Shimmer Magazine is an American print and electronic contemporary fantasy title with forays into science fiction and horror. The editorial team, led by senior editor E Catherine Tobler, often selects stories which are tinged with sorrow, though it is not averse to the occasional humorous tale. The title is currently celebrating its tenth anniversary and publishes a new edition every four months.
The editors aspire to print ‘excellent fiction across lines of race, income, nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, geography, and culture’, and therefore encourage submissions of diverse stories from diverse authors. Stories should ideally be unusual and beautifully-written speculative fiction stories with full plots, strong characters and a powerful emotional core. Stories with a distinctive voice and original imagery are preferred. Avoid formulaic sword and sorcery, hard SF, space opera, paranormal romance, and slasher/ body-mod horror. Anything involving mermaids, devils, writers, holidays, selkies, sexual violence or protagonists suffering from amnesia will be a hard sell. No multiple or simultaneous submissions, poetry, or reprints.