I love the New Yorker's fiction podcast. On each podcast, a New Yorker author reads another author's short story, and then discusses it with the fiction editor, who has the most soothing voice ever. I really like this part at the end because it includes a mixture of analysis, editorial notes, and interesting tidbits like "I don't know what he was thinking or even what that means, but I always loved that part." One author selected a Donald Barthelme story that I originally read when I was an undergrad. I remember how much I loved it back then, and how awesome it was that you could take facts and then completely make up stuff about those real facts because ultimately, it doesn't matter.
So I thought about Anne Boleyn on the cover of Forbes Magazine with the stitch marks of where they had reattached her head. This became a short story about all 6 wives of Henry the VIII converging in one location for a reunion of sorts.
"Whatever Happened.." was ultimately a perfect match for Southern California Review because they were doing a themed issue on "Remnants." At its core, it is fundamentally a story about the wreckage left behind after a relationship ends (either by divorce of beheading, in Henry the VIII's case).
Number of submissions: 13. Ratio of positive feedback to number of submissions: 38%. Time elapsed between completion of story and publication: 1 year.