#literary press

[content-cat]

On this thing that we're doing.

So, in 2022, to combat the mental illnesses of our time (capitalism) five of us agreed to start a digital queer romance literary press. And then we founded:

Space Fruit Press!*

And it has continued to be a wonderful experience. Somehow we all still enjoy working together. That is always a miracle and a blessing.

On to the queer sweet & spicy 🌶 stuff—we have a variety of spiced or sweet content for those itching for a good bedtime read.

All Our Books Our Authors

If you ever have any questions or want a more detailed tag or spoiler for any story please email us at spacefruipress@gmail.com and we will answer any question you may have.

*the name started as a joke, that we wanted something spacey and something fruity and so we came up with about a million fun combinations but then we just kept referring to it as 'space fruit press' and it stuck.

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Fortnight really is an excellent album opener as a narrative device. It sets the scene for the tale we are about to uncover, the themes we’re about to explore, the characters we’re about to meet. It’s like an overture, the prologue to the epic we’re about to discover. In fair Verona where we lay our scene indeed etc.

[jacobwren]

From the Literary Press Group:

“What does it mean for a book to be fully Canadian-made?

Take a closer look when you’re shopping for books: LPG publishers invest in Canadian stories, talent, and production.

Does your choice check all the boxes?

- Canadian Publisher - Canadian Author - Designed & Printed in Canada - Warehoused and Distributed in Canada

Not just great reads—buying fully Canadian-made supports Canadian culture and businesses.”  (If you're reading this outside of Canada, it might make less sense. It is of course a way for the Canadian publishing industry to push back against tariffs.)

[madi-konrad]

Exciting news, all! One of my projects, a sapphic romantasy novelette called "The Sea" about regret, hope, and memory, is being published this May by Pink Hydra Press!!

On March 1st, Pink Hydra will start a fundraiser to publish three free magazines of queer fiction--all touched by unreality.

If you donate to the fundraiser, you'll get early access to the first five chapters of "The Sea"! You can donate early now:

Link to the fundraiser on ko-fi!!

[crosswire]

"EXORCISE" by Josephine Blackwell, as published in Junk Literary and Arts Journal. Photograph of me by @adamshallperish.

you can read the full electronic edition of Junk vol. III HERE.

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2024: AT THE EDGE OF THE WOODS by Masatsugu Ono.

[himbohotel]

am i crazy to think this???:

dnd but with one of your characters (no two fandoms matching) and throwing shit at the wall

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

Review: Unbreakable by Mira Grant

Author: Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire)Publisher: Subterranean PressReleased: March 31, 2023Received: Own Book Summary: Unbreakable Starlight was one of many groups of girl warriors tasked with defending the planet. Unfortunately, their name was not quite accurate, as most of the group fell – alongside every other warrior. Only two survived the massacre. Piper and Yuina. Now the government has…

[secret-restaurant-press]

Pizza...? Winter Issue 2025

[tamaharu]

Lolita counters the commonality and lightness of the world - the neighbor, the school, the united states, the family, the humor, the learned - with barely disguised hatred. elements are described vivaciously, but H.H., being the type of man he is, follows everything up with callous remarks and a general air that seems to be him putting his nose up and going, don't get so offended, i'm only telling you how the world really works. and sometimes, sure, thats how the world works. but other times - and you need to make it a point to distinguish what from what - he's lying right to your face so you don't question why he's trying to pretend that's how the world works.

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

if you were wondering what was the trigger for my "no it's not folklore" post earlier I was editing a press release for work and lecturing some non Celticists about it lmfao

BUT ALSO I was getting mad at Ao3's tag wrangling all over again, having posted a new fic that is going to get wrangled without my consent into being classified as "ancient irish religion and lore" despite extremely not being that in any way, shape or form. sigh.

[toadlett]

this weekend I'll be at CYMERA Festival creator's hall, along with a bunch of freinds! Ready to fight any beasts we come across! I'll have the last of my current batches of t shirts, plus new notebook bundles and loads of books and zines!

Come see me and my pals:

@sticksandsharks

@pppondi

@elljwalker

@quindriepress

[rgr-pop]

gonna do an annoying information professional behavior but i find this stuff shocking and imo academics should have to take a little two credit ip course

[thesandisfalling]

my official take on the moon/qibli/winter love triangle is that winterwatcher is a much grander, epic romance, and moonbli is a much more level, sweet-and-simple romance, but ultimately i think it was a better decision to have the latter be the canon romance in a series primarily marketed towards children and teens than fall into the "bad boy" romance trope, and instead romanticize the earnest, genuine, sweet relationship

obviously there's way more nuance to this involving internalized/unconscious bias, and winter doesn't even REALLY fit into the "bad boy" archetype, but purely based on genre conventions, the gruff, rude, brooding, tortured hero VERY often falls into that category, and at the ages of 7-14 most of us were very LIKELY to be romanticizing that archetype, which again is very often treated as interchangeable with the "abusive bad boy" trope, and while i might have a few gripes with the writing of moonbli and i ENJOY winterwatcher a whole lot, i DO appreciate the more gentle, "safe" romance being treated as the ideal, rather than the tense and angst-filled nature of the alternative

[pennstateuniversitypress]

Q&A with John Bidwell

The author of The Declaration in Script and Print discusses Independence Day, the Declaration of Independence as an iconic document, and more.

Why do we celebrate independence on July 4th even though Congress voted for independence on July 2nd?

The date we have chosen for Independence Day depends on a document. By all rights we should be celebrating the day when the United States became an independent nation—July 2, 1776—when the Continental Congress adopted Richard Henry Lee’s resolution “that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.” John Adams predicted that July 2nd would be the national anniversary, a day marked with parades, bonfires, bell ringing, gun salutes, and “illuminations” of houses with candles in the windows. Adams was wrong, however, because he did not foresee the emotional impact of the official announcement, a broadside printed two days later with the title In Congress, July 4, 1776. A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled. The date in the title is one reason why July 4th prevailed over July 2nd. But above all Americans cherished the text, an eloquent expression of fundamental rights based on principles of liberty, justice, and equality. Historians have traced its origins, its changing reputation, and its influence at home and abroad. I too have noted how it has been variously interpreted, but mainly I wish to show how it has been visualized, how it appeared in engravings, lithographs, and letterpress broadsides during the nineteenth century. I identify about two hundred prints and broadsides in The Declaration in Script and Print, expensive engravings suitable for framing as well as cheap stereotype keepsakes aimed at the bottom of the market. Starting with an innovative advertising campaign in 1816, I describe the merchandising tactics of artists, printers, and publishers who played on a surge of patriotic sentiment to promote their wares. In the same spirit, Penn State University Press has selected July 4th to be the release date for my book.

What was it that made the manuscript Declaration more inspiring to Americans than the printed version issued on July 4th?

Some delegates were not able to vote for independence on July 4th. A week later they received the necessary authorization, which made it possible for everyone to sign a manuscript version of the Declaration, “fairly engrossed on parchment.” They signed it on August 2, 1776, and reaffirmed the unity of the United States by changing the title to: “In Congress, July 4, 1776. The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America.” The text is more or less the same as the broadside edition, but written out by hand it seems more tangible, personal, and distinctive. Beneath it are fifty-six autographs of Founding Fathers, each an act of patriotism representing courage, conviction, and a shared commitment to a righteous cause. Awestruck Americans could pick out the names of Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, and other heroes of the Revolution. While giving the first edition its due, they have looked at the August 2nd manuscript as a more meaningful and evocative expression of their history and ideals. Printmakers catered to public demand by publishing reproductions of the manuscript although often only the signatures were reproduced in facsimile. Some believed that the manuscript had been signed on July 4th, wishful thinking all the better to convey the drama of the moment.

How and when did the Declaration become an iconic document?

In 1816 the Philadelphia newspaper publisher John Binns issued subscription proposals for an engraving of the Declaration. He was the first to tell Americans about the iconic value of that document, for which he designed a pictorial scheme that would define a new genre of patriotic prints—the signatures in facsimile, the text adorned with portraits, allegorical vignettes, and a massive cordon of state seals. Other printmakers adapted his designs, some imitated them in pirated editions, and two opportunists reprinted the original edition on the occasion of the Centennial. While Binns’s print was in press, an itinerant writing master, Benjamin Owen Tyler, produced a calligraphic version with the signatures in facsimile but without illustrations. That too inspired a series of imitations and adaptations. Binns accused Tyler of plagiarizing his prospectus, and Tyler fought back by impugning his opponent’s patriotism in a newspaper war that publicized both of these trend-setting prints. More than seventy per cent of the Declaration prints and broadsides published during the nineteenth century were derived in whole or part, directly or indirectly, from these archetypal images.

Why would Americans prefer facsimiles of the Declaration to the original manuscript?

Perhaps it wasn’t so much a matter of preference as practicality. Americans have been able to view the original in Washington where it has been displayed at various times in the Patent Office, the State Department, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives. Huge crowds came to see it in Independence Hall during the Centennial. Many were disappointed to discover that it was in poor condition, the text illegible in places and the signatures almost entirely effaced. Printmakers helped to popularize the Declaration, but their invasive replicating techniques are partly to blame for ruining it. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams realized that the manuscript was in danger and commissioned a scrupulously accurate reproduction of the text and signatures, printed in a limited edition dated “July 4th. 1823.” Adams and his successors strictly controlled the distribution of the official facsimile until the end of the century. Meanwhile the condition of the manuscript went from bad to worse. In 1894 complaints about its continuing deterioration prompted government officials to take it down and lock it in a safe, where they kept it out of sight for thirty years. During that time the State Department facsimile was the only option for those who wanted to visualize the founding document. To this day we rely on it to show what the manuscript must have looked like when it was signed by the Founding Fathers: that is what we see in souvenirs, textbook illustrations, and the New York Times every year on July 4th, an iconic image of an essential text.

The Declaration in Script and Print: A Visual History of America’s Founding Document is now available from Penn State University Press. Learn more and order the book here: https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-09730-5.html. Take 30% off with discount code NR24.

[cherylmmbookblog]

#Blogtour Mongrel by Hanako Footman

It’s a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Mongrel by Hanako Footman, which is a 2024 debut novel you don’t want to miss. About the Author Hanako Footman is a British-Japanese actor and author living in London. Mongrel is her debut novel. Follow @hanakofootman on Instagram About the book Mei loses her Japanese mother at age six. Growing up in suburban Surrey, she yearns to fit in,…