Category: Dei Walker

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Two New Erotica Titles for September!

Both of September’s new erotica short stories expand on existing ‘verses that the authors have long been exploring. Learn all about them now!

Title: Just Let Me Lose Control
Series: Welcome to PHU
Author: Tris Lawrence

This is a “canon insert” that takes place midway through the events of Commit to the Kick.

M/M, Friends with Benefits, Loss of Virginity, No-Strings-Attached Relationship

An itch has been growing worse under Alaric’s skin for a long time, and he finally thinks he knows how to cure it: by getting laid.

This is the story of what happened when Alaric left Teas Please to find Thorne for the first time.

Title: Want You Both
Series: Pet Names: A Fantasy M x M x M Smut Collection
Author: boneturtle

M/M/M, Fantasy, Waking Up Together, PWP (Plot, What Plot?), Double Penetration

Mithros wakes up to Aren masturbating and Samael still asleep, and need burns inside him.

Surely, Mithros and Aren can satisfy each other without waking up their other husband. But if Samael does wake up, maybe Mithros can finally get what he truly wants.

In addition to these two new releases, we are excited to share that, as of today, you can now purchase every erotica title we’ve ever published by buying our four convenient bundles!

The 2022 Erotica Bundle

Contents:

Price: $10.99

The Winter 2023 Erotica Bundle

Contents:

Price: $13.50

The Spring 2023 Erotica Bundle

Contents:

Price: $9.50

The Summer 2023 Erotica Bundle

Contents:

Price: $10.25

Yep, that’s right – for $44.24 US you can get every erotica short story and novelette that Duck Prints Press has published. That’s 30 stories!

And now is a great moment to catch up on our past releases, because starting in October, we will (mostly) no longer be publishing short stories to our webpage. Instead, all story debuts will be straight-to-Patreon (we may still do the occasional “re-publish” of a former Patreon-exclusive to the website). So, if you want to make sure you don’t miss out on all the short story greatness that Duck Prints Press has to offer, it’s a good time to start thinking about backing us monthly on Patreon! We’ll be sharing more information about these changes in October.

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Three New Erotica Stories From Duck Prints Press!

What day is it? Release day! And have we got some steamy new stories for you. Check out our August erotica releases!

Title: Brambles, Pollen, and Other Natural Disasters
Author: A. L. Heard

M/M, Modern, 100% Certified Consensual Sex Pollen, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining

When Nick and Brady move into an off-campus house, the landlady warns them to leave the overgrown backyard alone.

Nick expects his long-time crush on Brady to be the main issue he has to grapple with when they live together.

He does not expect the backyard to throw a wrench into their relationship.

This story is an alternate universe take on Nick Porter and Brady Jensen, the main characters of A. L. Heard’s novel “Hockey Bois.” No knowledge of the source material is needed to enjoy this story.

Title: Close and Warm
Author: Robin Mal

F/M, Established Relationship, Fluffy Loving Support for a Trans Man’s Sexual Boundaries

T has brought many changes to Max’s life and his body, but he’s been reluctant to explore the physical changes, preferring to focus on what he knows how to do well: pleasure his girlfriend Luoyu.

But when Luoyu announces, during a long, lazy afternoon, that she’d like to give him a blow job, he realizes…maybe he’s ready to let her take care of him.

At least, he’s very interested in trying…

Title: Cecaelia
Author: Dei Walker

F/F, Cruise Ship Hook Up, Half-Octopus Singer x Human Passenger, Consentacles

Halyna originally planned to go on a cruise with her girlfriend, but she’s not going to let the fact that they’ve broken up ruin her vacation, even if it means she’s now traveling solo and nursing a wounded heart.

But she might sulk, a little, over fancy drinks in the lounge.

That turns out to be a great plan, because if she hadn’t been in the lounge, she’d never heard Stella Maris’s dulcet voice, nor seen her sultry, come-hither gaze.

Duck Prints Press has over 25 other erotic stories, set in a variety of genres and featuring a range of ship types, so come on over and check out all the sexy we have in store for you!

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Last Day to Buy Our Pride Bundles and Support Queer Charities!

Today is July 28th, which means it’s the last day to buy our General Imprint Pride Bundle and Erotica Imprint Pride Bundle, save money on our stories, and help us raise funds to donate to the Ali Forney Center and Transgender Law Center!

Each bundle costs $19.69, in honor of the year of Stonewall. The Press is donating 40% of our share of the proceeds to the charities, and many of our authors chose to donate part of their share to charity as well, with the result that more than 35% of each bundle sale will go directly to the causes our authors have chosen to support. Thus far, we’ve raised just over $300; we’ll divide our final total in half and make the donations once the fundraiser is complete, and we’ll post receipts for transparency purposes.

The General Imprint bundle includes 14 short stories – 175 pages of very queer fiction – with works by Alec J. Marsh, Annabeth Lynch, D. V. Morse, Era J. M. Couts, J. D. Harlock, Nicola Kapron, Nina Waters, nottesilhouette, Puck Malamud, R. L. Houck, Sage Mooreland, Theresa Tanner, Tris Lawrence, and Violet J. Hayes. Approximately $7 of every General Imprint bundle purchase goes to charity (35%).

The Erotica Imprint bundle includes 11 short stories – a steamy, smutty 151 pages – with works by Aeryn Jemariel Knox, Alec J. Marsh, boneturtle, Dei Walker, Lyn Weaver, Mikki Madison, Nina Waters, R. L. Houck, Samantha M. Piper, Tris Lawrence, and Xianyu Zhou. Approximately $8 of every Erotica Imprint bundle purchase goes to charity (40%).

DUCK PRINTS PRESS gets your eyes on two whole bundles of our publications.

THE CHARITIES get cold, hard cash!

AND YOU get great stories, a sampler of works written by the authors who are part of Duck Prints Press! Some come on over and BUY YOUR 2023 GENERAL IMPRINT AND EROTICA IMPRINT PRIDE BUNDLES NOW!

You can read more about this charity drive, the Press, the charities, and the stories by reading this post!

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Three Days Left to Buy Queer Stories and Support Great Causes!

Time is running out to participate in Duck Prints Press’s 2023 Pride Bundle fundraiser! Through July 28th, we’re offering two book bundles – one containing 14 short stories from our general imprint, one containing 11 short stories from our erotica imprint – with nearly 40% of the proceeds going to the Ali Forney Center and Transgender Law Center.

Since we listed these bundles on the 54th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, June 28th, 1969, we’ve raised $225.25 to donate! We’d love to increase that number, and with your help we can!

Check out everything you can get:

Titles in the General Imprint Charity Bundle:

Approximately 35% of the $19.69 list price of this bundle will go to the charities.

Titles in the Erotica Imprint Charity Bundle:

Approximately 40% of the $19.69 list price of this bundle will go to the charities.

Looking for a big W this week? A small, queer indie press gets support, two wonderful charities get money to help queer youth, and you get great stories? Sounds like winning to us! So come visit Duck Prints Press’s webstore and get your stories now!

You can read all the details about us, the charities, and how this sale works by visiting the main post here.

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Time is Running Out to Get Our Pride Bundles!

There are only TEN DAYS left to buy our Pride Bundles, get loads of great stories, and help us support the Ali Forney Center and Transgender Law Center with a share of the proceeds!

With the help of y’all awesome readers, we’ve already raised $172.81 total – we’ll be sending half of that total to each charity!! Can we make it $100 per charity, $200+ total? I think we can, but only with your help!!

Not sure what I’m talking about? Duck Prints Press is selling two short story bundles, one of general imprint stories, one of erotica stories. Each bundle is $19.69, and combined they include 25 stories by 20 different authors. We’re donating almost 40% of the proceeds to charity, so this is a great chance to support indie publishing AND queer causes.

But don’t wait – we’re only selling these bundles until July 28th, 2023.

You can read all the deets here! Don’t miss this opportunity to help us help others!

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New Erotica Releases from Duck Prints Press: July, 2023

Happy erotica release day, everyone! We’ve got two new short stories for y’all today – and a new book bundle! Today, in celebration for our just having sent out acceptances to applicants to our upcoming anthology Many Hands: An Anthology of Polyamorous Erotica, we’ve got two new poly stories for your delight!

Title: Theirs All Along
Series: Pet Names: A Fantasy M x M x M Smut Collection
Author: boneturtle

M/M/M, Fantasy, Porn with Plot

A Safe Place to Land and Want You Both introduced us to the god Aren and his husbands, the demons Mithros and Samael, and showed us just how steamy things get when the three are together.

In this prequel story, learn how they met, and got together! The god Aren has been sent by the heavenly court to infiltrate the army of the demon king Samael. He’s expecting the mission to be difficult; what he’s not expecting is the sparks the fly every time he’s sparring with Samael or helping Samael’s husband Mithros with his work…

Title: Warm Anything You Want
Author: Tris Lawrence

M/M/NB, Modern, Established Threesome, Temperature Play

On a snowy winter day, Crys is making breakfast and Jake is outside shoveling snow when their third, Win, comes downstairs, and he clearly only has one thing on his mind.

Theoretically, they all need to get to work, but Win is so deliciously hot, and Jake is so deliciously cold, and, well…maybe, if Crys is very lucky, there’ll be a snow delay, and the three of them will have some time to explore this new (temperature) dynamic between them…

And introducing – erotica story bundles!

You’ve already heard about our Pride Bundles – two collections of short stories that we’re selling to celebrate Pride and raise some funds for two great causes. But those aren’t the only bundles we’ve got! We’ve compiled two awesome collections of our erotic short stories, with more to come, to help get you all the delicious feels you crave at an awesome discounted price!

The Spring 2023 Erotica Bundle!

Six great stories, one low price!

You can buy these stories individually for $1.99 each, or you can get this bundle, get them all, and save 20%!

This bundle contains 94 pages, over 30,000 words, of lovely smut, yours for $9.50!

The Winter 2023 Erotica Bundle!

Wanted to check out some of our erotica releases from last winter, but weren’t sure where to start? Well, now we’ve got you covered with this erotica bundle, which includes all 8 erotica titles we released between December 21st, 2022, and March 21st, 2023.

These stories would normally cost almost $17, but if you buy this bundle, you save 20% off the list price!

This bundle contains 137 pages, almost 50,000 words, of delicious sexy times, yours for $13.50!

The Pride 2023 Erotica Charity Bundle

To celebrate Pride, we’re offering this bundle of 11 of our erotica titles available now at one low price: $19.69! The Press is donating part of the sales proceeds from this bundle and our General Imprint Bundle to two charities: The Ali Forney Center and the Transgender Law Center. Many of our authors have also decided to donate part of their royalties to charity; as a result, approximately 40% of the proceeds from this bundle will go to these wonderful causes.

Titles included in this bundle:

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Great Queer Stories for Great Queer Causes

In honor of the 54th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots – June 28th, 1969 – Duck Prints Press is thrilled to share with you how we’re celebrating Pride Month: with queer stories, of course!

Introducing our Pride 2023 Bundles: two collections of short stories, one general imprint, one erotica, each priced at a discounted $19.69, with all purchases benefiting two wonderful queer charities selected by the authors of the stories in the bundles: The Ali Forney Center and the Transgender Law Center.

We’ll be donating roughly 35% of the proceeds from these bundles to charity – the Press is donating 10% off the top, and many of the authors chose to donate part of their royalties as well, bringing the totals to approximately 40% of the list price of the erotica collection and approximately 35% of the list price of the general imprint collection.

How This Works

  • you buy one or both bundles between now and July 28th, 2023.
  • we tally up all the proceeds earned and do some math-e-magic to figure out how much we’re donating!
  • we divide the charity share in half right down the middle and, within the first week of August, we donate raised money to the Ali Forney Center and the Transgender Law Center; then, we post the proof we’ve done so.
  • you get fantastic stories!
  • we all get that happy, glowy feeling of knowing that money has been well-spent on fantastic causes!

About the Press

Duck Prints Press is a queer-owned indie press, founded to publish original works by fancreators. We’ve been in operation for over 2 years, and in that time we’ve worked with well over 150 creators to publish four anthologies and almost 70 other stories, from shorts to novels, and we’ve got more on the works (our fifth anthology is Kickstarting RIGHT NOW, as a matter of fact!). The vast majority of our creators and their creations are queer/LGTBQIA+ (maybe even all, but we don’t out anyone and we don’t ask demography because, frankly, it’s none of our business).

20 of our authors have chosen to include their short stories in one or both of these short story bundles, and these 20 and others nominated charities, then voted to narrow it down to these two! Participation in these bundles was entirely voluntarily, as was choosing to donate shares of royalties, which about a third of the authors have opted to do.

About the Charities

Note: These charities are not affiliated with the Press, do not know we’re doing this fundraiser, have not endorsed this in anyway and are, as such, utterly uninvolved in this beyond being the beneficiaries of our efforts! Text is from the websites of each charity and is being used under fair use laws.

The Ali Forney Center was founded in 2002. Committed to saving the lives of LGBTQ+ young people, our mission is to protect them from the harms of homelessness and empower them with the tools needed to live independently. A 24-hour program, The Ali Forney Center never closes its doors. We provide more than just a bed and food for those in need — from initial intake at our drop-in center to transitional housing and job readiness training, we provide homeless LGBTQ+ youth a safe, warm, supportive environment to escape the streets [of New York City].

Transgender Law Center is the largest national trans-led organization advocating self-determination for all people. Since 2002 we’ve been organizing, assisting, informing and empowering thousands of individual community members towards a long-term, national, trans-led movement for liberation.

About the Bundles

We’re offering two bundles: one containing 14 stories from our general imprint, the other containing 11 stories from our erotica imprint. For all the deets, you’ll need to visit the page for each story, but here’s an overview…

Titles in the General Imprint Charity Bundle:

Approximately 35% of the $19.69 list price of this bundle will go to the charities.

Titles in the Erotica Imprint Charity Bundle:

Approximately 40% of the $19.69 list price of this bundle will go to the charities.

What are you waiting for? Come get some great stories, support a queer-owned business this Pride, and benefit two fantastic causes. Win-win-win situations don’t get much better than this!

These bundles will only be available for one month, so don’t miss out. Visit our webstore between now and July 28th and get yours!

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WE 💕 LESBIANS! Celebrate Lesbian Visibility Week and Indie Bookstore Day by Checking Out Our Short Stories with Lesbian Characters!

As young as Duck Prints Press is as an organization (just over 2 years of publishing under our belts!) we’ve already got out numerous stories featuring wlw, and many featuring lesbians specifically!

Our anthology She Wears the Midnight Crown features 17 wlw stories that take place at unusual masquerades or in settings where the masks aren’t literal but the secrets are all too real. Some characters are ace, some lesbians, some bi; some are cis, some are trans, some are non-binary. Regardless of how they identify, the entire collection is one delightful, wonderful pile of wlw feels, every story with a guaranteed happy ending.

Other Stories with Explicitly Lesbian Characters:

  • our anthology Add Magic to Taste – a scrumptious collection of queer love stories playing out in magical bakeries, coffee shops, and tea houses – has two (out of 20) stories with lesbians: “The Magic Kin Knows” by Lacey Hays and “Something in the Water” by Willa Blythe
  • Clerical Error by Dei Walker (erotica) tells of the attraction between a cleric and the mercenary who has been hired to protect her.
  • Meet C(omm)ute by Violet J. Hayes explores the affection that develops between two women who share a morning bus commute every morning.
  • Best Friends AND… by Tris Lawrence relates how two long-time friends finally overcome their mutual pining to go from friends to lovers.
  • To Fill My Cup by Violet J. Hayes welcomes us to the home of a woman celebrating Passover with her family, and her hope that her girlfriend will be home in time to join them.
  • In the Moonlight by E. V. Dean (erotica) also gives us two long-time friends who share enough to realize that the love they feel for the other is entirely mutual.

AND, you can check out our f/f tag for General Imprint stories and f/f tag for Erotica Imprint stories and find even more wlw stories! There’s also more f/f stories available to people who back our Patreon, such as “Commute” by Eliot Lovell, our latest backer reward story.

AND AND, if that’s not enough – our catalog is small but always growing! We have another wlw story coming out next week, several in our upcoming anthology Aim For The Heart, and even two novels coming that feature wlw relationships! So even if our current offerings aren’t your cuppa, consider following us on social media or signing up for our newsletter!

HAPPY READING, EVERYONE!

Who We Are: Duck Prints Press LLC is an independent publisher based in New York State. Our founding vision is to help fan creators publishing their original works. We are particularly dedicated to working with queer authors and publishing stories featuring characters from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.

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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!