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Ao3 version that lets you open the 'director's cut' where I, the author, explain every detail in excruciating detail to you and what it is in reference to.

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Small Business Saturday Deals from Duck Prints Press

The busiest shopping weekend of the year is upon us, and I’m delighted to share (though sorry for adding yet more advertising to your life) that Duck Prints Press is running two big sales this weekend!

Kickstarter Flash Bundle

The Kickstarter campaign for our next anthology, A Truth Universally Acknowledged: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” is nearly 85% funded with 6 days left before the end. We’ve still got a bit to go to hit our base goal, though, and we’d love to hit some of our awesome stretch goals to get backers more rewards (without them having to spend a penny more!) and to get our contributors more pay!

To help us reach this goal, we’re offering a bonus flash reward level for new backers and current backers who’d like to upgrade: get A Truth Universally Acknowledged, all our campaign merch, AND e-book and print copies of all seven of our past anthologies, all for one massively discounted price of $290 – a savings of almost $100 over the list prices for these items! (Small print but not small: This level is US-only, and the $290 doesn’t include shipping.)

This is the best price we’ve ever offered for our anthologies! Wondering what Duck Prints Press is all about? This is your moment! Amazing books at an amazing price – now through Monday December 2nd!

Small Business Saturday Coupon

Saturday November 30th is Small Business Saturday, the day to show small and local business you appreciate them – and for us to show we appreciate you by offering great deals! Duck Prints Press has a whole lot of new things now available for the occasion, and we’re running our best sale of the year – 20% your entire (pre-shipping) purchase!

Use coupon code duckysbs01 to save 20% off your purchase, and check out our new shop listings!

Scrap Metal Angel by Nicola Kapron e-book and trade paperback

Scrap Metal Angel two-sided bookmark

Scrap Metal Angel Adrian and Kade poster

Scrap Metal Angel two-postcard set

In Good Company by Nicola Kapron trade paperback

Puppetry by Nina Waters trade paperback

Moongatherer by Willa Blythe trade paperback

Lightbringer by boneturtle trade paperback

Dux Prints Lanyard

Musketeer Dux die-cut sticker

Desire Dux die-cut sticker

Barista Dux die-cut sticker

…and so much more awesome stuff in the Duck Prints Press webstore!

Did you know? People who back our Patreon can get discounts at our shop year-round! $3/month and $5/month backers get a permanent 10% off coupon, backers at the $7/month and $10/month level get 20% off, and backers at the $25/month level get a whopping 30% off purchases from our webstore – the lowest price available – the whole year!

Join Duck Prints Press in shopping small this weekend – by backing our Kickstarter, and/or by visiting our store! And we hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Coupon small print: Coupon usage and terms apply. Offer valid only on online purchases made between Friday November 29 and Monday December 2. Can be redeemed on US and international orders. Shipping & handling and sales tax do not qualify for discounts. This offer cannot be redeemed for cash or gift cards, cannot be applied to past purchases, and can only be used once per purchaser. May not be combined with other coupons, discounts, offers, or promotions. Void if altered, copied, transferred, auctioned, or sold. Valid for use purchasing in-stock items only. No rain checks issued. Other restrictions may apply. Cash value 1/10 cent USD.

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Oh Jinx…

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Oh Jinx…

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Oh Jinx…

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"there is beauty in imperfections"

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SEVIKA and JINX in

Arcane 2.02 " Watch It All Burn "

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Back “A Truth Universally Acknowledged” Today!

We’re thrilled to announce that the crowdfunding campaign for our next anthology, A Truth Universally Acknowledged: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” is now live on Kickstarter – and already selected by them as a project they love!

With this third installment in our Queer Fanworks Inspired By… anthology series, we set out to explore the truth by which we at Duck Prints Press live: that a classic work without a single canonically queer character must be in want of a very LGBTQIA+ makeover! A Truth Universally Acknowledged: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, with 21 short stories and 20 full-page color artworks, is just that. 38 creators have contributed to this project, drawing inspiration from Pride and Prejudice’s characters and story to create delightful, thoughtful, intriguing, and (of course) very queer fanworks and Pride and Prejudice-inspired original works. For this collection, we encouraged our creators to focus on Sapphic/wlw relationships and/or transgender and genderqueer interpretations for their inspiration, though those are definitely not the only types of queer we’ve fit into this diverse collection. We’re also offering an awesome array of merchandise – art prints and note cards and an enamel pin and a folding fan and more!

We’ll be posting more information about the campaign and the contributing creators throughout the next couple weeks, so make sure to give us a follow on social media.

This campaign ends on December 5th 2024 – don’t miss your chance to get all this awesome stuff! Become a backer today!

It’s also a great time to become a Patreon backer – and you’ll get a free bonus piece of merch if you back both the “A Truth Universally Acknowledged” campaign and are a $10/month or $25/month level supporter!

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A writer friend told me something that broke my heart a little bit today; they're going to quit publishing their fanfic.

My instant thought was that they had been trolled or attacked or that something terrible had happened in their life because this person is so passionate about their writing. It wasn't any of that. Engagement with their works has been going down, as it has for many of us. Comments are like gold dust a lot of the time, and just looking through the historical comment counts on old fics on ao3 demonstrates this trend very clearly. It was not simply the comments dropping off which caused them to decide to stop posting, however.

My friend came across a discord server for their fandom (I should point out here that their fandom interest and mine diverged a couple of years ago, we stay in touch but don't currently read each other's posts because I'm not into their fandom and they would rather gouge their eyes out with a wooden spoon than read anything Star Wars) and specifically to share fic in that fandom. They joined, because we all love a good fic rec, only to discover that their latest multichapter fic, which has almost no comments and very few kudos, is being hotly discussed in this server as one of the best stories ever. Not one of these people has bothered to say this to them on the fic. When they asked, none of participants could see the point in telling the author of the fic they apparently loved so much that they love it.

This discovery has absolutely destroyed my friend's love of sharing fic. They share because they love seeing other people's enjoyment, and fic writers do that through comments and kudos/reblogs/likes because we don't get paid. There is no literary critic writing a blog post/article about how amazing the story is for us to copy and keep/frame. There is no money from royalties. All we have are the words of the people reading our works.

Those people on that server could have taken five minutes of the time they spent gushing about how amazing my friend's story was to other people and used it to tell the one person guaranteed to want to hear that praise how much they loved it. They could have taken a moment to express their opinion to the person who spent hours upon hours plotting, writing, editing, and posting those chapters. Instead, they deprived my friend of thing that keeps them sharing their writing, and in the process have killed their love of it. My friend now feels used and unmotivated.

I won't be sharing a link to their fic, they said I could share their experience but not their identity. I know they plan to post one final chapter. I know they intend to express their hurt at being excluded from the praise for the thing they created, and I know they intend to announce that as a consequence they will not be posting for a long while, if at all.

So please, I beg you, don't hide your love of a story from the writer. It's just about the only thing we have.

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Now Available – Many Hands: An Anthology of Polyamorous Erotica

Duck Prints Press is thrilled to share that our debut explicit anthology, Many Hands: An Anthology of Polyamorous Erotica, is now available to the general public! This project successfully crowdfunded over the summer, and we fulfilled our Kickstarter campaign in September; now, the book and leftover merch can be yours, even if you missed the campaign!

For those who love their short stories spicy, we’re delighted to bring you Duck Prints Press’s debut explicit anthology Many Hands: An Anthology of Polyamorous Erotica. In this collection of 15 brand-new stories, we celebrate many flavors of polyamory. Orgy? Yes please! Ménage à trois? C’est magnifique! Foursomes and moresomes? Delighted to attend! We asked our contributors to blow our minds with their fun combinations, unusual settings, favorite trope usage, and (of course) super sexy smut—and they didn’t disappoint. From a vampire free-for-all to a heartfelt reunion, from surprise soulmates to enemies-to-lovers, this collection has polyamory in lots of scrumptious varieties that lovers of erotica won’t want to miss!

Now Available:

Many Hands: An Anthology of Polyamorous Erotica in e-book and trade paperback formats! (of course!)

polyamorous symbolism temporary tattoo sheet (our Kickstarter stretch goal merch!) with art by Jared Powell

poly pride dragon enamel key chain with art by reshipkmn

poly pride dux die-cut sticker with art by Alessa Riel

Many Hands bookmark with art by Aaron Kotze

Get your book and merch TODAY!

This book will also be available through major retailers and libraries within the next couple weeks, so be on the lookout!

We have no leftovers of the other campaign merch – the salamander pin, cover art print, or lemon love candle.

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Cover Reveal for A Truth Universally Acknowledged: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”

HAPPY COVER REVEAL DAY! Duck Prints Press’s next anthology, A Truth Universally Acknowledged: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, will be crowdfunding starting November 20th, 2024. We’ve been hard at work on this collection for a loooong time and we are thrilled to finally be making it available for y’all. The gorgeous cover art, made by artist Aceriee, was inspired by the classic 1898 “peacock edition of Pride and Prejudice – but of course, we made it queerer. The spectacular full cover is wrap around.

(spoilers: this art will be offered a postcard as one of the Kickstarter campaign backer rewards!)

This awesome book features 21 stories each up to 5,000 words long and 20 full-page color artworks. Our campaign features six merch items, too, with peacocks standing proud on much of the art.

Want to be sure you don’t miss the campaign? Follow our Kickstarter pre-launch page now!

Become a Patreon backer to get behind-the-scenes access to sneak peeks and more!

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They’re back!!

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So What’s Scrap Metal Angel About?

Secret Gates have protected mankind from the unknown chaos beyond the edges of reality for millennia, and now, all that stands between everything humanity knows and the horrors outside it are a depressed trans man, his exhausted partner, and a creature ill-suited to the world after being pulled from his own horrific reality. This is Scrap Metal Angel by Nicola Kapron, an urban fantasy where only fragile Gates protect all we know from eldritch, incomprehensible magic. This is the world that Adrian Somer is determined to save.

In this dark but hopeful urban fantasy novella, masterful storyteller Nicola Kapron introduces us to a world that, on the surface, appears similar to our own, but underneath has complex magic, secret rituals, hidden organizations, and the constant shadow of danger from the mysteries that dwell beyond the six closed Gates. What lies outside the portals locked to protect humanity? Join Adrian Somer, Kade Mauzy, and the other characters in Scrap Metal Angel to find out…

Tags!

Genre: Fantasy with Technology Rating: Mature Trigger Warnings: body horror (graphic descriptions), death of a parent (past), death of a sibling (past), death of a spouse (past), gore (graphic descriptions), misgendering, minor character death, violence (graphic descriptions) Relationships: friends, siblings, twins Character Features: bipoc, magic use, murderer, non-human character, secret identity, sentient construct, tattoos, trans man Other Tags: angst, be gay solve crimes, dimension jumping, magical mishaps, murder, past tense, resurrection, second chances, third person limited (multiple) point of view Length: 146 pages/42,878 words

Our crowdfunding campaign launched on duckprintspress.com yesterday (Oct 10th!) and we’re currently 37% funded. The campaign ends October 25th.

Love books with queer characters that aren’t about queerness? Love gritty modern-world-esque urban fantasy? Love books that raise questions about the nature of reality, life, and death? Then check out Scrap Metal Angel, and become a backer to help us bring the awesome novella to print!

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Seeking a Sensitivity Reader!

Hey y'all, the Press is looking for a sensitivity reader for a piece about a Cambodian immigrant family (mother and daughter) who were victims of human trafficking and were forced into sexual slavery (in the US) instead of being brought safely to the US. Obviously, the topic is a bit triggering, though the descriptions of Bad Things Happening are relatively vague/non-explicit. The daughter is underage and she is the point of view character; the story is about her finding her power and moving past this situation. We can pay $10 for the reading; the story is 4k words long.

Any recommendations, signal boosts, etc., would be much appreciated. If you are interested in helping, you can DM me here on Tumblr or e-mail me at info @ duckprintspress . com.

Thank you!

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You know what I think its grossly under-rated in fandom? Second loves.

What it's like to love and lose and then love again. To suffer through either the death of a loved one or the death of a love you used to share. To know that loss, to know that hurt, and to still make yourself vulnerable to someone again. To love scared, to love wounded, to love anyway.

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On being an older fangirl

I was probably 10 years old when I first conceived of what was, looking back, fanfiction. Me and my best friend would lie in bed together on sleepovers and I'd make up stories about what happened after the end of our favorite book, "The Westing Game." She'd ask me for more stories, and I'd tell her more, inventing them as I went along. "Then what?" she'd say.

I was 14 when I went to my first convention. I had discovered Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was 1987, and my youth pastor was a huge Trekkie. He took me to a one-day crappy Creation con, but it was amazing to me. I met Nichelle Nichols. My dad showed me the Trek movies. He and I watched TNG together.

When I went to college in 1991, my dad used to videotape TNG episodes onto VHS tapes and mail them to me, so I could keep watching (I didn't have TV in my dorm room).

By the time I was a senior, we had Trek watching parties in the dorm lounge, where the TV had cable. Star Trek: Voyager had started up, and I wrote a column about it for the college newspaper. I joined a mailing list about it, with people in it that I still know today.

I got my first computer that could go online in 1995. I was on newsgroups. I discovered Doctor Who. I went to Trek conventions where we still passed around fanzines containing fic and art and smutty K/S fan creations.

Then it was Harry Potter. Then there were websites. Then there was Geocities, where we could all make our own little spots. We organized them into webrings. We talked on newsgroups and mailing lists. There were fanfic archives. Then there was fanfiction.net.

Then...there was LiveJournal. And we could interact in entirely new ways. We could form communities, and debate things, and fight over canon, and get into ship wars. On LiveJournal, I met my best friend of 22 years. I was in her wedding. She's my sister of the heart (which is what she calls me).

Then there was Tumblr. And Twitter. And now there's Discord. But it's all the same.

I am the same.

I am still that little girl who made up fanfiction in her head to entertain her best friend. I am still the one who was amazed to find communities on the internet - which was so new, so raw, so uncommodified - where others like me could meet. I found there people to meet in real life.

I am still that twentysomething going to her first major convention, being told that someone loved my fic, being asked about my writing process.

I am still that thirtysomething watching something I wrote blow up. Seeing friends from other fandoms find me in new ones, finding them there, too. Forgetting which fandom I know someone from, because I've known them for twenty years.

I still know some of the people who created those early websites, those mailing lists, those archives. I still meet people in new fandoms who say "Oh, I read your fic in [fandom] fifteen years ago!" There's no feeling quite like having someone remember something you wrote for that long. Or meeting someone whose fic meant a lot to YOU, or who you talked with on rec.arts.drwho.creative in 1997.

Aging in fandom is a gift. Being middle-aged in fandom is a joy. Having people who still read what I write and ask "Then what?" is a blessing.

It breaks my heart that so many people see it as something to be ashamed of, when it is one of my life's greatest gifts.