New Flash Piece: "All That Shimmers"

There is a backstory to this story.  Shimmer is, sadly, one of many, respected professional speculative short fiction markets that I have targeted aggressively without result.  I have submitted to Shimmer nearly every story that I have written in the past two years--over thirty in all.  I received mostly generic rejections, but occasionally some personal ones.  Most of the personals indicated that while my stories were otherwise good, they were not "shimmery."  Some even suggested in a snarky tone that I "read the magazine" in order to find out the kinds of stories Shimmer publishes.  Good advice.  I took it.  I still have no idea what "shimmery" means.

5% of my poetry submissions have resulted in sales, but only a dismal 0.5% of my short story submissions have.  I usually receive a rejection every day--often more than one.  "All That Shimmers" was composed in part as a response to the frustration of having stories that I know are well-written be constantly shot down.  And Shimmer has shot down enough of my stories for a novel-length collection.

"All That Shimmers" takes the form of a satiric fairy tale.  I had great fun packing as many "sh" sounds into it as possible.  This playful consonance really makes the story shimmer.  I used other poetic devices to advantage as well.  Hopefully, the slush readers at Shimmer will have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.