Owner:
Claire Houck (she/they/he), pen name Nina Waters, fandom name unforth, is the founder and sole proprietor of Duck Prints Press LLC. She is genderfluid, queer, 39 years old, white, Jewish/atheist/Unitarian Universalist, married, and a mother of two. Claire has been writing since the young age of seven, when she penned (well, two-finger typed and printed dot-matrix) the timeless classic “the story of my littl ponies and the glob.” Since then, her spelling, grammar, and prose have improved immensely. She has written over three hundred short stories, a number of novellas, and 16 novels, some original, some fanfiction, including A Glimmer of Hope, which was successfully Kickstarted and self-published in fall, 2016. She’s also had three short stories published and edited two anthologies, one successfully Kickstarted, the second pending. Before she became a full-time writer, Claire had a career as a self-employed professional grant writer and program evaluator, providing consultation services for the New York City Department of Education and other non-profit education organizations. She wrote grants that won her clients more than $25 million and successfully juggled as many as 12 projects at a time. After she left that position, she founded and ran an in-home bakery for a year, but shut the business down when she started trying to have children. Her dream has always been to create and help others create, and Duck Prints Press is the culmination of that dream!
You can find Claire on: Tumblr | Twitter | Archive of Our Own | Goodreads
Advisory Committee:
Ashley, pen name A. L. Heard, fandom name jhoom, is a 35 year old teacher, writer, and mother of two little boys. She’s been writing fanworks since she discovered fanfiction.net back in her middle school days; the platform has changed and the writing’s improved, but Ashley ultimately still spends her free time writing about characters she adores in worlds she’d like to explore. Her first novel, Hockey Bois, was published in 2021. In between writing projects, she works as a language teacher in the Pittsburgh area, plays hockey, and plays trains with her sons.
You can find Ashley on: Tumblr | Twitter | Archive of Our Own
Alessa Riel has been reading and writing fanfic and creating fanart for more than twenty years in various fandoms. She lived through the great LJ-strikeout, witnessed the founding of AO3, and survived the Tumblr wars, and therefore regards herself as an internet veteran/grandma. She’s asexual and aromantic, as well as autochorrissexual. Alessa has a degree in media science and has worked as a graphic designer, among other things. She created the Duck Prints Press logo and mascot and supports the Press by creating graphics, covers, and teasers. Alessa hails from Germany and is happy to offer help with the language and culture where needed. She loves brainstorming and coming up with names, titles, and plot ideas.
Foop, pen name P. J. Claremore, fandom name formidablepassion, has been writing since a young age. Upon discovering fandoms and fanfic later in life, Foop instantly felt pulled to the community and the support found therein. Foop created a fandom writing challenge in 2017 that is still going strong. Foop is always happy to alpha read for both fan and original fic. When not writing, Foop enjoys spending time with the spouse and their horde of spawnlings, gardening, and crafting in one way or another. Foop is often found feeding and caring for mostly stray animals, watching the birds, and making plans to open a non-profit LGBT+ youth-support community and resource center.
Pallas Perilous (she/they) is an illustrator, writer, and designer who has been creating work inside, outside, and adjacent to fandom for twenty years. In her professional life, she primarily creates graphic novels for young adults through traditional publishers, but has also self-published half a dozen books, provided visual communications consulting for fancy tech companies, and done a lot of public speaking. She is active in several programs focused on mentorship and advocacy for emerging creators, especially those from fandom and marginalized communities.
When Lacey Hays isn’t dreaming of the stars or magical worlds, she can be found stomping around in the wild areas of Northern Oregon with her wife and son, or sipping on a coffee with her trusty notebook and fountain pens. Her writing journey began in the Star Trek: Voyager fandom and has continued for over two decades. At the moment, she’s plugging away at her first novel—a world that’s taken twenty years to come to life. Lacey is eager to continue sharing diverse stories set in dark, but hopeful, worlds.
You can find Lacey on: Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | Royal Road | Wattpad
Support Staff:
Miss Aceriee is our art advisor, merch reviewer, and artist mentor. Biography: Hi! I’m Aceriee and I draw sometimes. I’ve been drawing all my life, but after falling into the Supernatural fandom in 2014 I’ve mostly focused on fanart.
Links: Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter
Willa Blythe helps with our social media presence, event running, marketing, and communication. Willa made her storytelling debut at age 4 with indie smash “Sam the Stinky Skunk” and she hasn’t stopped writing since. Her first audience—her grandparents—shared a love of art and craft with her that remains central to Willa’s writing practice over thirty years later. Today, she lives in New York with her family, and primarily writes queer romance and speculative fiction.
Links: Personal Website | Twitter
Adrian Harley works with us as a copy editor. Adrian is an almost-lifelong North Carolinian and a fantasy fiction aficionado who didn’t start delving deep into fandom until adulthood. They are an editor of research by day and an aspiring novelist, also by day. They go to bed early. They have short stories forthcoming in OFIC Magazine and future Duck Prints Press anthologies. They live with their husband and a perfectly reasonable number of cats.
Link: Twitter
Hermit, whose name is Christine, does most of our manuscript text formatting and graphic design. Christine is a Canadian-based writer, fandom enthusiast and cooking aficionado. When she’s not working she offers custom typesetting for various projects because fonts are pretty and all the amazing stories that get created deserve to be made beautiful. She’s handled the typesetting of the previous DDP anthologies as well as the press-related title Commit to the Kick by Tris Lawrence.
Links: Pillowfort | Tumblr | WordPress
Sunny Powell advises and helps the Press with graphic design. Biography: I’m a they/them ace-spectrum trash panda with a love for political science and working hard to change the world one act of kindness at a time. I’m a graphic designer by day, a multimedia creator and writer by night, and I’ve been involved with various fandom communities for nearly twenty five years. I live in Portland, OR, with my 7-year-old son and two cats.
Link: SunnyPowellArt.com
Annabeth Lynch is a genderfae (she/they), bisexual author who writes mostly queer stories, preferring to write marginalized characters finding love. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, daughter, and two very overweight cats. She helps the Press with accounting and budget creation.
On Hiatus:
Adaille is an avid reader, and has been writing stories as long as they can remember. Around eight years old, they saved up their allowance one nickel and dime at a time to buy a typewriter—which they still have, although they mostly use a Mac now. Adaille joined the fanfic and fanart scene in 2018 after years in the Supernatural fandom, and has been hooked on the community ever since.
Retained Services:
Duck Prints Press, LLC, is a Limited Liability Corporation created in New York State in compliance with all required rules and regulations. Duck Prints Press, LLC, has received legal advice and is represented by Robert Hess of the firm Sullivan, Hess, and Youngblood, P.C., located at 4 Executive Park Dr., Albany, NY 12203-3717.