Last Dance

“Last Dance is the impressive debut short story collection from Nicole Zelniker. With her clear, accessible prose and sharp insights into the human condition, she skillfully illuminates such difficult themes as HIV, eating issues, and mother/daughter dynamics, with an eye that is perceptive and unsettling, but not without redemption. Stories such as ‘Aftermath’, ‘Lucky,’ or ‘Hands’ clearly demonstrate her emerging talent.”

– Geraldine Mills, author of Hellkite


“Zelniker’s collection of stories gives voice to the unheard, to the lost, and to those who feel invisible, vulnerable, and are struggling to be embraced. The writing is filled with weighty details and metaphors that make the stories sing.”

– Sandra Fox Murphy, author of Aging Without Grace


“Nicole Zelniker has produced a splendid debut collection of well-crafted, original, wonderfully readable coming-of-age tales. A delightful collection by a gifted storyteller.”

– Jay Neugeboren, author of Imagining Robert


“In her willingness to go places dark and light, and in prose that is both crystal clear and palpably suggestive, Nicole Zelniker reminds us that to be human means to move in complex concert with others, even when our individual dances feel like strange, dizzying solos. Watching her characters contend with the motions of their lives is like being allowed inside a room you recognize but take in from a fresh, exposed corner. A wonderful debut collection.”

– Mylène Dressler, author of The Last To See Me


Nicole Zelniker is an author, and editor at The Conversation US. Her stories have been published in The Hungry Chimera, Fixional, littledeathlit, The Nassau Review, Newtown Literary, and New Reader Magazine. Her short story “Dress Rehearsal” was featured in Renaissance Press’ Nothing Without Us anthology. Nicole is also the author of “Mixed,” a non-fiction book about race and mixed-race families from The Nasiona. Check out the rest of her work at nicolezelniker.com.