Meet Aether Beyond the Binary Contributor Nicola Kapron

[duckprintspress]

Today’s author spotlight for Aether Beyond the Binary (the aetherpunk anthology starring outside-the-binary characters that we’re currently crowdfunding!) focuses on Nicola Kapron, one of the most prolific authors working with Duck Prints Press. She’s written numerous short stories and a novelette published on our website, but this is her first anthology contribution with us. And – she’s also the crafter of adorable dux plushies we’re selling as add-ons!

Better yet – we’ll be hosting an Ask Me Anything session with Nicola Kapron on Discord! Want to come hang out with Nicola, Nina Waters (ABTB lead editor), and other DPP authors, editors, and fans? Join us on January 6th, 2024 at 3 p.m. Eastern (time zone converter) and bring your questions!

About Nicola Kapron: Nicola Kapron has previously been published by Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine,  Rebel Mountain Press, Soteira Press, All Worlds Wayfarer, Mannison  Press, and more. Nicola lives in British Columbia with a hoard of  books—mostly fantasy and horror—and an extremely fluffy cat. Link: Personal Website

Read an interview with Nicola Kapron.

Stories Nicola Kapron has Published with Duck Prints Press: 

•  The Act of Salvation (science fantasy, m/m, second person pov)
•  Be Not Afraid (modern fantasy, m/m, omg they were roommates, the apocalypse happened and life didn’t actually change that much) (included in the contributor short stories add-on!) 
•  Campfire Stories (modern horror, no ship, trading campfire monster stories)
•  Dead Man’s Bells(fantasy, m/nb, dark romance, demonic possession)
•  In Good Company (modern horror, m/m, enemies to accomplices)
•  More Than We Deserve (dystopian sci-fi, m/m, friends to lovers) (included in the contributor short stories add-on!) 
•  The Ocean Went on Forever (sci-fi, m/m if you squint, very hard to summarize – see “challenge: easy-to-tag works)

Nicola’s Aether Beyond The Binary Contribution:

Title: How Your Garden Grows

Tags: alternate history, attempted murder, character injury (serious), elemental (nature), environmentalism, genderfluid, natural disaster (unnatural), non-binary, non-human character, past tense, post-apocalypse, science fiction with magic, scientist, siblings, third person limited point of view

Excerpt:

The dive chamber was dark. The only light filtered upward from the moon window set into the floor. Large and circular, it served as the portal through which ze would exit and, hopefully, return. A transparent barrier of purple-tinged glass sat between Stone and the outside. The Nightmare Sea spread out below zir.

“Copy,” Leigh said. “Three…”

The color of the glass made the ocean of trees below look blue. Even with that tint, the swirls of cloud that clung to the spiralling shapes shimmered through every colour Stone knew and several ze didn’t.

“Two…”

Wind currents batted at the treetops. Most of them splashed off like water on the shore, faint trails in the sky the only evidence they’d even tried.

“One…”

Stone breathed in deeply, then let the air hiss out between zir teeth. Zir fingers flexed inside the heavy gloves. Far below, something in the shining sea reflected like metal instead of like heat shimmer or phantasmal crystal. It was near zir planned diving path.

“Diving.”

Learn more about the anthology and our other contributors by visiting our page on Kickstarter!