You’ve probably heard me mention the submissions grinder website before, as that’s where I found the majority of the magazines I’ve reviewed. It’s an excellent tool for short story authors, as it will list magazines that are currently accepting submissions of a story’s genre and length. Also, if you log your submissions there, it will filter out magazines that you’ve already submitted that story to.
The website also publishes a story each week or two, under the name diabolical plots. While I’m a big fan of the grinder, I can’t say I’m a fan of the diabolical plots short stories. I read eight of them, giving only two three-star ratings, and no four or five-star ratings.
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The Entropy of a Small Town (#31B) by Thomas Carpenter. A gay teen can trade his memories to fix things.
Strung (#31A) by Xinyi Wang. A young boy (or possibly girl, it was a bit confusing) can see red cords that lead between soulmates.
Typical Heroes (#30B) by Theo Kogod. 10% superhero story, 90% fast-food worker whining about his life.
For Now, Sideways (#30A) by A Merc Rustad. A vignette about a soldier right after a war ends.
The Shadow Over His Mouth (#29B) by Aidan Doyle. A food blogger ends up in a horror story. Told in the form of blog posts.
Monster of the Soup Cans (#29A) by Elizabeth Barron. There is a monster in the cupboard. That’s about it.
Regarding the Robot Raccoons Attached to the Hull of My Ship (#28B) by Rachael Jones and Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali. One sister wants to drop a “terraforming nuke” on Mars. The other sister wants to stop her. If you like family drama, this is a pretty good one.
The Existentialist Men (#28A) by Gwendolyn Clare. The league of people with useless superpowers.
Planetary Defense Command 
I like that useless superheroes idea. If there are mutants they won’t all be super successful.
The useless powers in this story are too over-the-top to be explained by mutation. The only possible explanation would be a god/gods who enjoy mildly tormenting people.
You could have fun worldbuilding with powers that are useless for traditional superhero stuff but that people still figure out to make a living with. You have the power to kill vegetation? You’ll make a killing in kudzu removal in the South.
It would be fun to do. Superpowers won’t solve the problem, the willpower and mentality will. The powers could lend a hand during the process.
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