Baubles From Bones is a quarterly Pittsburgh-based zine dedicated to uplifting the voices of aspiring fantasy and sci-fi authors. The heroes of our stories cross swords with the undead and scavenge for supplies on charred planets; they are dreamers who get lost in the stars as well as the haunted wood. Our stories exist in the same space as the lost coins and hair ties that fall between couch cushions; as spent plasma cells and lost cat-bells. Faded pictures. Torn robes. Old Halloween masks. Evidence of the small lives we lead and the dreams we glean from them. We are as passionate about helping authors as we are eager to share their new and adventurous worlds with our audience.
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Meet the Team |
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Elyse Leskovic, editor and traveling saleswomanElyse is an aspiring author whose first literary love was poetry. She graduated with a degree in Creative Writing from Point Park University and is currently working on her first novel. If she isn’t writing, she’s reading, running between meetings, spending time with friends who are family, hugging trees, or printmaking. She's always looking up to the stars.
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Joel Troutman, editor and resident cookJoel Troutman studied fiction writing and English literature at the University of Pittsburgh and, everyday, uses his degree while stocking shelves at a local grocery store. To keep himself sane, he writes stories about cowboy frogs and environmentalist cyberpunks, some of which have been published by Blue Marble Press and Stupefying Stories. If Joel were a dog, he’d be a border collie or maybe a brown tabby cat (which is not actually a dog at all).
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Caroline Ritzert, social media manager and woman of STEMCaroline Ritzert spends her days cleaning and cataloging blood in labs across Pittsburgh. She’s a budding reader who fancies queer, heartfelt fantasy and cozy video games with personality-filled worlds. Armed with prior experience managing the social channels of a small business, Caroline embraces the sense of community and inherent silliness that comes from social media but does not self-identify as a meme-lord.
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Past members |
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Shane Gallaher, editor and local cryptidShane Gallaher is a writer and editor from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Day by day, he’s just your average warehouse worker, but come night, he enjoys writing deep, fantastical stories about vibrant and bristling new worlds. When not working the daily wage grind, Shane works as an audio engineer and plays a variety of instruments. Watch out for his lanky phalanges crawling out from his cave!
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Baubles From Bones © 2026
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