Welcome to She Wears the Midnight Crown and He Bears the Cape of Stars, two brand-new anthologies that share a common theme – masquerades – but tell different types of stories – wlw in She Wears the Midnight Crown and mlm in He Bears the Cape of Stars. These collections are the latest titles from Duck Prints Press, the indie publisher founded by fans to publish original works by fan creators, and they’re crowdfunding NOW, only on Seed & Spark!
Curious about the collections? Well, here’s a sneak peek of the works of two of our creators!
He Bears the Cape of Stars Contributor Spotlight: Kit Alexander
Biography: Kit (she/they/he) has been creating stories since before they could even hold a pencil; they still have a time-worn copy of their debut short work, “Sally Plays Outside,” which they carefully dictated to their mom at the tender age of three.
Now, Kit—who’s all grown up, supposedly—lives with their partner, two dogs, and a cat, in the Appalachian Valley of East Tennessee. They still write just about every day, and have been published by TL;DR Press, Bandit Fiction, Lickerish Library, and others. They also volunteer with the Organization for Transformative Works, and have more fingers than can possibly be hygienic dipped in many fandom pies.
They simply have too many fandoms to name, but some of their most abiding obsessions include: Supernatural, Dragon Age, Hades, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Captive Prince, Black Sails, and Avatar: the Last Airbender. They mostly write fic, but they’ve also dabbled in creating fanvids and moderating events and fan spaces. You can find them just about anywhere on the internet under the name Venhedish.
Outside of fandom, they deeply enjoy reading, creating art, playing the ukulele, knitting, and about a hundred other hobbies that don’t involve leaving the house. They’ve somehow managed to keep a veritable forest of houseplants alive over the last two years, and that in itself is probably the most impressive feat they’ve ever accomplished.
Link: Archive of Our Own
Story Title: Slán Abhaile
Teaser:
The rest of the countryside is desolate. Even the scattered houses miles ahead are shuttered for the night; no smoke puffs from their chimneys.
It’s a surprise, then, when I finally descend back into the valley and there comes the unmistakable sound of music just ahead. A light, too, flickering warm and orange from a fire, spreads itself over the dark mud under my feet. It grows brighter as I draw nearer, like a beacon in the night.
I round the base of the next hill and see that a tent has been erected in the rangy grass off the side of the path. It stands tall, gleaming in the light of a massive bonfire that crackles even over the sounds of fiddle and drum. The structure is draped in silks, resplendent in deep blues and golds and delicate pinks. There are people gathered here, dancing and laughing and casting weird shadows against the fabric of the structure. Looking at them makes my head swim, and I realized that I must be even drunker than I’d thought. How had I missed the sight of this gathering from my vantage on the hill? How had the music not carried to me?
She Wears the Midnight Crown Contributor Spotlight: Bunny K. Solomon
Biography: Bunny is an old-school romantic based in the UK. She is currently completing an MA in Creative Writing in London. This is her first formal publication.
Link: Personal Website
Story Title: Moon-Eyed
Teaser:
“Ada,” Elise repeats, and hearing her say it curls another shiver up the small of Ada’s back, a pleasant prickle of awareness. “You are a bookseller?”
“I am. And also printer, publisher. My father and I have a print shop on the street by the river.”
“A publisher?” Her eyebrows raise, intrigued. “Do you write?”
Ada does not, but she might try. “Would you like it if I did?”
Elise laughs.
Ada has seen boys court girls, deer-legged in their youth with eager, fumbling hands. She has loved girls as a boy would, loved them more, had them softening beneath her in beds of clover and drawn sounds from them like blood to the skin, the flush of pleasure, when the fallow fields lie empty.
She would love this Elise, too, if she would allow herself to be caught.
Intrigued? You should be! But, if you want to read the rest of these stories you’ll need to back our campaign, running now through July 14th, 2022!