#duck prints press

[duckprintspress]

Coming Soon: May Trope Mayhem 2024!

It’s almost time for May Trope Mayhem!

What is May Trope Mayhem? It’s Duck Prints Press’s annual multi-fandom/original work creation event! Our creators have shared their favorite tropes, and we’ve picked 30 (+1 free day!), one per day of May to make an awesome, fun, diverse list of prompts to inspire your creativity. Come May 1st, we invite everyone to create a ficlet, artwork, gif set, photo montage, or whatever else they feel like, inspired by the trope of the day. We’re open to any fandom or no fandom at all, original characters and old faves, any ship (yes even that one) or no ship or reader inserts or, or, or… basically, if you can imagine it, we can accommodate it!

This year marks our fourth-annual May Trope Mayhem. Curious about the event? You can learn some by checking out our previous three years!

the 2021 May Trope Mayhem list and rules

the 2022 May Trope Mayhem list and rules

the 2023 May Trope Mayhem list and rules

the AO3 Parent Collection

The rules for 2024 will be about the same as in the past, so the only big change will be in the tropes – some are repeats, some are not. And of course day 31 is still a free day – we’d love to know YOUR favorite trope, especially if it it doesn’t end up our list for this year!

The 2024 list goes public on May 1st. Mark your calendars, tell yours friends, and get ready to create with us! And follow us on social media to make sure you don’t miss a thing!

Backers on Patreon can see the list early! It’s up now – become a backer and check it out.

[hermit-writes]

Hermit Prints — Hockey Bois

This project was for the novel Hockey Bois by A.L. Heard, published by Duck Prints Press.

Nick Porter has always loved hockey. Ever since he can remember, it’s been his favorite thing in the world. It’s too bad he never learned to play, he’d tell himself, but it was too late to do it now. Adults don’t just magically learn to skate and join a hockey team. That’d be ridiculous. Except maybe they do? On a whim, he decides to sign up for an adult  beginner’s class. He learns to skate, joins a team, and meets a really hot teammate… and it’s pretty much a disaster from there on out.

This is available in both hard covers and trade paperback, in the 6×9 format.

If you’d be interested in getting your story typeset and ready to print, please visit my commissions page.

You can purchase the hardcover, paperback, and e-book from Duck Print Press. The trade paperback should also be available to order at your local bookstore, and the e-book available in libraries!

[theirprofoundbond]

✨ Mini giveaway! ✨

@duckprintspress is running a Kickstarter campaign for mythical creature pride pins and stickers, featuring gorgeous art by @migglangelus!

Happily, the campaign is funded! We've already reached one stretch goal (agender/aromantic kelpie) and we're so close to the second one (genderqueer flag colors, creature pending)! We have just under 24 hours to go...

If you’re eyeing these beautiful beasties but you’re unable to afford backing the campaign, I’d like to help!

On behalf of the first person to DM me (it must be a DM), I’ll back for one of the following options:

3 stickers with worldwide shipping

1 enamel pin with US shipping only

Let me know whether you want the stickers or the pin, and which mythical creature(s) you’d like.

You must be comfortable giving me your address, because I need it to complete the pledge!

Please consider signal boosting our campaign and/or sharing it with people you think would be interested 😊 We gotta spread that love and pride! ❤️️🌈

Update: We have a winner! Thanks to the folks who have boosted this post. The campaign runs until 4/2 so take a peek and signal boost if you can!

[terrapwaters]

Friends, my short story Ancient Hearts Unearthed, will be included in Aether Beyond the Binary, an anthology from Duck Prints Press (@duckprintspress). Above is the awesome cover art by non-binary artist Mar Spragge. Our Kickstarter runs through January 25th! It’s all about characters outside the binary (nonbinary, agender, genderqueer, etc.) in an aetherpunk setting! We’re almost 60% funded with 16 days left.

Here’s an excerpt from my story about a pair of archeologists exploring a newly uncovered cave:

Sasha almost ran into Victoria, stopping short. Over her shoulder, they saw the cavern wall. The appearance of the rock was unusual enough to draw Sasha’s attention to the fact that they’d come to a dead end. “Those markings are too regular to be natural.” They stepped around Victoria and reached out to run their fingers over the rock, feeling the way shapes had been carved into it. “They’re pictographs. Or runes, perhaps?” They turned to Victoria. “What does the ancient rune expert have to say about them?” “I’m…” She took a long, silent moment to look at the wall, moving her light around and tracing the shapes with her fingers. “I can’t see them well enough. We need the supplies to make rubbings. And more light.” “Where can we get anything other than aetherwork light sources?” “Candles, I suppose.” Victoria looked down at her hand, pressing the red light on and off. “Or some sort of electricity lamp.” She snickered. “Whale oil?” Then Victoria turned and ran a hand over the runes again. “What bothers me is that these are early Age of Aether markings. You see the way they’re using archaic forms of our letters?” Sasha leaned closer. “I’ll be damned. This doesn’t match the bronze era artifacts in the rest of the cave, either.” They made a tiny humming noise. “Who else would have this much knowledge of ancient runes?” As Victoria leaned as close as she could to the wall, she asked distractedly, “What do you mean?” “Obviously, it’s a fake,” they said, mulling over the problem in their head. “Sanderson has wanted my place on the admissions committee since he joined the department.” “What if it’s not a fake?” Victoria made a tiny, excited noise. “What if this is early Aether Age work? What if this is a secret that’s been buried for almost a thousand years?” Sasha’s heart swooped at the thought. “We have to find out what that inscription says.”

If you want to find out what happens next, please back our kickstarter campaign!

[thechaoscryptid]

A Very Duck Prints Press Handwriting Meme

Happy National Handwriting Day! @duckprintspress is doing a handwriting meme for the occasion (and if you're heading thataway, check out the Kickstarter for Aether Beyond the Binary).

The prompts:

Write your URL

Write the name you write under

Write "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."

Copy out a favorite book quote

Write anything you want using your non-dominant hand

Draw a duck!

Tag five friends

Tagging (as always, no pressure): @asablehart , @365runesofthesystem , @asa-writes-stuff , @thefatladysang , and @chocolatecatcupcakecheese

Behold, my "this would make a good ransom note" handwriting and the first thing I've drawn in actual YEARS.

[tryslora]

What I'm Reading Wednesday...

On the Duck Prints Press reading server, it’s What I’m Reading Wednesday where we all share what we finished in the last week, what we are currently reading, and what we think of these books.

I figured hey, why not bring that to the rest of the world for myself. Because I love yelling about my current reads. And I’ve always got several things in motion at one time, between physical, audio, and ebooks, plus things I’m reading for specific reasons.

Here’s the summary from the last week in visual format (the actual discussion is behind the read-more):

Fiction

I am currently reading Many Drops Make a Stream by Adrian Harley (from Duck Prints Press). There are so many things to love in this book. The world building packs so much into such a small space. The culture clash between human and shapeshifter is wonderful (and Harley’s shapeshifters truly have a culture all their own). I thought it was going to be a quick read because it’s short, but the language and depth of information have me going slower and savoring every word. That said, I’ve also reached the point where I want to take it in faster, so I find myself spending a little extra time every time I pick it up, just to get a few more pages!

Manga & Graphic Novels

I have one manga and one graphic novel in progress.

I’ve been reading The Complete Elfquest, volume 1 by Wendy & Richard Pini for a little over two weeks now. We have several of these volumes, and my intention is to read one chapter/issue a night, so I am able to savor them slowly, but also get through them. Reading this first volume is like coming home into a fandom from childhood. The first chunk of it was also collected in the original Warp Graphics compilations, and I can’t remember how often I read those back in high school. I’m reaching the parts now where I probably only read the individual issues once or twice, so it’s familiar, but not to the point where I’m like oh yes, I remember gazing at that panel for hours. I still love these elves, and this story, and I cannot wait to get home each day and be allowed to read a chapter. I’m looking forward to when I reach new-to-me material.

I watched the 24 episode anime The Apothecary Diaries and I wasn’t ready to let it go when it was over, so I started reading the manga by Natsu Hyuuga and Nekokurage. I finished volumes 5 & 6 this past week and am currently reading volume 7. I have the remaining already published volumes waiting for when I’m done with this. I adore Maomao and Jinshi, and am incredibly excited to get to the point where canon moves past what is in the anime. That said, getting to revisit events I already watched on TV and linger over what was said and the exact expressions has been soooo good. (And yes, I know the light novels also exist and will be rolling into those in ebook form after the manga; I might be a tad bit obsessed).

Audiobook

A while ago I thought “I should read some TJ Klune” so I checked the library list I had for audiobooks, and the first of his Extraordinaries trilogy was available in audio. I listened to it. I was addicted. I’m now on the third book—Heat Wave—and I find it very very hard to put it down. I can’t listen while working, only while commuting, walking, or doing chores—things that don’t require me to actually think so I can multi-task. But hey, it’s a GREAT way to get me to do my PT since it means fifteen minutes more of audiobook listening! Nick, the POV character, has ADHD and I flail a lot over pretty much everything he thinks and does. I love every character in this series. I love how Klune is using superheroes as an allegory for the queer experience and for racial issues, but at the same time, is actually addressing those issues explicitly. I both want to listen faster to find out what happens, and linger so it doesn’t end.

Ebook

I have been reading Wayfinder by CE Murphy, which is the second in a duology. This is a romance, yes, but it’s another fun culture clash book, this time between humanity and faerie, and I am so here for that. Murphy is an author I used to read a lot from, and I’m trying to work my way through her back catalog slowly because I’ve always enjoyed her style. Accessible and fun. This series is about a woman who has always been able to hear lies (a Truthseeker), and how her talent develops, and how she works with the faerie kingdoms to try to help them (despite some of them not wanting help, and the original situation not being the one she’s actually needed for).

Non-fiction

I have been working my way through three non-fiction books.

One is A Year of Zen by Bonnie Myotai Treace. I had been looking for a journaling prompt book, and decided to give this one a try. I made the difficult decision to write directly in the book itself, then the additional decision to let myself fail if needed. So if I don’t get to answer a prompt on a day, I just answer it the next day. One prompt per day. It’ll take me more than a year to go through it, but that’s okay. The idea is to have me think and write a short paragraph every day, and not feel guilty about messing up. It’s working surprisingly well. Learning to let myself fail has been a big part of my process this year, and hopefully I am learning to let go of some of the anxiety about things needing to be matched and rigid.

The one I am stalled on right now is The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris. It was recommended as a book that therapists like to use for themselves, not merely recommend to their patients, and it reminded me of the radical acceptance I’m supposed to be practicing (and apparently am, despite myself, according to my therapist after she listened to me). The problem is, it has exercises (doesn’t everything?) and I stalled out because I didn’t have time.

Time is a theme, y’know? And that’s what happened with the last non-fiction book. I’ve been working through The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, taking it as a self-guided 12 week course. I’m currently on week 5. However, I did a week of just doing morning notes before I really got started, then I took a week off when everything went haywire in my schedule because of the power outage. So it’s been about seven weeks so far. This week, as I worked on exercises, I found myself really digging in to my emotions about this book. And in the end, I decided that while I can see the value in some things, the book itself is giving me more anxiety about everything to do with my writing, while at the same time making it impossible for me to find time TO write (while following the advice it gives). So. I am no longer doing it as a course, with exercises, but I will finish reading it. And if an exercise appeals, I’ll do it. It’ll still take time, because I’ll probably still read one chapter each weekend, but I am already feeling WAY less stressed and I only made this decision last night.

So…

That’s it for me! What are you reading?

[ramblingandpie]

In good news: I felt pretty great all weekend! We had a bunch of @duckprintspress folks over for a meet-up and it was great. Kids got nice and tuckered out (there were Other Children), I cooked a ton of food, there was a fiber craft circle....

And now our house is just us again and I'm so pooped. But in a good way. Body tired from productivity and happiness.

[deathbycoldopen]

[ID in alt text]

Concept art for my short story "Flower and Rot" featured in the anthology Aether Beyond the Binary, published by @duckprintspress

Excerpt:

Four dozen minds linked by Aether watched me through thousands of leaves and roots and flowers as I hurried away. Their attention bored into my back right up to the moment I switched off the Aethercoil and the flow of Aether abruptly stopped. The grove became just an unusually lush garden. I was alone once more. The thing growing inside my eye stopped too, but I couldn’t afford to hope that it had shriveled away without Aether to feed it. My vision was still cloudy in that eye, and the whole area was delicate and tender. Spitting rain formed halos around the streetlights as I reached the drugstore parking lot. I clumsily fished for my keys with my left hand, keeping the right firmly covering my eye. My shitty sedan was the only car in the lot, but I checked every line of sight around me before stepping into the driver’s seat. I was pretty sure I was alone. I couldn’t take the chance that I was wrong. I already knew what I would see, but I had to know how fucked I was. I pulled down the visor and flipped open the mirror.  Rot.

The Kickstarter for Aether Beyond the Binary is now live and waiting for you to back it! Check it out here!

Some detail shots under the cut:

[duckprintspress]

6 Queer Books for Autism Acceptance Month!

April is Autism Acceptance Month, so the group of folks at Duck Prints Press who suggest titles for these rec lists dug into personal favorite queer reads to find these six titles that include queer characters who are explicitly or implied to be autistic. Our picks are:

The Luis Ortega Survival Club by Sonora Reyes

Ariana Ruiz wants to be noticed. But as an autistic girl who never talks, she goes largely ignored by her peers—despite her bold fashion choices. So when cute, popular Luis starts to pay attention to her, Ari finally feels seen.

Luis’s attention soon turns to something more, and they have sex at a party—while Ari didn’t say no, she definitely didn’t say yes. Before she has a chance to process what happened and decide if she even has the right to be mad at Luis, the rumor mill begins churning—thanks, she’s sure, to Luis’s ex-girlfriend, Shawni. Boys at school now see Ari as an easy target, someone who won’t say no.

Then Ari finds a mysterious note in her locker that eventually leads her to a group of students determined to expose Luis for the predator he is. To her surprise, she finds genuine friendship among the group, including her growing feelings for the very last girl she expected to fall for. But in order to take Luis down, she’ll have to come to terms with the truth of what he did to her that night—and risk everything to see justice done.

May the Best Man Win by Z. R. Ellor

Jeremy Harkiss, cheer captain and student body president, won’t let coming out as a transgender boy ruin his senior year. Instead of bowing to the bigots and outdate school administration, Jeremy decides to make some noise–and how better than by challenging his all-star ex-boyfriend, Lukas for the title of Homecoming King? 

Lukas Rivers, football star and head of the Homecoming Committee, is just trying to find order in his life after his older brother’s funeral and the loss long-term girlfriend–who turned out to be a boy. But when Jeremy threatens to break his heart and steal his crown, Lukas kick starts a plot to sabotage Jeremy’s campaign. 

When both boys take their rivalry too far, the dance is on the verge of being canceled. To save Homecoming, they’ll have to face the hurt they’re both hiding–and the lingering butterflies they can’t deny.

Hell Follows With Us by Andrew Joseph White

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.

But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.

Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor

Sam Sylvester’s not overly optimistic about their recent move to the small town of Astoria, Oregon after a traumatic experience in their last home in the rural Midwest.

Yet Sam’s life seems to be on the upswing after meeting several new friends and a potential love interest in Shep, the pretty neighbor. However, Sam can’t seem to let go of what might have been, and is drawn to investigate the death of a teenage boy in 1980s Astoria. Sam’s convinced he was murdered–especially since Sam’s investigation seems to resurrect some ghosts in the town.

Threatening notes and figures hidden in shadows begin to disrupt Sam’s life. Yet Sam continues to search for the truth. When Sam discovers that they may be closer to a killer than previously known, Sam has a difficult decision to make. Would they risk their new life for a half-lived one?

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Wei Wuxian was once one of the most outstanding men of his generation, a talented and clever young cultivator who harnessed martial arts, knowledge, and spirituality into powerful abilities. But when the horrors of war led him to seek a new power through demonic cultivation, the world’s respect for his skills turned to fear, and his eventual death was celebrated throughout the land.

Years later, he awakens in the body of an aggrieved young man who sacrifices his soul so that Wei Wuxian can exact revenge on his behalf. Though granted a second life, Wei Wuxian is not free from his first, nor the mysteries that appear before him now. Yet this time, he’ll face it all with the righteous and esteemed Lan Wangji at his side, another powerful cultivator whose unwavering dedication and shared memories of their past will help shine a light on the dark truths that surround them.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She’s used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If she were truly a monster, she’d be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remains of her world.

Aster lives in the lowdeck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organised much like the antebellum South. For generations, Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way, the ship’s leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer, Aster learns there may be a way to improve her lot – if she’s willing to sow the seeds of civil war.

What are your favorite queer books with Autistic rep? We’d love to hear about them!

You can access this list as a bookshelf on Goodreads!

Did you know? Duck Prints Press has an affiliate shop on Bookshop.org – and you can access all our rec lists (including this one!) there to facilitate purchasing the books. If you buy with us as your affiliate book store, authors get royalties, Bookshop.org gets a cut, and we get a small percent of the purchase price too – everyone wins!

[quicklikelight]

Genre: Lunarpunk Rating: General Relationship: f/f, friends-to-lovers Tags: PTSD, anxiety, OCD, climate change, emotional hurt/comfort, first kiss, getting together, science fantasy, religion, summer solstice, WLW Length: 10k+ words

When the Summer Solstice makes the days unbearably hot, Clan Foxfire sends two people to Moon's Rest, the temple of the Moon goddess that can bring back the longer nights and cooler days. Honeycomb never expected to be chosen, but when her name is called to join Pomegranate on the journey, it's all she can hope not to bring disaster on her Clan. Can Honeycomb face her fears and step into the power her Clan has given her, even when the challenges seem overwhelming?

This lunarpunk f/f novelette has it all: angst, friends to lovers, science+fantasy, trauma recovery, and a Moon you could definitely make your girlfriend. Check it out now, from Willa Blythe with @duckprintspress.

Buy "Moongatherer" today! Excerpt:

“Clan Foxfire,” Grandmother Flame said. She hummed a soft melody, and the congregation hummed it in echo, a quiet chorus that Honeycomb had to hurry to join. “We gather for an important duty. The Long Day is nearly here, and it’s time to send our messengers to Moon’s Rest to make our offering.” The fragrance of woodsmoke, clary, and mountain cedar suffused the air, making Honeycomb’s nose itch; she wanted to sneeze. She looked longingly out of one of the cavern’s gnarled, branching exits and could make out the twilight beyond. Perhaps she could sneak out—make a quiet exit—and no one would notice. Once she was outside, she wouldn’t have to smell the smoke, only clean air and the sky and the waters of the sacred spring. No one would notice if she wasn’t there. She just had to find the quietest way to leave. Honeycomb began to shift in her seat, stretching first, then moving to rock up on her heels. If she could get past the last few rows of— “Honeycomb.” The voice, heavy with something she didn’t have the context for, grabbed her attention and brought her back to the cavern. She looked around and found that the whole Clan was looking at her. Oh. Oh, no.

[hermit-writes]

Hermit Prints — Aim For The Heart

This project was for the anthology Aim For The Heart by @duckprintspress

You’ve heard “All For One!”; now get ready for “One For All!” Duck Prints Press is thrilled to bring a whole new meaning to the Musketeers’ famous slogan in one inclusive book with a little bit of something for everyone: Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers.” For this collection, we recruited 20 authors and 16 artists who love Athos, Porthos, Aramis, d’Artagnan, Milady, Madame Bonacieux, and the whole gang from Dumas’s wonderful historical melodrama. These creators’ mission was simple: take this long-adored story and make it queer! The result is an amazing collection of works exploring the nuances of these characters, delving into issues of identity, gender, and sexuality—telling and retelling a story we all know and love. 

This is in the A4 format, with white paper and matte cover options. The final books had 254 pages. The cover art is by Pallas Perilous.

[terrapwaters]

Friends, I have exciting news! Later today, November 30th, you will be able read my original work The Wayward Timekeeper, by subscribing to the Duck Prints Press Patreon at the $10 level!

Some info about this story Genre: Fantasy Rating: General Audiences Relationship: family, m/m, polyamory (background), siblings Character Features: bipoc, deity, immortal, non-human character, magic use Tags: action and adventure, the afterlife, fall equinox, first kiss, getting together, past tense, pregnancy, religion, spring equinox, third person limited pov

By subscribing to the patreon, you also get access to a ton of other fantastic stories by other members of the press!

[jd-rivers]

Back a Kickstarter, get my story

"When we lit up the night sky" my polyamorous (m|m|m) sci-fi romance story about love will be part of the upcoming anthology "Aim for the Heart: A Queer Fanworks Anthology" inspired by Alexander Dumas's "The Three Musketeers"!

Read a teaser here:

Check out also all the other lovely and soon-to-come teasers from all the other wonderful contributors, over 30(!) in total.

Support the campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/duckprintspress/aim-for-the-heart-a-queer-fanworks-anthology/

I repeat: It's about queer(!) musketeers(!).

Sharing is highly appreciated. <3

All for one!

[ramblingandpie]

Augh it was under a readmore so I'm making a separate post.

Are you at Arisia 2024 this weekend?

Excellent.

My wife is there and I am not.

Please draw a duck (stick-art is fine) and give it to her at the Duck Prints Press booth.

Collectively, we (by which I mean "you all" since i'm at home) can prank my wife with lots of little doodles of ducks.