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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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Eerie Animal Enamel Pins

What’s that noise? Is it the caw of something out of sight high overhead? A who-who-who echoing out of the darkness? A grrrr coming from the rustling underbrush? The crash, crash of something large moving through the trees?

No! It’s the sound of our latest Kickstarter launching!

Celebrate Fall with our Eerie Animal Enamel Pins!

Fall is the season of spook. Get your Autumn on—literally!—by donning one (or more!) of our eerie animal enamel pins! These realistically rendered, gorgeous pins feature different animals indigenous to northern areas of North America and Europe surrounded by elements of their natural habitats.

For our first merchandise-only campaign, Duck Prints Press approached the spectacular artist Aceriee (Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter) and asked her to let her imagination run wild. The results are gorgeous, unique, and perfect for the season: 7 animals at their spooky, creepy, scary best, depicted in the rich colors of fall. Seasonal enough to enhance any autumn outfit, classy enough for year-round wear.

All the pins for this campaign are 2 in x 2 in (5 cm x 5 cm) and feature black nickel metal with soft enamel color work coated by a clear epoxy finish. They have two attachment posts with silver butterfly closures and feature either 6 or 8 colors, one of which glows in the dark (which varies in each pin).

This is a tiered release pin campaign (and our first-ever art-only project!)

At our initial funding goal ($1,500), backers can pick the Crow and Wolf pins (buy one or both or multiples of either/both!)

If we exceed $3,500 in backing, all backers will be able to choose from among four pins: Crow, Wolf, Moose, and Bear.

If we exceed $6,000 in backing, all backers will be able to choose from among six pins: Crow, Wolf, Moose, Bear, Raccoon, and Owl.

If we exceed $9,000 in backing, all backers will be able to choose from among eight pins: Crow, Wolf, Moose, Bear, Raccoon, Owl, Fox, and the not-yet-revealed Deer.

At $10,000, we’ll offer another unrevealed option: Bobcat. And, if we reach $11,000, we’ll offer out tenth and last pin, which is—of course!—a Duck!

Mix and match, pick your favorites, buy enough for all your friends, or just get one—you’re not going to want to miss this one chance to get these spectacular fall-themed animal pins!

The campaign is live now, and will run through Sunday, November 27th, 2022.

Ready to learn more? Check out our campaign page NOW!

Also—want an exclusive extra pin? Back us on Patreon or ko-fi at the $10/month or $25/month level and get a backer-only bonus!

Love what we do? Want to help us spread the word? We love signal boosts, so please share this on the social media platform(s) of your choice!

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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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Celebrate Pride by Learning About Ten Queer Independent Publishers!

This week, we’re spotlighting other queer, independent presses out there – some queer-owned, some focusing on publishing queer stories, some both. Take a look below – and if you know another press that’s not on the list, add it in the reblogs! The more queer publishers, the better. 😀

Brown Recluse Zine Distro is a collectively run organization created to support and center zines by queer and trans people of color. Check out their shop for zines on dozens of topics, from personal reflection to political organizing.

Zombies Need Brains has been publishing themed anthologies for 10 years, and, this summer, they’re expanding to publish two short stories per month through their Patreon. Their next anthology’s theme will be announced in July; in the meantime, you can also pick up their previous anthologies and other ebooks in their store

Interlude Press and their YA imprint, Duet Books, have published more than 90 works of LGBTQ+ fiction across genres. Their catalog is full of award-winners, and with the plethora of genres, they offer something for everyone.

All Worlds Wayfarer, a quarterly speculative literary magazine, has recently started producing themed anthologies as well. Their latest, Prismatic Dreams, contains 30 sci-fi, fantasy, and horror short stories with queer protagonists.

Speculatively Queer “publishes speculative stories about queer hope, joy, love, affirmation, and community.” It Gets Even Better: Stories About Queer Possibility is available now, and Xenocultivars: Stories of Queer Growth is available for preorder.

Renaissance Press publishes diverse Canadian voices across genres. Their latest release is AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets. 

Microcosm Publishing is a Portland-based publisher founded in 1996 to focus “on … the experiences of what it is like to be a marginalized person.” They especially focus on publishing work by women. They’ve currently got a Kickstarter running for their next title, “Unf*ck Your Grief.”

OFIC Mag is a small, new press focused on publishing a quarterly anthology featuring original stories and art by fanauthors and fanartists. They recently opened their third edition to submissions.

Ylva Publishing focusing on stories about women loving women, with an emphasis on diversity. They’re woman-owned and cross-genre, releasing everything from mysteries to romance to historical to erotica. They also publish YA titles!

Atthis Arts Indie Publishing is a small press named after a character from Sappho’s poetry. They are especially interested in publishing works by members of underrepresented groups.

Bonus! An 11th Press

Space Wizard Science Fantasy, an indie press focused on queer sci-fi and fantasy, is just getting started. They’ve launched a Year 1 Kickstarter, featuring a number of titles they are working on, and they could really use more support. Back their current Kickstarter to purchase individual books or subscribe to the whole Year 1 slate of fiction!

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The “And Seek (Not) to Alter Me” Kickstarter is Now Finished!

Duck Prints Press LLC is thrilled to share that our second crowdfunding campaign, aimed at raising $12,000 to enable us to publish And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired by William Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” has come to a successful conclusion! Over 30 days, 242 backers contributed to support us for a total of $14,914 US.

Backing the campaign was the only way to get a print copy of this gorgeous anthology, but it’s not your only purchase opportunity! We expect that the e-book version (in ePub, Mobi, and PDF formats) will go up for sale on our website sometime in July; if we have any extra merchandise, we’ll likely offer that for sale at that time, too. So keep your eyes peeled (and make sure you follow us on social media!) and you can be among the first to hear!

Whether you backed this campaign or not, always remember that you can support us, and the fan-creators-transitioning-to-original-creation with whom we work, by backing us on Patreon. Alternatively, if you prefer Ko-fi, we don’t yet offer a subscription model on Ko-fi but we will soon (we expect to set it up in the next week or two! We’ll likely also open a merchandise store there) so consider following us there, and you’ll get a notification when we open up monthly subscription options there! And, of course, you can buy our books and merchandise anytime through our webstore!

Wondering what’s next for Duck Prints Press?

We’re so glad you asked, because the answer is: a lot!

  1. Our next two anthology, She Wears the Midnight Crown and He Bears the Cape of Stars, are in-process. These two anthologies feature stories involving masquerades – in all kinds of settings, and with a very loose definition of what counts as a masquerade! She Wears the Midnight Crown focuses on wlw stories. He Bears the Cape of Stars focuses on mlm stories. Both include a huge variety of settings, types of characters, relationship models; we’ve got lots of genderqueerness and poly, too. Authors’ final check in is today; based on the editors’ reviews of work submitted at Check In 1 and Check In 2, trust us, you are not gonna want to miss these two books! We’ve also recently (technically, today!) contracted an artist for the two front covers – more on that in the coming days!
  2. The crowdfunding campaign for these two anthologies has a planned June 15th launch date, but! As promised in January when we were recruiting authors, we will not be continuing our relationship with Kickstarter. Instead, we will be working with Seed & Spark, an independent crowdfunding platform that focuses on projects that tell stories; they primarily work with film media, but we’ve had a lovely e-mail chat with the folks there – they’re happy to have us, and we’re delighted to be an early (but not the first!) book publishing project launching there. We’ve got a member profile there already set up – so, if you have an account there, we encourage you to give us a “follow,” and if you don’t have one yet, now might be a great time to make one! We’ll also share a followable version of our project at least a couple weeks before launch – we’ll make an announcement when the time comes, so be on the look out.
  3. With the help of our Patrons, we’ve officially decided on the theme for our fifth anthology! The project is still in its early planning phases – we have a theme but no title or schedule – but at our management meeting this week, we’ll be discussing a tentative timeline for production which amounts to, “hopefully formally announced/opened for recruitment in June, with an anticipated crowdfunding campaign in the fall or early winter.” Expect an announcement sometime in late spring or early summer.
  4. We’re also in the very early planning stages of an erotica anthology and our next “Queer Fanworks Inspired By…” anthology. Both would have 2023 crowdfunding releases.
  5. Now that we’re almost caught up, work-wise, on the backlog of editing that resulted from my health issues, we’re also looking to other “next projects,” especially working on publishing more novels. We expect to build on our existing relationships with A. L. Heard and Tris Lawrence, by publishing a re-edit of Hockey Bois and editing and helping crowdfund further books in Lawrence’s “Welcome to PHU” ‘verse. We’re hoping to have Hockey Bois our sometime this summer and a crowdfunding launch for “Missed Fortunes” and “Into the Split” (books 2 and 3 of the “Twinned” trilogy) sometime in Quarter 4. In addition to these known projects, we’ll be opening the floor to authors who’ve previously worked with us, likely in late summer or early fall, to discuss projects they may have in mind or in progress that they’d be interested in pursuing and potentially publishing with us. We’re tentatively hoping to publish 3 – 4 anthologies in 2023 and up to 4 novels. And, as always, you bet your bottom dollar everything is gonna be hella queer!
  6. As you may be aware, Patrons at the $10 and $25 level on our Patreon get access to one erotica story per month, written just for them – but, what you may not realize is that after 6 months, the rights for those stories revert to our authors in full, and they can do what they wish with those stories – including publishing them with us! One of our authors has opted to do so, and we’re hoping to have the story published on our website by the end of April (more information on this soon)! We’ve been hard at work tweaking our website and shop configuration in preparation for this, and Alessa Riel has developed an awesome variation on our standard Dux logo, for all your citrus-scale needs…

We’ll share more on the erotica label soon!

And none of this includes our ongoing projects – our regular blogging on writing, publishing, and prompting (we’ve been expanding our stable of blog post authors!); events like #drabbledaysaturday on Twitter and May Trope Mayhem (coming in 2 weeks!); our monthly Patreon short stories and erotica stories; and more!

As you can see, there’s a lot in the pipeline, and there’ll continue to be more to come. The success of both of our first crowdfunding campaigns has been a huge boost for us, helping us build a profile, grow our relationships, develop more reliable streams, and more. Thank you all for your support, your reads, your signal boosts, your backing, and your interest. There’s loads more work to do, of course…but the result of that work is going to be a growing catalog of amazing queer works by queer authors and artists, and honestly? We couldn’t be more excited about what tomorrow will bring!

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24 Hours to Go!

Well, technically there are twenty-five hours left in our Kickstarter, but! TIME IS ALMOST UP!

We’ve reached our first stretch goal, and we’ll be able to commission art for our back cover! Every single e-book will come with the graphic for the front and back cover, every print book will have full-color illustrations on the front and back, and backers at Levels 3, 4, 5, and 6 will get an extra art print featuring the back cover art! Gio Guimarães (Facebook (giovannabcg) | Facebook (giosdoodlesandartworks) | Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter) is the artist. Gio and DPP have already signed a contract, and once we have sketches to share we’ll give y’all an update!

We’d love to reach our next stretch goal, at $16,500, so we can give our authors and artists a raise which doubles how much they earn for their contributions to the anthology. You can help! Check out our merch, help spread the word about the campaign on social media, and – if you want a copy – make sure you buy your own!! This is your only chance to get And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired by William Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” in print, and we’ve got a host of amazing merchandise for our backers too, so don’t miss out!!

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“And Seek (Not) to Alter Me” has Funded!

Well, well, well, look at this amazing, thrilling e-mail we received last night! As of yesterday, “And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired by William Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing'” has met it’s initial/base funding goal, and will definitely be produced as a print book! We are over the moon; there was much celebration and rejoicing in the Duck Prints Press Discord chat. 😀

But! The campaign isn’t over yet. We have 3 more days – our official end time is Thursday, April 14th at 11:30 a.m. Eastern – and we’d love to hit our first two stretch goals! What are those?

Well, we’re at $12,150 right now.

If we can hit $12,500, we’ll be able to print the books (and include in the e-book!) art for the back cover by front cover artist Gio Guimarães! Backers at Levels 3, 4, 5, and 6 will also receive a second art print (at no additional cost to the backers!). To be honest, we’re pretty certain we’ll hit this goal – so confident, in fact, that we already have commission Gio, contract signed and everything.

More ambitious – if we can hit $16,500, we can give all our authors and artists a raise from 1 cent per word/$50 per page to 2 cents per word/$100 per page – doubling how much we pay them! We’d love to be able to do this, and we think it can be done, but we need your help!

Do you love this project? Do you want to support our authors and artists? If you haven’t backed yet, consider doing so – just $15 will get you the e-book in PDF, ePub, and Mobi format, or you can take advantage of this one-and-only time to get the book in print format, for $40!

If you can’t afford it (we get it! times are tough!) or if you already have backed – help us spread the word! Reblog, retweet, share, and boost our posts on one or more of our social media accounts!

As always, you can find our Kickstarter campaign here – get yours before it’s too late! 3 days left…