Category: Mikki Madison

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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 Erotica Release: “The Fated Prince” by Mikki Madison

Title: The Fated Prince

Author: Mikki Madison

Genre: Historical with Magic

Rating: Mature

Relationship: age difference, arranged marriage, interspecies relationship, m/m

Character Features: bipoc, fae and fairy folk, immortal, magic use, non-human character, royalty

Tags: blow job, bondage, first kiss, hurt/comfort (minor), past tense, pov third person limited, slow burn, wedding

Summary:

Thirty years ago, Richard’s parents attempted to bind the fae king with a trick–offering their firstborn child in exchange for assistance, while hiding that their first child was fore-ordained to be stillborn.

To their surprise, their child lived.

Now, Richard is marrying a haughty, mysterious, and astonishingly beautiful fae prince. Navigating a marriage is tricky at the best of times, but that delicate dance is a hundredfold more difficult when one of the parties deals in magic, wordplay, exchanges, and challenges. Richard walks a tightrope between exercising caution and extending trust to a being who can twist his words into binding promises that he did not intend to make.

But despite all his caution, Richard is drawn to his otherworldly husband, his proximity stoking deep desires Richard had no idea he possessed. Then a challenge issued in the heat of the moment traps Richard in an untenable position: reveal those secret desires to the husband he still isn’t sure he can trust, or risk the retribution of the powerful fae prince.

Length: 16 pages/5,382 words

Arrange some time in your schedule for this awesome arranged marriage story! Check it out 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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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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Monthly Storygraph Giveaway: And Seek (Not) to Alter Me

Duck Prints Press returns to the second round of Storygraph giveaways with our second anthology And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired by William Shakepeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.“

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 And Seek (Not) to Alter Me? In And Seek (Not) to Alter Me, 16 authors and 16 artists have come together to create an exquisite, full-color collection of artwork and stories inspired by William Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing. We encouraged contributors to stretch their imaginations, think outside the box, and put their own unique—and queer—twists on Benedick, Beatrice, Hero, Claudio, Don Pedro, and the whole gang! In true Shakespearean fashion, our creators utilize gender, sexuality, romanticism, and a host of costume changes to tell unique artworks and stories—some featuring original characters, some characters from the play—that show Shakespeare’s work in a whole new light.

Want your own copy of this awesome, innovative collection? Enter our giveaway on Storygraph NOW – or, if you don’t want to wait that long and leave it to chance, you can always buy your own copy immediately from our webstore!

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“And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing'” – Now Available in Our Webstore!

Did you miss our crowdfunding campaign for And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired by William Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”? Was there merch you wanted that you didn’t get? Have you been eagerly awaiting it’s arrival in our webstore (haven’t we all been?)? Well YOUR TIME HAS COME!

In And Seek (Not) to Alter Me, 16 authors and 16 artists have come together to create an exquisite, full-color collection of artwork and stories inspired by William Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing. We encouraged contributors to stretch their imaginations, think outside the box, and put their own unique—and queer—twists on Benedick, Beatrice, Hero, Claudio, Don Pedro, and the whole gang! In true Shakespearean fashion, our creators utilize gender, sexuality, romanticism, and a host of costume changes to tell unique artworks and stories—some featuring original characters, some characters from the play—that show Shakespeare’s work in a whole new light.

And now, you can get your very own e-book copy from our webstore! Only $9.99 for 16 phenomenal stories and 20 gorgeous art pieces!

We’ve also listed four merchandise items from the original crowdfunding campaign that we have extras of – if you want ‘um, you’d better grab ‘um, because once these extras are sold out, we will never be making more!

Art Prints of the Front Cover

(featuring the gorgeous artwork by Gio Guimarães in all it’s colorful, queer glory!)

Art Prints of the Back Cover

(featuring even more of Gio Guimarães‘s wonderful work!)

“Taming My Wild Heart to thy Loving Hand” Bookmark

(with artwork by Alicia Matheson and the signatures of our contributors!)

Bard Dux Sticker

(created by Alessa Riel)

Don’t Miss Out! Visit Our Store Today!

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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: Lacey Hays and M. K. Mads

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!

She Wears the Midnight Crown Contributor Spotlight: Lacey Hays

Biography: When Lacey 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.

Links: Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | Royal Road | Wattpad

Story Title: Facets

Teaser:

“These are far from simple.” The woman picked up a mask of shimmering emerald with golden feathers and faceted obsidian jewels bordering it. From the top hung a veil of Xxisan silk lace (Demi had sewn it herself in the floral patterns of the Naysan people). It’d taken a few weeks to complete the mask, and it was one of Demi’s favorite pieces. “You might not be the best diplomat, but you’re a wonderful artist. This has tech built in?”

“Yes. The sparkles on the veil are nano holo-projectors. When you wear the veil, each nano holo project a single pixel. Working together, they can change your appearance; you can give the impression of being a fairy, or that you’re glowing from within, or enhance your cosmetics – or make you look like you’re wearing them when you’re not. You can even appear to be another species, though I encourage my clients to present as mythological beings over known beings.” Was she talking too fast? Going on too much? “It’s fully adaptable to movement, too. You could perform an entire ballet and the image would shift and move with you and your facial expressions.”

The woman’s eyes lit up with the flames of an active imagination, and a smile tugged at the corner of her full and very pink lips. A thrill bolted through Demi’s heart, straight down into her stomach. It had to be the thought of selling such a treasured piece, right? She definitely wasn’t experiencing another lightning attachment to a one-off customer at the sector’s largest craft fair. That never ended well.

He Bears the Cape of Stars Contributor Spotlight: M. K. Mads

Biography: M. K. Mads has been writing stories since she was seven years old. While she is most prolific in fanfiction and has works scattered among more than a dozen fandoms, she has been making strides into original fiction. Her favorite genre to read is romance. When she isn’t reading, writing, or falling headfirst into a new fandom, she can be found baking, walking, doting on her niblings, or playing Pokemon Go.

Story Title: The Date & Dasher

Teaser:

If only he had some way of making this whole process go faster so he’d have some hope of making progress. Like…go on a dozen dates every day—maybe even twice that. Be have to be on every single dating app in the area and have a dozen profiles on each one. He’d have to—

Theo stopped and raised his head, blinking vacantly at the movie posters on either side of his lone bedroom window. 

Who said he couldn’t? 

People would see what they wanted to see. There was no reason itthat wouldn’t apply to online pictures, too. It’d probably be the fastest way to clear out a ton of people. 

He fumbled for his phone and called Brian. 

Brian picked up on the first ring. “Hey, man, what’s—” 

“I have an idea,” Theo cut in. “And I’m going to need your help.” 

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

Intrigued? You should be! But, if you want to read the rest of these stories you’ll need to back our campaign, running now through July 14th, 2022!

Support Queer Independent Publishing and Fiction – Back Us Now!

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Now Live: Duck Prints Press’s Third Crowd-funding Campaign!

Duck Prints Press LLC is over the moon to share our next to anthologies with you: She Wears the Midnight Crown and He Bears the Cape of Stars!

These two anthologies share a common theme – masquerades – and each features different kinds of relationships. She Wears the Midnight Crown contains 18 wlw stories; He Bears the Cape of Stars contains 18 mlm stories. Both collections tell myriad stories exploring how these characters’ relationships develop, grow, and change while they attend or participate in masquerades!

Our 36 contributors have stretched their imaginations to present innovative stories exploring what a masquerade can be…and, of course, tell rich, engaging tales of wonderful queer folk finding love, companionship, acceptance, the queer platonic relationship of their dreams, or the found family they deserve. The collected works feature characters in all the colors of the Pride rainbow, queer and genderqueer, and these diverse individuals inhabit worlds ranging from science fiction settings where everyone must be masked to breathe, to fantasies where no one wears a literal mask but everyone shows the world a false guise, to iterations of the real world where some people lean into deception.

You’re definitely not going to want to miss it – you can buy one book or both books, some merch, or all merch – we’ve got 8 backer levels to help you get exactly what you want!

We’d love for you to attend the masquerade! Don your mask and read on…

The Seed&Spark Campaign for She Wears the Midnight Crown and He Bears the Cape of Stars runs from now through July 14th, 2022!

Go Forth, and Back It Now!

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Announcing: The Contributors to “He Bears the Cape of Stars” and “She Wears the Midnight Crown”!

36 remarkable authors—18 for He Bears the Cape of Stars, 18 for She Wears the Midnight Crown—have come together for this project. These authors have been toiling away on their stories since February 1st, 2022, and we’re currently work with them on edits to get them publication-ready. We’re delighted to share their work with you!

Contributors to He Bears the Cape of Stars:

Contributors to She Wears the Midnight Crown:

You can read about them—in their own words!—see select author portraits, and more, by clicking this link:

HBCS and SWMC Contributor Biographies