Letter from the EditorsHello, beloved Boneyard! Wherever you’re reading from, I hope you’re well and safe and warm. That last one’s especially pertinent if you’re somewhere in America’s northeastern regions, as we’re just thawing out of our biggest snowstorm that we’ve seen in the past seventeen years. I hope the coming warm weather brings a little more kindness with it. We’ve had one hell of a start to 2026, and I’m tired. Already. And it’s only month two. But there are still good things. Since our last issue, Joel, Caroline, and I enjoyed a nice holiday season with our families and friends. Our submissions opened on January 1st and closed on the 29th with 699 submissions (!)—I wish you could see the smile on my face. The snow of the aforementioned storm was cumbersome but made one of the most beautiful winters. We are alive. We are here, and so happy you’re with us. Welcome to Issue 8. A nepenthe that soothes the deepest hurts and a necromancer with an undecided moral code. A dragon whose hoard isn’t gold, and a spirit that transcends technology. The passing of a torch from one guardian to the next. A dark wood and its caretaker with his irreplaceable wife. A survivor and their haunting. A father with a past unburied. A guide to surviving what your family becomes. A coffee-bot. A case worker’s crisis. A sacrifice to stave off goodbye. A monster in the apocalypse, and all the forms he takes. This is a varied and ambitious issue that is as soft as it is gut-wrenching, but the thread I find most compelling across all of these pieces is that they show us what it means to care. To lose, to sacrifice, to hold on. What’s left when all is taken after one gives it, from the haunting quiet to the sparks we thought we lost. And, most of all, most importantly, no matter how daunting, why we should. To the authors of Issue 8, thank you a million times over for trusting us with these beautiful works. For your patience, openness, and time. We are honored for these stories and poems to have found a home with Baubles. To our patrons; the stores who carry our books; the writers who submit to us; our cover artist, Lucas; the Pittsburgh zine community, the conventions who’ve hosted us, and the friends we’ve made along the way; our families and friends who are family; our readers—we wouldn’t have made it to eight issues without your continued support. Thank you doesn’t feel like enough. Until next time, with much gratitude, Elyse Leskovic |
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