Category: Dux

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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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Get to Know Dux!

The one, the only, the original Dux, Darcy Paige Paddlesworth III. Mascot for the Duck Prints Press general imprint. Darcy is available as a key chain! They’re also on our logo die-cut sticker.

Anywhere you go on the Duck Prints Press website, you’ll see our lovable mascot. But just seeing them doesn’t give you the low-down on this very important member of the Duck Prints Press community. Read on and learn all about them!

All Duck Prints Press ducks are called Dux. They use they/them pronouns and are non-binary or have no gender (they haven’t made which clear yet).

Dux came to be when, early in the development of the Duck Prints Press logo, we faced the important question: who had left those rainbow duck prints? Thus, Dux was born. They have been delighting us with their fabulous presence, their kindness, their mischief, and their joy in life ever since.

Whether our mascot is one Dux who likes to dress up in different ways, or many different Dux who all have a different schtick, is an open question. We don’t questions Dux’s self-presentation, and we assume Dux will tell us if and when they’re ready to do so.

The feathers of the Dux come in all colors, as do their beaks and eyes. They are a creative species who love to express themselves in many different ways, by trying out all kinds of hobbies and by dressing up.

DPP’s mascot Dux is named Darcy Paige Paddlesworth III. Their name was selected by our Patreons as part of an event we ran after reaching an early milestone. All other Dux have so far remained anonymous, though we have descriptions we use to differentiate them.

Dux dresses up for all of our anthology crowdfunding campaigns, and is often featured on extras we make for our monthly backers on Patreon and ko-fi, too! Take a minute and get to know all the Dux now!

Desire!Dux. Mascot for Duxxx Prints Press, our erotica imprint.

Desire!Dux is available as a die-cut sticker.

Barista!Dux, one of two Dux developed for the release of our anthology Add Magic to Taste. Originally released as part of an early fund-raising campaign during which people could pre-order barista!Dux stickers.

Barista!Dux is available as a die-cut sticker.

Barista!Dux and Mage!Dux share pride of place on this mug.

Mage!Dux, one of two Dux developed for the release of our anthology Add Magic to Taste. They are the Add Magic to Taste campaign mascot.

Mage!Dux is available as a die-cut magnet and as a die-cut sticker.

Barista!Dux and Mage!Dux share pride of place on this mug.

Bard!Dux, one of the two Dux developed for the release of our anthology And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Shakepeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” They are the And Seek (Not) to Alter Me campaign mascot.

Bard!Dux is available as a die-cut sticker.

Artist!Dux, one of the two Dux developed for the release of our anthology And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Shakepeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” They were ultimately used to make a monthly-backer-exclusive sticker.

Stars!Dux, one of the two Dux developed for the release of our paired anthologies He Bears the Cape of Stars and She Wears the Midnight Crown. They are the mascot for He Bears the Cape of Stars.

We’ll be listing a Stars!Dux stickers for sale on our website on March 15th, 2023.

Midnight!Dux, one of the two Dux developed for the release of our paired anthologies He Bears the Cape of Stars and She Wears the Midnight Crown. They are the mascot for She Wears the Midnight Crown.

We’ll be listing a Midnight!Dux stickers for sale on our website on March 15th, 2023.

Bowtie!Dux. They look very dapper in their bowtie. A sticker of them was made for the Add Magic to Taste campaign.

Bowtie!Dux is available as a die-cut sticker.

Pride!Dux. We haven’t used this Dux yet for anything, but sometimes a Dux has just gotta spread their wings and show some Pride.

Devil!Dux. Look, sometimes, Dux just needs to get their evil on.

Heart Eyes!Dux. This is an emoji on our Discord servers, a perfect way to show our Duxy excitement. We have a number of other Dux emojis, but if you want to see those, you’ll need to get in on one of our servers.

Heart Eyes!Dux is available as a die-cut sticker.

We love Dux, and we hope you do to! We look forward to sharing more Dux with y’all in the future!

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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“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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“He Bears the Cape of Stars” and “She Wears the Midnight Crown” Merchandise Spotlight: Dux and Patch and Candle More, Oh My!!!

The Seed&Spark crowdfunding campaign for the paired queer anthologies He Bears the Cape of Stars and She Wears the Midnight Crown includes the two books, each of which features 18 stories of mlm and wlw relationships growing and changing during stories inspired by broadly conceived masquerades. In addition to this already fabulous offering, we also have a bunch of awesome merch on offering. We’ve already posted highlighting about the cover art, which is also featured on two lovely, frameable art prints, and about our bookmarks with art by Pippin Peacock and enamel pins with art by Miss Aceriee. Today, we’re featuring…everything else!

Dux Die-cut Stickers

Alessa Riel, our wonderful and hard-working in-house graphic designer, has worked her magic again making two distinct, quirky, party-ready dux! These two are featured on die-cut stickers being sold as part of the campaign!

These two cuties are being printed as die-cut stickers by Sticker Ninja. The wlw dux is approximately 3 in (7.5 cm) tall and 2.75 in (7 cm) wide; the mlm dux is approximately 2.75 (7.5 cm) tall and 3 in (7.5 cm) tall.

Patch

After hearing great things from others who worked with Reshipkmn, we approached them to do art for a patch, and the results exceeded even our high expectations!

This adorable piece will be made into a 100% woven patch by Alchemy Merch; it’s a 4 in (10.25 cm) circle, iron-on with merrowed edges.

Candle

Our campaign candles are being made by Speculative Wicktion, a small business that makes fandom-themed candles owned by author Alec J. Marsh, who is also contributing a story to She Wears the Midnight Crown.

Candles are 2 in (5 cm) tall and 2 in (5 cm) circular at the base, a lovely shade of blue, and scented with Midnight Waters, which Alec has described to us as “like sitting by a lake in a pine forest.” Also, they have glitter in them. SO MUCH GLITTER in them.

Other Merchandise

Tote Bag (21 in x 14.5 in x 7 in/53 cm x 37 cm x 18 cm) with our logo stamped on the side. (Customized by AnyPromo).

Charm Bracelet featuring seven charms (a book, a rainbow, a crown, a mask, a moon, a sun, and a star), hand-assembled by contributor and lead editor Nina Waters using decorative elements purchased from multiple Etsy sellers.

Box of Six Chocolates from Uncle Sam’s Candy.

Rubber Ducky (this one)

Bath Bomb (one selected from this collection based on your preference)

Lace Rainbow Mask (purchased from E-Bay)

All this, AND two amazing (and amazingly queer) books CAN BE YOURS!

Check out our crowdfunding campaign – ending in one week! – today!!

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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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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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Our Second Kickstarter, Our Patreon, and More!

We wanted to remind everyone: our second Kickstarter is running for 6 more days. If you want to secure your own copy of And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired By William Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” this is your moment – the print book will only be available during the Kickstarter! We’re at 90% of our funding goal as of about an hour ago, and looking forward to the moment when we cross the threshold! (Not “if,” definitely “when” – we’re sure it’ll fund, we’re just eager to start the official “WE DID IT!” celebration!)

Second, we are in the planning stages for our fifth, as-yet-untitled anthology – and you can get a say! Here’s what we know:

  1. Stories will all feature at least one main character who identifies as a gender identity outside/beyond the binary (genderqueer, genderfluid, non-binary, agender, bigender, omnigender, polygender, etc.)
  2. Stories will be optimistic/fluffy, and will have guaranteed happy endings!
  3. Stories will focus on positive family relationships – taking a loose definition of “family.” Found family? Yes. Platonic relationships? Yes. Extended family? Yes. Fostering? Adoption? Biological family? Family-of-choice? Marriage? Yes, yes, yessity yes. We want all the happy family feels.

What we don’t yet know is setting. That’s where you come in! 

You likely know that we have a Patreon that supports our overhead; essentially, Kickstarters/crowdfunding campaigns fund specific projects, while the Patreon keeps the lights on. The funds we get through Patreon enable us to keep our project costs down by covering the cost of software, hardware, supplies, staffing, and other core business functions.

Our Patrons get a lot of exclusive benefits – several of which apply to our crowdfunding campaigns!!

* all Patrons at our $25 level get a free copy of all “flat” merchandise from our crowdfunding campaigns, even if they don’t back the campaign!

* Patrons at the $10 and $25 levels can choose one free e-book from our catalog per month, which includes our crowdfunded works (once they’re officially published) – so, a $25 Patron could get all the flat merchandise AND the e-book from a campaign without even backing!

* Patrons at the $10 and $25 levels who DO choose to back the campaign also get bonus merch! For Add Magic to Taste, they got an exclusive magnet. For And Seek (Not) to Alter Me, they’re getting a sticker just for them! Which sticker? This one! Isn’t it cute? You know you want one…

* and lastly – finally coming back around to our fifth upcoming anthology! Right now, all our backers have the opportunity to have a voice in picking the setting! We’ve given them a choice between aetherpunk settings, solarpunk settings, or tidalpunk settings for our fluffy genderqueer found family stories. Did you love Add Magic to Taste? Well, we think this new project will be right up your alley – and now through tomorrow morning is your last chance to have a major impact on the anthology theme! 

So, take a look at everything we have to offer on Patreon and consider helping Duck Prints Press grow!

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NOW AVAILABLE: THE E-BOOK OF ADD MAGIC TO TASTE and Extra Kickstarter Merchandise!

Did you miss your chance to back our first Kickstarter? Did you back it, but have a friend who wants a copy? Have you just been itching to get some of the merch you didn’t get as a backer? Have you only just heard of us thanks to our recent call for applicants, and want to learn more about our first Anthology?

Now you can do all these things!

Duck Prints Press’s first anthology, Add Magic to Taste, is now available for sale on our website!

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

Select extra/leftover merchandise from the Kickstarter is also available, including:

So check it out, and get some of the book that’s averaging over 4 stars on Goodreads and Storygraph, and the merch that our Kickstarter backers described as “absolutely beautiful,” “gorgeous,” “incredible,” and “absolute BEST IN CLASS.”

VISIT OUR SHOP NOW AND GET YOURS!

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“Add Magic to Taste” Kickstarter Update

Things have been a little quiet around our social media as, over the past few weeks, we’ve kicked into high gear to finish fulfillment of the “Add Magic to Taste” Kickstarter. We’re pleased to report that we’re nearly done – all backers who’ve done their backer surveys have had their merchandise shipped, and most have received their things. There have of course been some issues – when aren’t there? – with damaged packaging and address errors, but the rate for such as been very low, and so far we’ve been able to replace everything that people have contacted us about.

With the campaign mostly done, we’re hoping to launch the e-book on our website within the next week or two, so that it’ll be available for sale to people who missed the campaign, and we’ll also have an extras sale featuring much of our merchandise. Make sure to keep an eye on our social media platforms if you’re interested in the extras sale – we’ll have extras of the following items to sell!

The book (seconds/lightly damaged ones only):

Keychains (all are seconds with various degrees of damage/problems, but we have a LOT of them):

Enamel Pins (mostly undamaged, with maybe a handful of seconds at a lower price point):

Bookmarks (all undamaged):

Stickers (small numbers of each, undamaged):

Magnets (both undamaged items and seconds):

Mugs (mostly undamaged, though there’s at least one second):

We may have a few sets of the art prints to sell, but we’re not sure yet.

We do not have any extra of the mini-books or the postcards.

As soon as we’ve set prices and the date the sale will begin, we’ll make another announcement. We expect it’ll be at least two more weeks; we want as many of our international purchasers to have received their backer rewards as possible, both because we feel that campaign backers should have their rewards before new people get a chance, and also because we need to be sure we have enough extras on hand to replace any damaged or missing orders placed by our backers. Sales will be handled through our website store portal. Feel free to let us know if you have any questions or thoughts on this!