A. L. Heard is one of the founding members of Duck Prints Press and has been a part of our planning team since before our official inception, offering her advice and expertise to the Press since mid-2019, and she’s been an editor on our anthologies Add Magic to Taste, And Seek (Not) to Alter Me, He Bears the Cape of Stars, She Wears the Midnight Crown, and Aim For The Heart. She’s also a prolific author of stories of all lengths and in all genres, and one of the most active authors involved with the Press.
Pre-orders of the revised edition of A. L. Heard’s debut novel Hockey Bois open on December 1st, 2023!
Want to meet A. L. Heard and ask her YOUR questions? YOU CAN! Join us TOMORROW, Thursday, November 30th, at 8 p.m. Eastern time (converter) on our Book Lover’s Discord server for a very special Ask Me Anything session with the author of Hockey Bois!
Author Biography: 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.
Links: Bluesky | Instagram
How did you pick the name you create under?
It’s a combination of my [real life] name and family names, making it unique but also still connected to me.
When and why did you begin creating?
I started writing fic during middle school and went through phases where I’d write fic and original work and then long periods with no writing. I’m happy to be settled into writing on a regular basis 🙂
What’s your favorite part of the creation process?
The brainstorming and playing around with a new story and characters, where everything is still possible and I haven’t had to commit to any particular plot point.
Describe your ideal creation space.
An office that’s well lit with an endless supply of tea or coffee or snacks, with no distractions or extra noises except birds. Either that or a brewery or cafe with background noise.
What are your favorite snacks and/or drinks to consume while creating?
Tea, coffee, and baked goods (cookies, scones, that sort of thing)
What’s one thing (style, genre, etc.) that you think you’ll never do, and why not?
Epic fantasy – they’re awesome stories but I don’t have the creativity/brain for a large scale world and magic system like that.
Short Stories A. L. has published with Duck Prints Press:
- Brady Jensen vs. Haunted Houses (modern high school Hockey Bois au, m/m, getting together)
- Brambles, Pollen, and Other Natural Disasters (modern college Hockey Bois au, explicit, m/m, sex pollen)
- In Which James Willoby Enjoys a Ball Far More Than One Should (victorian, explicit, m/m, secret relationship)
- Masquerade at Melchor (in the anthology He Bears the Cape of Stars) (science fiction, m/m/m, heist rivals to lovers)
- The Musketeer’s Daughter: The Tale of Jacques Toussaint (in the anthology Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers” – coming to our webstore in January, 2024) (historical, f/m, trans musketeer, getting together)
- The Offered Ones (fantasy, no ship, found family, children lost in the woods)
- The Princess and the Maze (fantasy, no ship, fairy-tale vibe)
- Princess Antonia del Montari aka The Accidental Barista (modern, f/f, coffee shop fluff)
- Snowbound and Love Sick (modern college Hockey Bois au, explicit, m/m, snowed-in together)
- The Tasty Crumpet (in the anthology Add Magic to Taste) (modern with magic, m/m, idiots to lovers)
