On my slush pile, I had a story I never thought would ever be published in a million years: The Furry Con Mystery or My Fursuit Is Hot (with apologies to Dashiell Hammett).
Having written it for myself, I thought it would never see light of day because:
1. It's dark fantasy/satire.
2. It's furry (the most despised fandom in the cosmos).
3. It has more detective cliches in each paragraph than a junkyard dog has fleas.
4. Did you see the length of that title?!?!
So it sat in my slush pile acting more like mulch than anything actually sellable.
Then, Loewen behold (that's a pun there), an anthology on detective-based horror came up and I sent it in.
After THREE years, the publishers admitted their anthology was vaporware.
Then another anthology of detective-based horror opened up and they said very specifically, NO HUMOR.
But I couldn't resist and mailed it to them anyway.
Today I mailed Grand Mal Press my contract for the story because they want it.
Lesson: Every story, if not written too poorly, has a potential market.