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!
She Wears the Midnight Crown Contributor Spotlight: boneturtle
Biography: (They/Them)
Kevin lives in Maine with his two dogs and his lovely wife. When he’s not writing, he enjoys birdwatching and foraging for mushrooms.
Like Kevin, this author also has two dogs.
Links: Twitter
Story Title: Tiger Lily
Teaser:
The bookstore is dusty, dim, and staffed by precisely one old man.
Tora notes how slowly he rises when they walk in, takes in the rheumy eyes and arthritis-enlarged finger joints and wonders if Arnaud has made a mistake. This can’t be the tattoo artist.
Except, apparently, he is.
“This is the one I mentioned.” Arnaud introduces Tora like a pet, touches the side of their neck. “I thought this spot would be especially intriguing.”
Tora tenses.
The old man smiles vaguely. “Of course,” he says, and Tora’s stomach drops. “If you want me to give her blood poisoning.”
Tora relaxes marginally, but Arnaud squashes their relief by tilting Tora’s head sideways to trace over their cheekbone, just beneath their eye. “Here, then.”
The old man steps around the counter, floor creaking with every step. He studies the place Arnaud indicates and frowns.
“If I agree to make the mark, you will let me decide where, yes?” he asks.
Arnaud lets go of Tora’s face. “It needs to be visible.”
“Of course.”
Tora doesn’t care where he puts it. They already know this tattoo is going to hurt like hell, no matter where it goes. The ink for these things isn’t normal.
He Bears the Cape of Stars Contributor Spotlight: J. D. Rivers
Biography: J. D. writes speculative fiction where they fall deeply and madly in love and find a dead body, not necessarily in that order.
She collects hobbies as others collect books and has an unhealthy addiction to watching competitive cooking shows.
J. D. lives close to the woods with her husband and the cutest dog in the world.
Links: Personal Website | Twitter
Story Title: We drink the thunderstorm
Teaser:
Arell froze when the words finally made sense.
Murderer on the run! / Birthday party at de Borge mansion gone wrong / Secretary found dead / De Borge son wanted for questioning / Resistance pulling the strings? / Money offered for leads on whereabouts
“I don’t know what happened.”
“Bullshit.”
Arell flinched at the anger bristling down Tristan’s body. And yet that anger, that raw power – the danger that lurked in every one of Tristan’s movements – was also pulling him in.
“Is it true?”
“What?” Arell couldn’t make sense of the question. His mind was even more in tatters than he had assumed. The whole night was catching up to him.
“That Lorel is dead.”
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!