Happy Sunday, everyone! It’s a beautiful day to be one-third of the way through our crowdfunding campaign for Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers”and 85% funded! It’s also a beautiful day for you, oh lovely person reading this, to help us get closer to 100% by backing yourself or helping us spread the word!

Now, enjoy learning about another of our contributors – A. L. Heard, author and editor!

The Musketeer’s Daughter: The Tale of Jacques Toussaint by A. L. Heard

About the Author: A. L. Heard is an aspiring writer from Pittsburgh. She’s been writing fanworks for over a decade and self-published her first novel, Hockey Bois, in 2021. Some of her short stories have been published through the indie press Duck Prints Press, where she also contributes as an editor. Ultimately, though, she spends her free time writing about characters she adores in worlds she’d like to explore: contemporary romance, historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. In between writing projects, she works as a language teacher, plays hockey, tours breweries with her boyfriend, and spends her evenings playing dinosaurs with her two sons.

Story Teaser:

“I’d like to enlist,” Jacqueline stammered to the old officer at the barracks. After a week of indecision (and after secretly trying on her father’s uniform, inspecting her shape by candlelight to see if she passed as masculine), she’d finally found the courage to return.

The officer looked up, the laugh lines on his face twisting into a surprised frown as he scrutinized her. From head to toe, he examined the too-large hat and the awkward way the musket hung across her back. The sword at least was comfortably situated at her hip, though she’d had to make new holes in the belt to make it fit. Her hair was a mess, resting in a ponytail with the last few inches cut off haphazardly. The clothes were as clean as she could manage, but ill-fitting. The boots she’d purchased second hand from a cobbler made her walk with a slight limp because one was too tight.

She stood there, ramrod straight and praying. Perhaps she could claim hysteria if she were caught. What was the worst they could do? Beat her? Put her in the stocks? Send her to the mad house? Kill her?

With growing fear, she realized that those were all very real consequences of discovery.

Tags: canon compliant, death of a parent (off-screen), death of a parent (past), f/m, flirting, france, harm to animals (mentions of), historical, masquerading as a person of a different gender, micro-aggressions (misogynistic), orphan, original characters, paris, past tense, period-typical misogyny, pov third person limited, trans male character, violence (non-graphic descriptions)

Read many more excerpts, view art teasers, and learn more about the campaign by visiting Kickstarter!

Well, usually after the first few days, Kickstarter’s gain funding very slowly, but the Duck Prints Press crowdfunding campaign for Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers” had a wonderfully strong day yesterday – we are now 79% funded! Only $1,650 to go to hit our base goal – that’s barely more than 100 people buying our e-book, or half that number buying the book in print – and you could be one of those people by taking a look at our campaign now!

A Cell of Awareness by D. V. Morse

About the Author: D. V. Morse (she/her) is a writer of fantasy and science fiction, generally (though not always) with some romance in there somewhere. She’s been in various aspects of healthcare for a couple of decades, most recently nursing. A lifelong New Englander who has been writing for as long as she can remember, she loves to find the liminal spaces in the local landscape and find the stories lurking within. She also loves playing with fiber arts, cycling through knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, and blackwork. She has also contributed to “Stand Where You’re Afraid,” in I Am the Fire, a limited edition charity anthology by a collective of SF/F romance authors raising funds for the National Network of Abortion Funds.

Story Teaser:

After they ended the confession, Aramis remained in the communication room for 2.9 minutes. He pulled a scrap of green, blue, and gold fabric from his pocket and stared at it. It belonged on one of d’Artagnan’s epaulettes, an insignia marking him as a trainee among the crew of Elite Enforcers. As he was preparing to step into the shuttle, d’Artagnan had handed the bit of fabric to Aramis with a wink, saying, “Just so you know that I’ll be back.”

How a piece of fabric was supposed to guarantee such an outcome was outside the scope of Planchet’s programming.

Tags: alternate universe, artificial intelligence, established relationship, m/m, past tense, pov third person limited, outsider point of view, religious character, science fiction, sexual content (non-graphic descriptions)

Musketeers in space? It’s more likely than you think! There are several sci-fi stories in our anthology – as well as historical, fantasy, and modern pieces! Check it out now!

It’s the first day that Duck Prints Press is sharing two teasers for our forthcoming anthology Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers”! Note that us combining the two teasers absolutely does not mean that these works are linked (they’re not!) – just that we have a 30-day campaign and 35 contributors, so there’s no way we can do one a day!

King by Amy Fincher

About the Artist: Amy Fincher (she/her) is a producer and artist with over a dozen years of experience in the video game and animation industries. She has contributed to various AAA and indie titles, including the Civilization, XCOM, and Skylanders series. Amy is currently working on Open Roads as Executive Producer. When the mood strikes and time allows, she teaches art classes and takes on art commissions on the side. Her hobbies include learning aerial silks, collecting aesthetically pleasing empty containers, looking at shiny rocks, and taking very long naps.

Sword Dancer by J. D. Harlock

About the Author: J. D. Harlock is a Syrian-Lebanese-Palestinian writer and editor based in Beirut. In addition to his posts at Wasifiri, as an editor-at-large, and at Solarpunk Magazine, as a poetry editor, his writing has been featured in Strange Horizons, Star*Line, and the SFWA Blog. You can always find him on Twitter and Instagram posting updates on his latest projects.

Links: Instagram | Twitter

Story Teaser:

Her sneer of cold command pricked me, letting the blood from my veins. In the midst of all this pomp and circumstance, here in the haven that once housed my family, in the temple that once venerated our Goddesses, in the monument that once celebrated my people, I could strangle her.

“Why would you do this to me?” I cried, but she just scoffed.

“Laudable words coming from the woman who abandoned me and left me to die.”

Tags: break-up (past), duels, fantasy, f/f, non-fanfiction story inspired by source material, past tense, politics, pov first person, religion (original), royalty

You can learn more about the whole project, and our other contributors, by visiting our Kickstarter campaign page!

Happy Monday, everyone! We at Duck Prints Press (the fan-writer run indie Press that publishes the original work of fan creators!) celebrating coming off the first weekend of our stellar Kickstarter launch for Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers” – 68% funded in four days! There’s a lot of campaign to go, though – we’re running through July 15th, 2023, and not only are we expecting to hit our initial goal of $8,000, we’re optimistic that, with your help (by backing, by signal boosting, by telling your friends about the campaign, etc.), we might even reach our first stretch goal of $12,000!

Every day between now and the end of the campaign, we’ll be focusing on another contributor. Today, let’s met author Sage Mooreland!
 

Glass Hearts by Sage Mooreland

About the Author: Sage Mooreland (they/them) is a city-dwelling gremlin from Chicago. They are embarking on the adventure that is their 40s equipped with three amazing partners, one very ridiculous eighteen-year-old biological offspring, and a fleet of teenagers and twentysomethings that adopted them through work over the last several years. Sage put themselves through the torture of grad school, and now holds a Bachelor’s in English and a Master’s in English and Creative Writing – Fiction, to which they say, “Now I have expensive pieces of paper that make it seem like I know what I’m talking about.”

Sage has been writing since they were wee small, entering their first writing contest in fifth grade/at ten years old. In high school and college, they made small offerings to school literary magazines, and have done eighteen years of National Novel Writing Month. As their writing career grows, they hope to provide stories that are entertaining, caring, inclusive of all, and full of the stuff of which dreams are made.

Story Teasers:

Athos leaned against the wall of the high rise across the street from his destination, trying to catch his breath. He was bleeding from too many places to count—many of the wounds were superficial, but a few were deep and concerning. He had to get them bandaged or he was going to be in serious trouble. Standing across the street from help would be a stupid place to bleed out, even if it would be vaguely satisfying to get blood all over the pavement of one of Chicago’s wealthiest neighborhoods.

He watched a while longer; the lights inside the house created a faint glow he could see even through closed blinds. The occasional shadow told him that someonewas home. He refused to consider that he was looking at a second ambush. They had to be there, safe and sound, or all of this had been for absolutely nothing. Athos took a deep breath. Standing here—well, leaning here—wasn’t getting him anywhere, and he’d watched long enough to be sure he hadn’t been followed. He forced himself upright and carefully crossed the street, climbed the stairs, and rang the bell.

Tags: alcohol use (casual), alternate universe, be gay do crimes, blackmail, car chase, character injury (graphic descriptions), Chicago, established relationship, guns, hacker, m/m, m/m/m (past), modern, past tense, pov third person limited, reunion, teasing, undercover, united states of america, violence (non-graphic descriptions)

Uh oh! Athos is in trouble! What do? Back the campaign, read the story, and find out!

On Thursday, Duck Prints Press launchedthe crowdfunding campaign for our next anthology. Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers” features 20 stories, 19 full-page art pieces, and a 12-page comic, all inspired by the beloved story of d’Artagnan, the musketeers he meets, and the politics he gets embroiled in.

As of when I’m writing this, 76 people have already backed our project, and we’re nearly 60% of the way to our $8,000 USD goal! This is a really strong start, and we couldn’t be happier about it. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has backed so far, and to everyone else – whatcha waiting for? There’s no time like the present – we’re offering an early bird special, $10 off our highest backer tier featuring the book + our gorgeous merchandise (a bookmark, a magnet, a sticker, and an enamel key chain) – only available today and Sunday, and only to the first 50 backers – we’ve only got 19 left!!!

If you love queer stories and queer art, and want to support a queer-owned independent publisher this lovely Pride month, make sure you check it out!

And, to whet your appetite, starting today we’ll be sharing story and art teasers more-or-less daily until the end of the campaign!

Author Spotlight: Wait and Hope by Veronica Sloane

About the author: Veronica Sloane has authored a novel, several short stories, some poetry, and twenty-two years worth of fanfic. She lives with one lovely spouse, one rambunctious clever child, and one sleepy cat.

Links: Archive of Our Own | Tumblr

About the Story: This modern fanfic tells the tale of Porthos, a waiter, and Aramis, a theology student, meeting for the first time—and then tells of their reunion, ten years later.

Story Teaser: 

“My name is Porthos,” he offered, “and I’ll be your dining companion for the evening, if you’ll have me.”

“Is this a new waiter service?” Aramis asked, those lovely wide eyes going rounder.

“I’m officially no longer a waiter here.” Porthos took Aramis’s lack of objection as agreement and set the glasses before each of them, uncorking the bottle with an expert twist of the wrist.

“Were you fired?” Aramis asked, watching the wine trickle into his glass with avid attention.

“I’m graduating.”

“Me too. I’ve never seen you.”

“Business major.” Porthos poured his own glass generously. It was a very good white.

“Theology.”

“What do you do with that?”

“In my case? Become a priest.”

“No.” Porthos set down the bottle to stare at him. “Really? Does that still happen?”

“From time to time,” Aramis laughed.

“But why? Surely you can just study religion and go to church if you have to. I’m assuming; I don’t think I’ve set foot in a church since I was a kid. I’d probably catch fire.”

“God forgives. If you have faith.” The last was said a little more tremulously.

“And you must.”

“Must I?” Aramis picked up his wine.

“Then why the priesthood?”

“I believe. Faith is another matter.”

Tags: alcohol use (casual), alternate universe, chef, college, food (graphic descriptions), m/m, meet cute, one-night stand, past tense, pov third person limited, restaurant, reunions, second chances, trans male character, veteran

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Learn more about the whole collection by visiting our campaign page!

 

The crowdfunding campaign for our next anthology, Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas's "The Three Musketeers," launches TOMORROW, June 15th, 2023! We've been thrilled by the excitement we've seen from y'all so far - well over 300 reblogs on our cover reveal, and we've topped 100 followers on our pre-launch page!

Ready to get MORE excited? Well take a look at the awesome campaign merchandise we'll be offering!!

Aim For The Heart Bookmark: this gorgeous, high-gloss, two-sided bookmark (which will also have a lovely golden tassel after it’s printed!) is 2 in x 9 in (5 cm x 23 cm), and features art by Jagoda Zirebiec (ArtStation | Tumblr | Twitter), who also contributed two pieces to the book interior! The back has signatures from many of our contributors – we can’t get everyone to sign your book but we can offer the next best thing to people who buy this bookmark!

Coat of Arms Enamel Key Chain: love metal-and-enamel merch? Well have we got a spectacular key chain for you! This 3 in x 3 in (7.5 cm x 7.5 cm) piece features art by Aceriee (Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter), and will be in gold metalwork – and the red heart will have glitter! Aceriee also contributed an interior piece for the book, and did the art for our bonus patron reward magnet. You’re not gonna want to miss this beautiful, sturdy key chain!

Cover Art Magnet: Pallas Perilous made our amazing cover art, and it’s just too pretty to only put on the book. So, we’re putting it on a metal-wrapped high-grade magnet (3 in x 2 in, 7.5 cm x 5 cm), too!

Musketeer Dux Die-Cut Sticker: it wouldn’t be a Duck Prints Press campaign without an all-new Dux created by Alessa Riel! Musketeer Dux will be produced in merch form as a 3 in x 3 in (7.5 cm x 7.5 cm) die-cut sticker, perfect for adding to your existing Dux collection, or for starting with your very first Dux.

BONUS! Aim For The Heart Die-Cut Magnet: people who back this crowdfunding campaign at any level AND who back our Patreon at the $10/month or $25/month level will get this exclusive bonus – a die-cut magnet featuring more of Aceriee’s incredible artwork!

Curious about the cost? Our Book + Merch level will include the print book (A4 size!), the bookmark, the enamel key chain, the front cover magnet, AND the musketeer dux sticker for $55 USD + shipping as a special introductory early-bird rate available to the first 50 backers through June 19th! After that, the price will rise to $65 USD + shipping. Or, if you don’t want all of that, you can back for the book ($35 USD + shipping) and then add on the pieces you want – bookmark ($8 USD), sticker ($4 USD), key chain ($18 USD), or magnet ($10).

The bonus magnet is free to Patreon backers who support the campaign – but being a Patreon backer is the only way to get it, so if that’s what you crave, there’s no time like the present to become a backer!

THERE’S NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT TO FOLLOW THE CAMPAIGN! We launch tomorrow, June 15th, 2023, and we couldn’t be more excited – we hope we’ll see you there!

Long time, no giveaway! As we at Duck Prints Press gear up for our next Kickstarter, featuring the second of our Queer Fanworks Inspired By… anthologies, Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers,” we thought – what better time to offer up some free copies of our first Queer Fanworks Inspired By… anthologies, And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.”

This anthology features 16 stories and 20 full-page, color art pieces. We encouraged contributors to stretch their imaginations, think outside the box, and put their own unique—and queer—twist on Benedick, Beatrice, Hero, Claudio, Don Pedro, and the whole gang! In true Shakespearean fashion, our creators play with gender, sexuality, romanticism, and a host of costume changes to tell unique stories—some featuring original characters, some characters from the play—that show Shakespeare’s work in a whole new light.

We’re giving away 21 copies of the book this time around – 20 e-book copies AND one of the last remaining print copies! There are only a couple dozen print copies left, and most have at least a little damage; we’ll also be offering print copies – seconds only, and for a price, not for free! – as an add-on during our crowdfunding campaign for Aim For The Heart, so even if you don’t win the giveaway copy, make sure you follow the Aim For The Heart Kickstarter pre-launch page so you don’t miss your chance to get BOTH books!

We’re making awesome fanart and fanfiction inspired by our favorite public-domain fandoms, and you’re not going to want to miss our hard work.

So head on over to Storygraph for a chance to win this amazing collection, and make sure to keep an eye on our upcoming campaign, too!!

Who We Are: Duck Prints Press LLC is an independent publisher based in New York State. Our founding vision is to help fan creators publish their original works. We are particularly dedicated to publishing art and fiction featuring characters from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Want to always hear the latest? Sign up for our monthly newsletter! Want to support the Press, read about us behind-the-scenes, learn what’s coming down the pipeline, get exclusive teasers, and claim free stories? Back us on Patreon monthly!