Shimmer Magazine - Issue 23

People often ask me, "what makes a story Shimmery," and it's not always easily answered -- sometimes, you don't know a story is Shimmery until you hit the end, and you realize there is a change inside you.

Shimmer #23 collects four stories about transformation and acceptance. From the seemingly unreachable depths of space to the hidden depths of the human heart, these new-to-Shimmer authors will take you on journeys you won't soon forget.

The Half Dark Promise, by Malon Edwards
Something moves in the half dark two gas lamps ahead of me. I hold fast at the edge of a small circle of gaslight cast down from the street lamp above me.

Of Blood and Brine, by Megan E. O'Keefe
Child's mistress was out when the scentless woman entered the shop and laid a strip of severed cloth upon the counter. For once, Child wished her mistress were at her side.

Be Not Unequally Yoked, by Alexis A. Hunter
Things used to be pure inside me. Separated. When I was a boy, I was wholly a boy. When I was a horse, I was wholly a horse. Things used to be simple inside me. I was all one thing or I was all another. And the two only got close when the change was happening.

Monsters in Space, by Angela Ambroz
When I think oil rig, I think big metal Viking onslaught in the night. I think tower of the gods, fucking Valhalla, and a screeching guitar solo. My eyeballs of imagination are compelled to perceive beautifully inky black skies, inky black seas, inky black oil. It is, in short, inky black badassery.