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Duck Prints Press Celebrates Folktales and Fables Week with Our Favorite Folktale-Inspired (often Queer) Fiction

This week, March 19th to 25th, is World Folktales and Fables Week! Duck Prints Press is celebrating with two blog posts: yesterday’s, which focused on the folktales, fables, and myths that influenced us as creators, and today’s, about our favorite folktale-inspired fiction (queer and otherwise).

Two Hands, Wrapped in Gold by S.B. Divya (suggested by Dei)

This past year I read this story in Uncanny Magazine Issue 46, and it’s really stuck with me. It’s a retelling of a folktale very familiar to many Westerners, and the changes made turn it into a very compelling new story all on its own. No spoilers on what story it is, but suffice to say it takes a new perspective and I love this piece to bits.


Once & Future by Cory McCarthy and A. R. Capetta (suggested by Tris Lawrence)

I’m currently really enjoying the duology by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy which is an Arthurian retelling in space with a female Arthur and multiple queer rep. It’s YA, and it’s just… fun? I love how it played with the the known pieces, and plays with Merlin’s aging backwards, and works to both fit within the expected and turn things around at the same time.

I’ve finished Once & Future (in Space) and just received Sword in the Stars (confronting the past) and can’t wait to get to read it after I finish what I’m already reading.


One For the Morning Glory by John Barnes (suggested by Nina Waters)

My favorite folktale-inspired book is John Barnes’s One for the Morning Glory. It’s just beautiful.


The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (suggested by Owlish)

Unfortunately, it does have a major character death because…well… Achilles. It is so beautifully written, though.


Burning Roses by S. L. Huang (suggested by Shadaras)

This novella takes inspiration from the fairytale Red Riding Hood and the legend of Hou Yi (as well as other classic Germanic fairy tales and Chinese legends!), and imagines both of those characters as middle-aged women uncertain of their place in the world. They travel together, fighting monsters, and tell each other about their youths and families (both of them have wives and children). The ending is happy, but the path there takes time and reflection from everyone involved. I love it because of how it blends two wholly separate mythologies together into one cohesive world, as well as for showing what might happen after the stories we know end.


The Book of Gothel by Mary McMyne (suggested by Owlish)

It’s a feminist retelling of Repunzel from the point of view of Mother Gothel setting her story straight.


Robin McKinley’s Fairy Tale Novels (suggested by E C)

Robin McKinley’s fairy tale novels are beautifully written (but sometimes brutal) retellings of some classic stories.


Guardian/Zhen Hun/镇魂 by Priest (suggested by boneturtle)

A danmei featuring humans, ghosts, demons, zombie kings, and all sorts of otherworldly creatures all wrapped up in an apocalyptic chinese folktale mashup from the master herself. taught me that 1) you are allowed to play with your own mythology, 2) fairytales are gay, 3) the apocalypse isn’t the end, just another spin of the wheel.


October Daye Series by Seanan McGuire (suggested by Sebastian Marie)

I love this series, there’s like eleven books, the first being Rosemary and Rue. They’re inspired by Irish folklore concerning the Faerie people.


Ash by Malinda Lo (suggested by E C)

“Ash” by Malinda Lo is a very queer Cinderella retelling.


Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed (suggested by Adrian Harley)

A gorgeous graphic novel of the modern world, but where wishes are a commodity, bought, sold, and processed. The graphic novel follows three people who come into possession of a “first-class” wish and their intertwining tales. It’s a beautiful exploration on a global and personal scale (what does colonialism look like in this world? How does law enforcement treat those who are seen as unworthy of having wishes? But also, if you’re a queer college student with major depression, what do you wish for to fix the mountain you feel crushing you? Are you even worthy of a wish?)—and it’s also really funny! I cannot say enough good things about this book, because I discovered it by chance on my library shelf last month and want everyone to know about it.


The Lunar Chronicles Series by Marissa Meyer (suggested by E C)

It’s sci-fi that brings Cinderella, Snow White, Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel characters into the same universe.


Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente (suggested by Anonymous)

[[[A retelling of a Russian folk tale about Koschei the Deathless.]]]


Saiyuki by Kazuya Minekura (suggested by Anonymous)

It’s a manga with a distinctly retro anime-style retelling of the Journey to the West that bluntly confronts themes of loss, grief, redemption, and the long, long road to admitting you care about other people. It’s been on and off hiatus for years due to the author’s poor health, but I still adore it. This series taught me that it’s the journey that matters, not the destination.


Bonus!

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (an inspiration to multiple people, suggested by multiple people)

When we asked our contributors to suggest the folktales and fables that inspired them, and their favorite folktale-inspired stories, The Mists of Avalon ended up getting nominated in both categories!

boneturtle said: retelling of Arthurian legend from Morgana’s POV. Not explicitly queer but features the women of the story with the men as sort of incidental, and given to me by my bi friend who said it helped her understand her own sexuality. and it’s beautifully, beautifully written.


There’s a wonderful number of fiction stories, novellas, novels, and series inspired by folktales and fables, and a growing number of those are queer. Have you got a favorite we didn’t mention? We’d love to hear about it!!

Who we are: Duck Prints Press LLC is an independent publisher based in New York State. Our founding vision is to help fanfiction authors navigate the complex process of bringing their original works from first draft to print, culminating in publishing their work under our imprint. We are particularly dedicated to working with queer authors and publishing stories featuring characters from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Love what we do? Want to make sure you don’t miss the announcement for future giveaways? Sign up for our monthly newsletter and get previews, behind-the-scenes information, coupons, and more!

Want to support the Press, read about us behind-the-scenes, learn about what’s coming down the pipeline, get exclusive teasers, and claim free stories? Back us on Patreon or ko-fi monthly!

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Celebrate World Folktales and Fables Week with 10 of Our Favorite Folktale Collections

This week, March 19th to 25th, is World Folktales and Fables Week! Duck Prints Press is celebrating with two blog posts: today’s, which focuses on the folktales, fables, and myths that influenced us as creators, and tomorrow’s, about our favorite folktale-inspired fiction (queer and otherwise).

Love folktales and fables? Join us now and learn about the ones we love – some you may know, some you may not!

D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths by Ingri d’Aulaire & Edgar Parin d’Aulaire (an inspiration for Shadaras)

The first book that comes to mind is D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths (I had to look up the title, but the cover is burned into my memory). While there may be other collections of fairytales and folklore that struck me, this is one of the first ones I read, and it set the stage for my love of mythology in general.


The True Story of the Three Little Pigs! by Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith (an inspiration for Veronica Sanders)

I remember being really inspired by the genre of “a well-known story told from a different perspective” after reading the Jon Scieszka/Lane Smith books in 2nd grade, like The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. I always really liked thinking about folktales and fables from the POV of the “villain.”


Folktale-Inspired Disney Films (an inspiration for Adrian Harley)

I was a Disney-loving child of the 90s, so I am still unpacking the ways that shaped my view of folk stories, stories as a whole, and the world—and reconciling the positive ways these stories shaped me vs. the harms of the Disney corporation.


The Onion Girl (and other stories) by Charles de Lint (an inspiration for Anonymous)

He did an amazing job of blending American and European folklore with ordinary life in all its highs and lows. I don’t know if I could point to a specific story that’s retelling any one folktale, but I can absolutely point to the author as a whole for his folkloric style and tender exploration of magic, queerness, and being outcast. He helped invent the Mythic Fiction subgenre. The Onion Girl lives in my head rent-free.


Folktales of the Amur: Stories from the Russian Far East by Dmitri Nagishkin (an inspiration for Nina Waters)

A collection of eastern Russian folktales that really had a huge impact on me. 30+ years on from when I read them, I honestly couldn’t relate a single one of the stories, but they burrowed so deep into my psyche that when I imagine “folktales that really mattered to me” the first image that comes to mind is the cover. The art throughout the book is just absolutely gorgeous.


The Rose-Beauty – a Turkish Fairy Tale (an inspiration for Alessa Riel)

This is a Turkish fairytale that impressed me because it was cruel even for a fairytale. It‘s about a young woman who is blessed from birth to grow roses in her hair, cry pearls and grow grass wherever she walks and the cruel fate she is dealt because people are jealous of her gifts. It has a happy ending but only just.


A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz (an inspiration for Sebastian Marie)

It had a HUGE influence on me as a kid, for two main reasons. One, the events of a lot of European fairytales are told as happening to the same two kids and their parents, which creates a really interesting story structure. Two, it’s unabashedly mean and gory and cruel and well, dark and grim. It says that sometimes people are terrible and sometimes bad things happen to decent people. It’s one of the things that made me want to write fairy tales, or at least stories that are a bit gruesome and meant to be told to children.


The Swan-Maiden – a fairy tale (an inspiration for Alessa Riel)

This is a variant of the selkie tale as far as I can tell, only that the women don‘t turn into seals but beautiful swans. It was the version of the lore I first encountered and the unfairness of the women being forced to marry their captor and abuser and then also being cursed for abandoning the children these men forced onto them always resonated deeply with me.


The Blue Light by The Brothers Grimm (an inspiration for Alessa Riel)

In this fairytale a veteran soldier is unjustly treated by the king and then a witch sets him three challenges. The third one is getting her a blue light from a deep well. He refuses to give her the light and she drops him into the well along with the light. It turns out the light can fulfill wishes. Up to this part the veteran looks like a sympathetic person, but he uses those wishes to have the princess dragged to his room three nights in a row to do his bidding against her will. He is finally found out and sentenced to death for this transgression but manages to escape that fate by using the blue light and he gets the kingdom and the princess to boot. I always found this supremely unfair.


Egyptian Mythology (an inspiration for Dei Walker)

I think one of the first books of folktales, legends, or fairy tales I can remember reading repeatedly is a copy of Egyptian myths and legends I used to get out of my local public library when I was young. It was already an old edition in the 1980s and its pages were yellowed, but I would borrow it regularly and lose myself in the stories of life and (un)death along the Nile.


What are some folktales and fables that have inspired YOU? We’d love to hear about them, and maybe find some classical stories to add to our To Be Read piles!

Who we are: Duck Prints Press LLC is an independent publisher based in New York State. Our founding vision is to help fanfiction authors navigate the complex process of bringing their original works from first draft to print, culminating in publishing their work under our imprint. We are particularly dedicated to working with queer authors and publishing stories featuring characters from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Love what we do? Want to make sure you don’t miss the announcement for future giveaways? Sign up for our monthly newsletter and get previews, behind-the-scenes information, coupons, and more!

Want to support the Press, read about us behind-the-scenes, learn about what’s coming down the pipeline, get exclusive teasers, and claim free stories? Back us on Patreon or ko-fi monthly!

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Celebrate National Grammar Day with 6 of Our Favorite Grammar Quirks!

What are your favorite things in grammar?

Here are some of ours!

Interrobang: a punction mark ‽ designed for use especially at the end of an exclamatory rhetorical question.

Example: You call that a cat‽

Kenning: a metaphorical compound word or phrase used especially in Old English and Old Norse poetry.

Example: a bone-cage = a body.

Oxford Comma: a comma used to separate the second-to-last item in a list from a final item introduced by the conjunction and or or

Example: She thanked her parents, Dolly Parton, and Jay-Z.

Em Dash: a dash that is one em wide; the em dash can function like a comma, a colon, or a parenthesis

Example: I and Justin—no not that one, the other Justin—are going out tonight.

Garden Path Sentences: a grammatically correct sentence that starts in such a way that a reader’s most likely interpretation will be incorrect

Example: The old man the boat.

Zeugma: the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words, usually in such a manner that it applies to each in a different sense or makes sense with only one

Example: She opened the door and her heart to the homeless boy.


Post contributors: theirprofoundbond, boneturtle, unforth, owlish, and shadaras.

Who we are: Duck Prints Press LLC is an independent publisher based in New York State. Our founding vision is to help fanfiction authors navigate the complex process of bringing their original works from first draft to print, culminating in publishing their work under our imprint. We are particularly dedicated to working with queer authors and publishing stories featuring characters from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Love what we do? Want to make sure you don’t miss the announcement for future giveaways? Sign up for our monthly newsletter and get previews, behind-the-scenes information, coupons, and more!

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Celebrating Thesaurus Day

Today is Thesaurus Day! To celebrate, we asked our crew of blog contributors to share their favorite common word and synonym of it. Take a walk through some fabulous words with us…


Our first synonym was offered by Hermit.

slubberdegullion (noun): a dirty rascal, scoundrel, wretch


Our second synonym was offered by Nina Waters (it’s me!).

bemused (adjective): confused, bewildered


Our third synonym was offered by Tris Lawrence.

ubiquitous (adjective): omnipresent, widespread


Our fourth synonym was offered by EC.

holler (noun): a shout, a cry; a small valley (dialectical)


Our fifth synonym was offered by Sebastian Marie.

harangue (noun): a rant, a lecture


Our sixth synonym was offered by Alessa Riel.

epiphany (noun): an illuminating revelation.


Our seventh synonym was offered by annabethlynch (@annabethlynch).

pulchritudinous (adjective): beautiful, alluring


Our eighth synonym was offered by boneturtle.

fell (noun, adjective): a moor (n.); sinister (adj.)


Our ninth synonym was offered by R. L. Houck (who has a story coming out this Saturday, by the by…).

rebuke (verb): reprimand


Our tenth (and, sadly, last) synonym was offered by Adrian Harley.

rapscallion (noun): rascal, ne’er-do-well


What are your favorite synonyms? We’d love to hear!

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Book Publishers Day

A lesser known but important celebration, Book Publishers Day is one of our favorite holidays at Duck Prints Press. Join us on the exciting journey of LGBTQIA+ storytelling and pick a new adventure from our store. On this special day we’re happy to share a bit of our secrets, too! What would you like to know about publishing but were always afraid to ask?

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Our Ten Favorite Sci-Fi Reads of 2022

To celebrate Science Fiction Day, which is today on January 2nd, 2022, we asked DPP contributors to recommend us their favorite science fiction that they read in 2022! And we got some really awesome answers… (all spelling/grammar is sic the original recommender 😀 )

The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard. D. V. Morse’s recommendation: “lesbian pirates in space with lots of Vietnamese culture throughout. And so much more I want to say that I keep deleting because spoilers.”

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Cap’s recommendation: “a ‘motley crew/found family on a perilous journey’ story that centers queer, poly, and otherwise non-traditional characters and relationships. Book 1 of a Hugo-winning series, female author.”

The Testing (The Testing Trilogy) by Joelle Charbonneau. Annabeth Lynch’s recommendation: “I absolutely loved it and I never see people talk about it. It’s distopian sci-fi.”

Threadbare (Storm Fronts Series) by Elle E. Ire. boneturtle’s recommendation: “an action-packed futuristic scifi story featuring ruthless mercenary and cyborg Vick, whom no one (including herself) believes is human, and her lover and handler Kelly, the only person who trusts her implicitly. A simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking lesbian romance that confronts the nature of love and humanity, and what it means to be the hero when you feel like the villain.”

Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace. Adrian Harley’s recommendation: “one of my favorite books I read this year. It’s got a fun adventure setup about a VR gamer who starts discovering the truth behind the star NPCs of the VR game, PLUS the most chillingly plausible dystopia I’ve ever read, bar none, PLUS an aro/ace protagonist and a central platonic relationship.”

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal. Dei Walker’s recommendation: “it’s The Thin Man in SPAAAACE with a heroine with chronic pain, a really deftly handled non-gender-binary selection of characters, and queer.”

Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell. alec’s recommendation (without comment).

Scythe by Neal Shusterman. nottesilhouette’s recommendation: “the whole series has queer characters in it though the first book is really focused on like 5 people that are all kinda straight. and I am queer, and I like it.”

Global Examination by Mu Su Li. Nina Waters’s recommendation: “queer semi-dystopian vaguely sci-fi manhua shenanigans!”

The Martian by Andy Weir. Rascal Hartley’s recommendation: “not queer, but definitely one of my absolute favorite reads.”

What were YOUR favorite science fiction reads of 2022? We’d love to hear about them!

Who We Are: Duck Prints Press LLC is an independent publisher based in New York State. Our founding vision is to help fanfiction authors navigate the complex process of bringing their original works from first draft to print, culminating in publishing their work under our imprint. We are particularly dedicated to working with queer authors and publishing stories featuring characters from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Love what we do? Sign up for our monthly newsletter and get previews, behind-the-scenes information, coupons, and more.

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Happy Public Domain Day!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Today, aside from the beginning of a hopefully readful and prosperous year, is the Public Domain Day—a day when a selection of creative works enters the public domain. What does it mean? For writers, more sources of inspiration. For readers, reimaginings and expansions of the stories they know and enjoy!Here, at Duck Prints Press, we love public domain. (Does it have something to do with our fanfiction roots? Perhaps!) And we make good use of it too. Last year, we published “And Seek (Not) to Alter Me”—an anthology inspired by Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”. In 2023, we’re taking a spin at Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers” in the upcoming anthology “Aim for the Heart”. Both possible thanks to the original works being in the public domain.

Do you have favorite stories based on public domain works? Tell us about them! Is there anything you’re excited about entering the public domain this January 1st?