTOMAC: A Journal of Poetry and Politics, “THE SAFETY WIFE” May 2011.

“The Safety Wife” is about a woman who finds out her husband’s boss has unusual plans for her future, making her wonder if everyone has a plan B for their romantic lives.

THE PEDESTAL MAGAZINE, “PICKY EATERS” April 2011

“Picky Eaters” is about the subtle competition between mothers—in this case a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law–who both have sons with challenging eating habits.

SLEET MAGAZINE, “SON” Summer & Fall 2010 Nominated for a Pushcart Prize

“Son”, a story about the complicated relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, takes places on the morning when the mother-in-law has tricked the daughter-in-law into attending an over-eaters’ addiction group called S.O.N. (Stop Overeating Now). While on the surface their relationship seems hostile, we see a tenderness between them that the daughter-in-law cannot find with her own mother when she needs it most.

LITERARY MAMA,“DAVID” March 2010 (First published as “Naming the Boy” in the print journal Talking Stick)

SCRIBBLERS ON THE ROOF, “A FRESH LIFE” February 2010 (Also a Glimmer Train finalist)