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Created Works Round-Up: 4 New Fanfics by Our Authors!

Our monthly “created works round-ups” are Duck Prints Press’s opportunity to spotlight some of the amazing work that people working with us have done that ISN’T linked to their work with Duck Prints Press. We include fanworks, outside publications, and anything else that creators feel like sharing with y’all! Inclusion is voluntary and includes anything that they decided “hey, I want to put this on the created work’s round-up!”

Check out what they’ve shared with us this month…


Strife by Smehur

art || darksiders || no ships || general audiences || no major warnings apply || complete

summary: Strife playing with his magic on some long forgotten world.

TUMBLRINSTAGRAMTWITTER


Ikarose by Elsin

fiction || the good place || platonic or familial || kamilah al-jamil & tahani al-jamil || general audiences || creator choses not to use warnings || 1,105 || complete

summary: Icarus, in dual.

(or: what’s it like, to be Kamilah Al-Jamil?)

other tags: Character Study, Relationship Study, Canonical Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Mythology, Magic, A Study in Metaphor, Narrative Ghost Tahani Al-Jamil

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in hellish darkness (even skulls shine like stars) by nottesilhouette

fiction || percy jackson & the olympians || platonic or familial || teen & up || no major warnings apply || 2,098 || complete

summary: Nico and Reyna make their way back from Greece, the Statue of Athena in tow. Along the way, they talk about loneliness, being left behind, and love.

other tags: cw: depression, cw: PTSD

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Not a Spiral but a Spring by Shadaras

fiction || quanzhi gaoshou | the king’s avatar – hudie lan || platonic or familial || fang xuecai & team thunderclap || teen & up || no major warnings apply || 44,628 || complete

summary: Team Thunderclap trades Captain Xiao Shiqin to Team Excellent Era in exchange for Liu Hao—slotted to become Thunderclap’s new captain—and He Ming.

Thunderclap’s Vice-captain, Fang Xuecai, is uncertain how this trade will impact the team in Season Nine, but he’s going to do his best to ensure the team plays their best. After all, a team is more than one person; losing their captain shouldn’t mean losing their identity or their spirit. However, Season Nine of the Glory Professional Alliance will test this belief in a myriad of unexpected ways…

other tags: ESports, Toxic Workplace Relationship, Friendship, Teamwork, Character Study

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Happy reading and happy creating! 😀

Who We Are: Duck Prints Press LLC is an independent publisher. We work with fan creators to publish their original work. We are particularly dedicated to publishing stories and art 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! Want to support the Press, read about us behind-the-scenes, learn what’s coming down the pipeline, get exclusive teasers, and claim free stories? Back us on Patreon monthly!

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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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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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Happy International Asexuality Day! Celebrate with 10 Ace Characters!

Duck Prints Press, an aroace-owned small press, would love you to join us in celebrating International Asexuality Day, today, April 6th, 2023! We publish a range of works featuring queer characters from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, so of course that includes stories with asexual characters. Come, read their stories!

No One Right Way by R. L. Houck (erotica featuring a sex-positive asexual main character!)

“On Not Going to Parties” by Stephen G. Krueger, in the anthology He Bears the Cape of Stars (a short story featuring an asexual character in a queerplatonic relationship!)

“Bånd” by Florence Vale, in the anthology Add Magic to Taste (a short story featuring an asexual character finding an accepting significant other!)

Fortune Favors Felines by R. L. Houck (erotica featuring an asexual dom and their adoring sub!)

Two short stories – “The Journal of Don Pedro: Or, The Straights Are At It Again” by Nova Mason and “find ourselves unstuck” by nottesilhouette – and an art work – “Melancholy” by Joshua Beeking – in the anthology And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired by William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing (two short stories feature asexual Don Pedro looking in from the outside at his friends’ relationship shenanigans, the other is in a modern setting and stars ace!Hero!)

Let the Solstice Come by D. V. Morse (starring an aroace character who really just want a good meal and a solid night of sleep!)

Commit to the Kick by Tris Lawrence (a novel about an aro main character and his ace best friend!)

Puppetry by Nina Waters (a novelette with an ace magical robot and her equally ace bff and their not-officially-a-qpr-but-it’s-a-qpr happy ending!)

Bonus! We’ve got an eleventh title coming soon! The forthcoming twin flame by nottesilhouette, which will be published on our website on April 15th, 2023, tells of an ace character and their friends-to-lovers relationship with their best friend!

It’s a great day to read an ace story! Happy International Asexuality Day, 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. Want to always hear the latest? Sign up for our monthly newsletter! Want to support the Press, read about us behind-the-scenes, learn what’s coming down the pipeline, get exclusive teasers, and claim free stories? Back us on Patreon monthly!

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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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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!