Category: A. L. Heard

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“He Bears the Cape of Stars” and “She Wears the Midnight Crown” Books and Merchandise Now on Sale!

Duck Prints Press’s anthologies He Bears the Cape of Stars and She Wears the Midnight Crown, featuring 34 stories by 34 authors exploring the potential for mlm and wlw relationships growing and changing during unusual masquerades, are now available! From science fiction to fantasy to modern to historical, these anthologies take the reader to many different settings, with larger-than-life characters exploring the world around them, the people they meet, and themselves! The casts are as diverse as Pride itself, and whether they’re looking for love, a second chance, a companion, or a friend, these books have a little bit of everything!

HE BEARS THE CAPE OF STARS, featuring 17 mlm stories, is available for sale on:

The Duck Prints Press Website | Barnes and Noble | Kobo

SHE WEARS THE MIDNIGHT CROWN, featuring 17 wlw stories, is available for sale on:

The Duck Prints Press Website | Barnes and Noble | Kobo

…and many other major e-book sales platforms! And you can request your library purchase it through the e-book lending program of their choice!

AND THAT’S NOT ALL!

Extra merchandise from the masquerade anthologies crowdfunding campaign is now on sale too! Did you miss the campaign? Are you dying for an amazing tote bag, a gorgeous bookmark, an aromatic candle, a glossy sticker or two, a new patch, or some lovely queer art for your walls? You can get this merch, and lots of merch from our past campaigns, from our website NOW!

She Wears the Midnight Crown merchandise: art print | bookmark | dux sticker

He Bears the Cape of Stars merchandise: art print | bookmark | dux sticker

Other campaign merchandise: chibi masquerade patch | scented candle | tote bag

Was there campaign merch you wanted that’s not available on our store? We have very limited quantities left of our enamel pins, and we have a whole heck of a lot of seconds (as in, damaged copies) of the print books! If your interested, feel free to drop us a line on any of our social media platforms or at info at duckprintspress dot com – we’d be delighted to hook you up!

Come now to the Duck Prints Press website and GET YOUR BOOK ON! You’re not going to want to miss these amazing collections or any of the gorgeous merch!

(and if you can help us spread the word by sharing this post, we’d appreciate it a lot, too!)

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, claim free stories, and get backer-exclusive extras when you support our crowdfunding campaigns? Back us on Patreon or ko-fi monthly!

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New Release: “Princess Antonia del Montari, aka The Accidental Barista” by A. L. Heard

Title: Princess Antonia del Montari, aka The Accidental Barista

Author: A.L. Heard

Genre: Modern with Magic

Rating: General

Relationship Type: commoner/noble, employee/customer, f/f

Character Features: royalty

Tags: attraction at first sight, coffee shop setting, first date, meet cute, mistaken identity, pov third person limited, present tense

Teaser:

“Excuse me?” someone asks from her right.

Toni startles slightly. She frowns in dismay as the coffee sloshes over the edge of one of the mugs.

Once everything’s balanced again, Toni looks over to the nearest table.

Black leather jacket, knee-high boots over dark skinny jeans, a too-loose T-shirt for a band Toni’s never heard of, and a myriad of piercings all conspire to make Toni’s heart pound in her chest and her mouth go dry. It’s only worse when she meets the woman’s eye and gets lost in caramel. She stands there, marveling at the beautiful woman so long that even Toni’s aware it’s become awkward.

Length: 10 pages/2,553

You know your Saturday would be better with some wlw meet-cute fluff, so get some RIGHT NOW!

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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New Erotica Release: Snowbound and Love Sick

This last Saturday of January, we’re posting the third and final of our “Snowed In” theme stories for the month – Snowbound and Love Sick, a story in which author A. L. Heard grabs the main character from her novel Hockey Bois and puts them in an alternate setting where instead, they met in college!

Title: Snowbound and Love Sick

Author: A. L. Heard

Genre: Modern, Fanwork

Series: Hockey Bois (alternate universe using the same main characters)

Rating: Explicit

Relationship: idiots to lovers, m/m

Character Features: athlete, homosexual, oblivious

Tags: alternate universe, attraction at first sight, college setting, dirty talk, first kiss, first time together, frottage, getting together, mutual pining, past tense, pov third person limited, sports (hockey)

Teaser:

Just as he got a pot of water on the stove for some pasta, Nick heard thundering footsteps coming up the front steps. The door swung open, and Brady walked in, snow dusting his beard and clinging to his jacket.

Brady Jensen. Ugh, where to start? They’d met at freshman orientation, when Nick had fallen hard and fast for the brooding, dark-haired, blue-eyed cutie from his dorm. Brady was tall, fit, and worst of all, smart as hell with his awful (read: hot) applied mathematics and computer science double major. Actually, scratch that. Worst of all: Brady played hockey for their school’s D1 team. Not only were athletes hot, but hockey was the be-all and end-all of sports as far as Nick was concerned. His biggest mistake had been watching Brady’s games, because d-a-m-n.

Basically, Brady was designed to be Nick’s dream guy… except that he was completely straight.

Length: 21 pages/7,706 words

Price: $1.99 USD

Warm up the January chill (or, for those in the southern hemisphere, add some steamy to a summer night) with this all-new short story by A. L. Heard!

Can’t get enough “Snowed-In” stories? Check out “Best Friends AND…” by Tris Lawrence and “A Mutual Interest” by Alec J. Marsh!

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 and read your fill!

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Coming Soon: Duck Prints Press February Release Schedule

Wondering what we’ve got coming out in February? Well, wonder no more! Learn all about it, and read some teasers!

The theme for February is Storm’s Coming. Themes are selected by our monthly backers on Patreon and ko-fi, and we invite all our authors to interpret the theme loosely and draw inspiration from it. In February, three of the six stories we’re releasing are theme stories.

Duck Prints Press Titles (General Imprint)

February 11th: In Good Company by Nicola Kapron (theme story). Genre: Modern. Relationship: m/m. Primary Tags: horror, murder-husbands-to-be. Length: novelette.
Teaser: The first time Haruki Aoyama had gotten close to someone rotten, he’d been heartbroken. Now he was so used to being disappointed that he’d begun to seek it out. The signs were easy to spot once he’d learned to see them: a household with a too-quiet child and a too-loud adult. Kids who were never dressed right for the weather sitting in parks and under overhangs, waiting for someone to finally let them in. People who bought kids’ toys and clothes at the counter Haruki worked and said contradicting things when he commented on how the kid never seemed to join them at the store. Yes, once you had your eyes open, it was easy to see how many children were being failed by the monsters of this world.

February 18th: Princes Antonia del Montari, aka The Accidental Barista by A. L. Heard. Genre: Modern. Relationship: f/f. Primary Tags: meet cute, fluff. Length: short story (under 3k words).
Teaser: Toni slumps in her chair and stairs forlornly out the cafe windows. It’s a beautiful day, complete with a cloudless sky, birds singing cheerfully, and that perfect spring temperature appropriate for wearing anything from tank tops to sweatshirts. Really, it’s perfect.

And Toni’s stuck inside, working on an essay and about to get her third cup of coffee

February 25th: Moonweaver by Willa Blythe (theme story). Genre: Fantasy with Science Fiction. Relationship: f/f. Primary tags: trauma, climate change, friends to lovers. Length: short story.
Teaser: “The Universe has spoken,” Grandmother Flame said quietly, tossing a bit of powder on the fire and turning the flames a brilliant indigo. “Pomegranate and Honeycomb will beseech the Moon on our behalf to bring back the night and restore the balance of the world. I trust you will all send them both off with honor.”

Duxxx Prints Press Titles (Erotica Imprint)

February 4th: Lightbringer by boneturtle (theme story). Genre: Fantasy. Relationship: m/m. Primary Tags: amnesia, martyrdom, reunion, second chances. Length: novelette.
Teaser: There is a village at the far edge of the world where the people return to the same life each time they die. Endlessly, they forget, and live each of their lives as though it was their first. They climb the mountains, and fish in the frozen lakes, and eat what the forest provides. They are improbably happy, and they pray to no one.

Except for once, each year, when the light begins to fade.

February 18th: The Fated Prince by Mikki Madison. Genre: Historical with Magic. Relationship: m/m. Primary tags: arranged marriage, human/fae relationship, as slow a burn as you can get in 5,000 words. Length: short story.
Teaser: “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today—” 

To watch His Royal Highness, Prince Richard, sacrifice himself on the altar of his father’s hubris.

February 25th: We All Need to Get By by Lyn Weaver. Genre: Gothic/Fantasy with Technology. Relationship: m/m. Primary tags: relationship of convenience, human/vampire relationship, vampiric feeding kink. Length: short story.
Teaser: Kel hadn’t set out to become a vampire’s snack. Like most things in his life, it had just sort of happened. He’d done something stupid because it had looked like fun, realized exactly where that path would lead him if he continued down it, and then somehow been surprised when he ended up exactly where he’d thought he would. The very first time Sevan had showed up in the old church, looking to thank the new neighbour for banishing that dreadful aura of zealotry that had been clinging on for centuries, Kel had looked at him and thought, I’m gonna end up being sucked dry, aren’t I?

Intrigued? Want to make sure you don’t miss any of these? Your best bet is to sign up for our monthly newsletters and get previews, behind-the-scenes information, coupons, and more! Alternatively, pick any of our social media platforms to follow us on – we always cross-post about new releases!

Interested in reading more, and maybe claiming some of these stories for free? Backers on our Patreon and ko-fi get lots of extra content, sneak peeks, and a minimum of one free story each month!

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.

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Storygraph Giveaway: He Bears the Cape of Stars

A few days ago, we launched another giveaway on Storygraph! Last month, we gave away 10 copies of She Wears the Midnight Crown. This month, we’re giving away He Bears the Cape of Stars! Crowdfunding backers have now all received their copies, but we won’t be listing the anthologies on our website until March 15th, so this is an exclusive extra chance for non-campaign-backers to get their hands on a copy early!

What is Storygraph? The awesome independently owned-and-operated alternative to Amazon-owned Goodreads! Working with them as a publisher doing this giveaways has been phenomenal: they’re organized, receptive to feedback, interested in innovative, and responsive. We’re thrilled to continue working with them on giveaways. If you’ve wanted a Goodreads alternative for organizing your reading, posting your reviews, logging your book collections, and more, you should definitely check them out.

What is Duck Prints Press? We’re the indie publisher dedicated to helping creators transition from creating primarily fanworks to creating primarily original works! We especially focus on publishing works featuring LGBTQIA+ characters.

What is He Bears the Cape of Stars? Along with She Wears the Midnight Crown, He Bears the Cape of Stars is one of a a pair of anthologies which share the same theme, but feature different kinds of relationships. For these anthologies, we sought pitches for stories featuring masquerades – the more unusual, the better! While we love classic “historical setting, mistaken identity” shenanigans, we were looking for stories more out-of-the-box (under-the-mask?) than that. 17 authors contributed mlm stories to this collection, and the works range from heartwarming fluff through dystopian drama!

Want your own copy of this awesome, innovative collection? Enter our giveaway on Storygraph NOW!

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 and read your fill!

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LAST DAY FOR EERIE ANIMAL KICKSTARTER, and New Release: “The Offered Ones” by A. L. Heard

Today, as we release the last of our four “Eerie Fall” Kickstarter tie-in stories, we also enter the final 24 hours to back our crowdfunding campaign!

Love artwork by Aceriee (Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter)? Love enamel pins? Then don’t miss out on these gorgeous pins featuring Aceriee’s work! There’s currently only two designs unlocked – the Wolf and the Crow – but with a strong final 24 hours, we can unlock two more – the bear and the moose! Support a small business on this awesome Small Business Saturday, and help us reach the goal by checking out the campaign now!

Meanwhile, we have our fourth and final “Eerie Animal” tie in story, a perfect one for exploring the animals in the campaign, because in this story…all these animals are characters!

Title: The Offered Ones

Author: A. L. Heard

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: General Audiences

Trigger Warnings: body horror, harm to children

Relationship: found family

Character Features: animal, animal transformation (involuntary), bird, non-human character

Tags: animal point of view, body modification (involuntary), pov third person limited, sentient animal

Teaser:

There was a girl sleeping in Forest.

Fox didn’t know the girl. She was a human, that much was clear, though he hadn’t seen her kind in ages. They traveled this way and that like they owned the whole world—he had seen many before—but most stayed away from Forest. They were blind, deaf, dumb creatures, unable to perceive what was in front of them. Still, they sensed the magic of Forest, so they stayed away. If they did wander into the dense line of oak and pine, they spoke in hushed voices and didn’t linger.

They certainly didn’t sleep in Forest.

Length: 17 pages/6,400 words

Price: $1.99 US

Get it now!

Can’t get enough Eerie Fall stories? Check out the other three theme stories: “Widow’s Black” by Nina Waters; “Campfire Stories” by Nicola Kapron; and “A Shield For the People” by Puck Malamud.

Love what we do? Sign up for our monthly newsletter and get previews, behind-the-scenes information, coupons, and more!

Want to support the Press and get lots of our stories? Consider backing our Patreon or ko-fi monthly at a level that includes free stories, and read your fill!

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Monthly Backer Story: A Hockey Bois AU by A. L. Heard

Do you love A. L. Heard’s work? Have you read Hockey Bois and can’t get enough of Brady and Nick? Well, this month’s fluff story – free to all our monthly backers on Patreon and Ko-fi – is a Hockey Bois high school AU straight from the source!

Title: Brady Jensen vs. Haunted Houses

Author: A. L. Heard

Genre: Modern

Rating: General Audiences

Relationship: M/M

Character Features: character feature: athlete, character feature: high school student, profession: hockey player

Tags: alternate universe, fanworks, first kiss, friends to lovers, halloween, past tense, pov third person limited, setting: high school, setting: haunted house, setting: sports

This work is an alternate universe take on the characters in A. L. Heard’s stand-alone novel Hockey Bois, which is currently available on Amazon and will be available on the Duck Prints Press website in the next few months.

Teaser:

“Don’t give me that look,” Gail teased. “Just because your crush texts me and not you doesn’t mean you should be jealous.”

Brady offered her a constipated smile and let her pull him through the crowd. He didn’t argue with her, and he was thankful she’d misunderstood his unease. Yes, he was a little jealous about the Nick thing. Brady’s crush on Nick was well known to their teammates even though Nick (thankfully) remained unaware. Over the years they’d played together on the ice, Brady had never worked up the courage to ask him out.

But no, that wasn’t why his hands were clammy and butterflies danced in his belly. The unfortunate truth was… Brady didn’t like haunted houses.

This story is a free bonus to all our monthly backers, no matter their backing level – and our monthly backers get a new short story every month! And, if you back now, you can also get access to all nineteen short, fluff stories we’ve posted for our backers since our Patreon and ko-fi started!

AND you’ll get lots of other awesome benefits too!

Check us out on Patreon or ko-fi NOW!

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First-Ever Giveaway for One of Our Titles!

Are y’all familiar with Storygraph? It’s the independent alternative to Goodreads, a lovely website that does a lot of what Goodreads does, but without the whole “being owned by Amazon” crap. It’s been running for a while now, and we’ve been on it since the minute we found out about it (and got a paid account as soon as they offered them – $40/year to support such an amazing project? Heck yeah! Not that anyone has to give them $$ to be clear, the site is free to use). They’ve been steadily expanding, adding functionality, unrolling more publisher- and author-oriented features, and generally being awesome. And, with all that in mind, we were thrilled to hear that they were introducing a Giveaways function (which, on Goodreads, is often a great way to get the word out about a book), and we jumped on the chance to offer our debut anthology Add Magic to Taste as part of the very first run of Storygraph giveaways!

But enough about them – what about the book we’re giving away?

For Add Magic to Taste, 20 authors have come together to produce all-new, original short stories uniting four of our absolute favorite themes: queer relationships, fluff, magic, and coffee shops! Our diverse writers have created an even more diverse collection of stories guaranteed to sweeten your coffee and warm your tart.

So, check out Storygraph if you haven’t already, and check out our giveaway and the other awesome titles on offering (such as our own A. L. Heard’s Choose Your Own Adventure story), and enter to win your own copy of Add Magic to Taste!

The giveaway is running until October 18th, 2022, so if you want to throw in your hat for one of the 10 digital copies on offering, this is your moment!

Check it out now!

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Only 48 Hours Left to Back “She Wears the Midnight Crown” and “He Bears the Cape of Stars”

We’re entering the home stretch on Duck Prints Press’s third crowdfunding campaign. She Wears the Midnight Crown and He Bears the Cape of Stars are anthologies of wlw and mlm stories that share a common theme: masquerades, the queerer and more unusual the better! The 18 stories in each anthology – 36 stories total if you get both books! – are set in many different times and places and genres, and feature diverse queer and genderqueer characters…and every story has a happy ending!

First you’re hearing about it? You can learn everything you could want to know by checking out our campaign page, visiting our website, and/or reading the updates we’ve posted throughout the last month!

Contributor Spotlights:

Merchandise Spotlights:

Also – did you know? Patreon and ko-fi backers at the $10 and $25 level who also back the Seed & Spark campaign will get a campaign-exclusive bonus (on top of all the other awesome benefits our monthly backers receive, like free stories, access to our Discord and backer blog, and more!)! So, consider becoming a regular Duck Prints Press supporter; be an even more awesome person, and get even more awesome stuff!

After July 15th, 4 PM Eastern Time, you won’t be able to get these books in-print again – so back now to make sure you don’t miss out!

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Contributor Spotlights: A. L. Heard and Lex T. Lindsay

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: A. L. Heard

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: Archive of Our Own | Discord: jhoom#6351 | Tumblr | Twitter

Story Title: Masquerade on Melchor

Teaser:

Masquerade on Melchor!

You are invited to join the Royal Family in their celebration of the

upcoming nuptials of Lady Vensel, Crown Princess of Melchor,

to Lord A’velle of the Wanydean Nebula.

This invitation permits entry for one guest to the Royal Masquerade.

Formal attire and mask required; dancing shoes recommended.

Come experience a night you’ll never forget!

Andrean reads the invitation one more time, hoping to gleam something new from the familiar words now that he’s actually on Planet Melchor. Nothing. This is… not Andrean’s usual heist. On first glance, it’s straightforward enough: get into the palace, sneak past security, steal the crown jewels of Melchor. It’s everything else about this job that makes it challenging. The extreme lack of information about the palace and royal family. The masquerade ball and the hundreds of guests pose obvious issues. The fake identity he’s traveled here under. The unbelievable pressure of having to pay for the invitation and get the funds to continue his career…

It’s a lot.

She Wears the Midnight Crown Contributor Spotlight: Lex T. Lindsay

Biography: Lex T. Lindsay likes cats, tats, and cool hats. When she isn’t shaking words loose or yelling about Captain America, she can often be found lurking in the woods. Find other sapphic love stories in ADD MAGIC TO TASTE (also from Duck Prints Press); UPON A TWICE TIME (Air and Nothingness Press); and CLOCKWORK, CURSES AND COAL (World Weaver Press). Occasional Tweets @LexTLindsay.

Links: Goodreads | Linktree | Twitter

Story Title: Tidally Locked

Teaser:

The life of a god was a lonely one most days, lonelier still when—

“I would like the next dance if you’re not otherwise engaged.”  

Ellie turned to face her would-be partner. She was a large woman—larger than Ellie who could rarely stand to manifest in a body that felt small. She wore a blue brocade corset and a matching gown of a deeper blue. On her face sat a mask of intricate silver filigree, a myriad of moving parts guided by so many gears twining together. 

Something about her made the night feel new again, and Ellie became conscious of the constant hum of prayer singing through her soul. 

Ellie’s head angled toward the floor, and she took the hand offered to her. 

Five Days ‘Til the Campaign Ends! Don’t miss your chance to get these gorgeous books in print!