@bfbzine
~ Science fiction and fantasy from the small, overlooked places. ~ Publishing the best emerging and established writers in sff 💀 Read: baublesfrombones.com Subscribe: patreon.com/BaublesFromBones Pittsburgh, PA
Copies of various issues of Baubles From Bones displayed on a shelf in Heat Check in Shadyside.
Restocked the zine supply at Heat Check! Go check the homies out, buy some cool clothes, and drink a killer cup of coffee 🤙💀
Things have been a bit quiet from us lately. Sorry for that!
We've been dealing with some gnarly burnout after our latest submission window and are just now beginning to feel the life return to our bones. BFB7 is in full-swing as we catch up on our last emails. The patience is much appreciated. 💀
Apologies to any writers still waiting for an email from us! 🙏
We got more submissions than we were expecting this reading period and have quite a long list of final pieces we're still considering. Our goal is to settle our TOCs next week with emails following soon after. Thanks for the patience!!
Beyond excited to share I have a specfic poem in the new issue of Baubles From Bones:
bsky.app/profile/bfbz...
I'm a little late in posting this, but I had to dust and disinfect my promotional drum before I started the beat.
New poem today at @bfbzine.bsky.social! "Citation may be required" is blank verse, and about A.I., but don't let either of those scare you.
Thrilled to have a sci-fi / first contact story in the new issue of Baubles From Bones @bfbzine.bsky.social out today! www.baublesfrombones.com/in-terms-of-...
I got first seed for this story back in like 2022 when I visited the Immigration Museum in Dublin (a very cool spot). The blue lines showing migration reminded me of mycelium (i’d been reading a book on fungus, esp their networks, Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. Obv the museum focused on 1/
Just finished reading this story. I love it!
New story day! “Root and Branch” is out in Baubles from Bones issue 6. If you’re interested in fugitive replicants discovering gender with mad scientists in rural Thailand, boy, is this ever your lucky day! @bfbzine.bsky.social
www.baublesfrombones.com/root-and-bra...
New poem day!
Find "The Point of Measurement," in the newest @bfbzine.bsky.social. It's short & sweet. 👼➕❤️
www.baublesfrombones.com/point-of-mea...
Oh, and if you want to read this fantastic issue, you can purchase a copy from our etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/Baubles...
or read it for free online at baublesfrombones.com/latest-issue
Beyond thrilled with how BFB6 came together! Our deepest gratitude for the authors whose patience and skill made this issue work so nicely. It's seriously a joy that we get to work with them!
Live today at Bauble from Bones! www.baublesfrombones.com/alabaster-cr...
@bfbzine.bsky.social A special shout-out to the editor, Elyse, who made my horseback riding scenes so much better, and whose careful eye improved the story as well!
We have seven new stories and four poems, from hive mind farmers to Interplanetary eavesdropping and everything in between!
And even though this is our first issue without a witch feature, you can still expect to find mushrooms and fey 🍄✨
This made Elyse's heart so full! 😊 Such a beautiful story too!!
A copy of Baubles From Bones Issue 6, sitting amongst various house plants.
Baubles From Bones Issue 6 is now out!!
Scapegoats, old age, and alien gossip – through sharp-toothed friendships and blighted colonization, contemplate which common threads tie our societies together, leave us bound, and knot us into something new in this issue of Baubles From Bones. 📚🪐💀
Hehe glad you're excited! The squid harvest is such a strong image - absolutely perfect for a cover!!
We're incredibly pleased with how this issue came together! There are some hard-hitting stories in this one, quite directly tackling issues that are playing out around us, but there is escape here too. Fun to be had and comfort to warm your bones.
So happy to share this with you later this week 💀
Squidscape cover art by our regular collaborator @lucaskurz.bsky.social and inspired by @danifroom.bsky.social's poem "Entry 44"
Love how this cover turned out! Lucas did a fantastic job bringing the poem's bleak thaw to life.
Featuring work by @deborahldavitt.com, @marysoonlee.bsky.social, Parker McIntosh, @mcardlejeanne.bsky.social, @danifroom.bsky.social, @jimoloughlin.bsky.social, Lynn Sargent, @madalenadaleziou.bsky.social, @the-lettersea.com, @iamchrisscott.bsky.social
Cover art of Baubles From Bones Issue 6, art by Lucas Kurz. The corpses of giant squids are bundled for harvest and lifted by cranes in a thawing landscape.
Guess what time it is again!! 😊 Baubles from Bones Issue 6 will release on August 27th 2025!!
We have SEVEN new stories and FOUR poems from across the speculative spectrum.
You can buy your own physical or digital copy on our Etsy while individual stories will be on our website! 📚🪐💀
On a blurred background is an illustration of a dragon's skull in grayscale, ink running from its horns and jaw. Below the drawing is a quote that reads, "What can I tell you about my sister? I was barely eight when it all started. She wasn't much older, but she'd wash us and put us to bed and her hands were more tender than our mother's. We called her Lena. She had a longer name once. But bombs take; limbs, lives, even time itself. They clip names." From "A Dragon’s Hunger" by Madalena Daleziou in BFB6.
✨Story Spotlight Issue 6✨
In a country bloodied by millenia of war, a girl trains with a nun to take on a dragon.
You can read “A Dragon’s Hunger” by @madalenadaleziou.bsky.social in Baubles from Bones Issue 6, coming August 27th!!
On a blurred background is an illustration of carving tools in grayscale. Beneath it is a quote from a poem; it reads, "If the mathematicians have carved marble / for the sake of talking to angels, / why might not the physicists / seek out fey?" from "The Point of Measurement" by Lynn Sargent in BFB6
✨Poem Spotlight Issue 6✨
Experts in their fields, both scientists and artists long to understand the unknown.
You can read “The Point of Measurement” by Lynn Sargent in Baubles from Bones Issue 6, coming August 27th, 2025!! 📚🪐💀
On a blurred background is a drawing of a girl and an old yew tree, nearly connected by an underground network. A quote is below it, reading: "Regardless of where God is or what he likes, I feel alone, my dress scratching the mushroom gill breathing from in my armpits and elbows and behind my knees, and I am praying to anyone who will listen that they do not bring us to a doctor who will destroy me, and I will never go home." From" Westward I Reach" by Jennifer Jeanne McArdle in Baubles From Bones Issue 6.
✨Story Spotlight Issue 6✨
Blight sends a young Irish girl to a colonial English school where an ancient tree teaches her that fungal networks run deeper than human-drawn borders.
You can read “Westward I Reach” by @mcardlejeanne.bsky.social in Baubles from Bones Issue 6, coming August 27th!! 🪐📚💀
We've already been digging through the slush pile, and there's SO MUCH great work in here that we can't wait to publish! Witling down the longlist is going to be a painful experience.
Suffice to say though, we still have a lot of reading to do before then 😅
It is beyond exciting that so many writers want to share their work with us! It's also been really encouraging to see returning faces and to read some really sweet cover letters -- makes us feel like we're doing something right!
We closed our submissions last night with a staggering amount of responses! Our previous submission periods averaged about 450 response.
This time around, we got 585!!
Our minds are BLOWN. That's over 25% more than we expected. Absolute insanity!
We're looking into alternatives, but the options are few, especially with our work flow so rooted in Google Drive.
But even with the issues, this submission period has been our biggest yet! We're hoping the problems get ironed out, but in the meantime we'll be doing *a lot* of reading 💀📚
Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do about it. The problem seems to be on Google's end, and our non-existent submissions budget means we can't just switch to Submittable or Moksha next time around (although that'd be ideal).
For everyone that emailed us about it, I've ended up manually submitting their manuscripts. But it just makes us wonder about how many writers ran into issues and didn't let us know about it.
What kind of writing are we missing out on?