Beautiful Insanity

dude.

are disabled

are chronically ill

can't celebrate for health reasons

disability gets in the way of their gender representation

disability got in the way of a relationship

don't have anyone to celebrate with

have homophobic caretakers

Don’t ever hug a lobster when you see one on the street,

For decorum is essential when a lobster you must greet.

You may comment on the weather, compliment his choice of hat,

But crustaceans like their space if one should stop them for a chat.

Don’t ever hug a lobster when you’re strolling down the coast,

Simply nod and give a greeting, or a handshake at the most,

For a lobster’s first priority is formal social graces,

And one seemes over-familiar if a lobster one embraces.

Don’t ever hug a lobster when you meet one in the sea,

For a lobster’s spines and chitin make it difficult, you see,

And he might become self-conscious if you bring that fact to light,

HAPPY PRIDE! It’s time for our fourth-annual Pride Bundle charity drive! We’ve got three bundles this year: a general imprint bundle with 25 titles totaling 381 pages; an explicit bundle of 15 stories, 237 pages; and an art bundle with 10 artworks, 250 mb of digital artwork! In the first three years of this initiative, we’ve raised over $725 for the charities we’ve selected, and we’re delighted to be back, this time in an effort to raise money for the Queer Liberation Library ( @queerliblib ) and the Transgender Law Center.

The General Imprint Bundle costs $25 USD (60% off normal!). 40% of this sales price will be divided equally between the two charities.

The Explicit Imprint Bundle costs $15 USD (60% off normal!). 44% of this sales price will be divided equally between the two charities.

The Art Bundle costs $10 USD (66% off normal!). 24% of this sales price will be divided equally between the two charities.

How This Works

You buy one or both bundles between now and June 30th, 2026.

We tally up all the proceeds earned and do some math-e-magic to figure out how much we’re donating!

Before the end of July, we divide our total raised amount in half and donate equal amounts to the Queer Liberation Library and the Transgender Law Center.

We post the proof that we’ve made the donation (you can see past proof here, here, and here.)

You get fantastic stories!

We all get that happy, glowy feeling of knowing that money has been well-spent on fantastic causes!

About the Press

Duck Prints Press is a queer-owned indie press, founded to publish original works by fancreators. We’ve been in operation for over 5.5 years, and in that time we’ve worked with well over 150 creators to publish ten anthologies and over 200 other stories, from shorts to novels, and we’ve got more on the works (five anthologies in progress, multiple novels slated for the later half of 2026, an art project, and more). The vast majority of our creators and their creations are queer/LGTBQIA+ (maybe even all, but we don’t out anyone and we don’t ask demography because, frankly, it’s none of our business).

About Our Selected Charities

Note: These charities are not affiliated with the Press, do not know we’re doing this fundraiser, have not endorsed this in anyway and are, as such, utterly uninvolved in this beyond being the beneficiaries of our efforts! Text is from their webpages.

The Queer Liberation Library: “Queer Liberation Library (QLL) is fighting to build a vibrant, flourishing queer future by connecting LGBTQ+ people with literature, information, and resources that celebrate the unique and empowering diversity of our community.”

The Transgender Law Center: “Transgender Law Center is the largest national trans-led organization advocating self-determination for all people. Since 2002 we’ve been organizing, assisting, informing and empowering thousands of individual community members towards a long-term, national, trans-led movement for liberation.”

About the Bundles

We are offering three bundles: general imprint stories, with 25 works; explicit imprint stories, with 15 works; and art, with 10 works. The shop listings include details about and excerpts from all the stories and previews of all the art. Purchasing book bundles gets you access to the e-book (in ePub and PDF formats) of each title included in the bundle. Purchasing the art bundle gets you access to high-quality print-ready images, sized to print clearly at 8.5 in x 11 in (21.6 cm x 27.9 cm) (FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY!). Here’s what you’ll get!

Works in the General Imprint Charity Bundle:

Farm to Table by Andi Rigby

The Problem with Wishes by Annabeth Lynch

Of Loops and Weaves by Catherine E. Green

Starstruck, Adrift by Cedar D. McCafferty-Svec

Let the Solstice Come by D. V. Morse

Red Ink, Black Water by Dei Walker

Old Books, New Friends by Genevieve Maxwell

A Galaxy Run in 30 Minutes or Less by J. D. Harlock

Seal Island by K. B. Vimes

Quintessentially You by Len Amin

Sonic Boom of My Heart by Linnea Peterson

Night Birds by Max Jason Peterson

Snow Day Memories by Merlin Grey

Sarisa by N. C. Farrell

Wolven Dance by Neo Scarlett

It’s Witchcraft! by Nicola Kapron

Living Room Beauty Shop by O. E. Hendrickson

One Moon at a Time by R. L. Houck

a name to call by Rascal Hartley

Nycticorax by S. J. Ralston

Bubble, Bubble by Sage Mooreland

The Wayward Timekeeper by Terra P. Waters

To Fill My Cup by Violet J. Hayes

Tincture of Clarity by Willa Blythe

Chrysopoeia by Zel Howland

25 stories. 381 pages. 130,140 words of fiction! Price: $25.00 USD

GET THE GENERAL IMPRINT BUNDLE

Approximately 40% of the list price of this bundle will go to charity.

Works in the Explicit Imprint Charity Bundle:

Snowbound and Love Sick by A. L. Heard

Heart’s Scaffold by Alec J. Marsh

Heated Desperation by Aria L. Deair

A Safe Place to Land by boneturtle

Can’t Let Go by Dei Walker

Like it Sharp by E. V. Dean

then, too, at sea by ilgaksu

Sinking by Lyn Weaver

We the Hunters by Lyonel Loy

Goals by R. L. Houck

Easier Than Expected by Samantha M. Piper

Worlds Apart (but Still Close)by Sanne Burg

Taken at Sea by Shea Sullivan

Warm Anything You Want by Tris Lawrence

Allay the Burning Fever in My Blood by YF Ollwell

15 stories. 237 pages. 80,768 words of fiction! Price: $15.00 USD

GET THE EXPLICIT IMPRINT BUNDLE

Approximately 44% of the list price of this bundle will go to charity.

Works in the Art Charity Bundle:

Devour by Aaron Kotze

Warm by Aceriee

Aurora by æonswinter

Forever Halloween by Max Jason Peterson

Demi Dragon by May Barros

Bar on the outskirts. by MizuShiba

old truths, new patches by radicalhoodie

The Riddle by Shea Sullivan

[untitled] by swev.art

Another Spring by Zel Howland

10 artworks. 247 mb of art! Price: $10.00 USD

GET THE ART PRINT BUNDLE

Approximately 24% of the list price of this bundle will go to charity.

Check out our bundles for charity now, and help us help others!!

Me, at the time, a 19yo with very little understanding of the law: “I mean…was it?”

Fandom Friend, who was a 40-something lawyer: “I’ll tell you the same thing I told everyone in that bar. No one was violating anyone’s free speech. Bitch was just being rude, and worse, obnoxious about it. You ever act like that in public, be aware you’re not changing anyone’s opinion. You’re just giving them a brand new opinion about you.”

It was a very formative conversation in my young adulthood.

Yes, because the Washington state government activated like a sleeper-cell and ruthlessly, systematically hunted them down and annihilated them.

“Y2K came to nothing amirite?”

Yes because an army of software engineers working around the clock, losing sleep, and busting ass till the last minute prevented it from happening.

“Remember the hole in the ozone layer?”

You mean the one that was fixed through rigorous world wide government action?

One of the root problems of our society is a refusal or inability by media to articulate that all those “it’s gonna be an apocalypse” disasters were not disasters because we collectively did something about them.

The good news is this is actually quite correctable. I maintain my firm belief that we as humans are capable of solving almost all of our problems, when we decide to do so.

And I still think that’s going to happen. I don’t know when or how, but I do know that abandoning hope won’t help bring it about.

The Sir David Attenborough That Lives In My Brain: Being smaller-than-average presents an added challenge to foraging ... but necessity is the mother of invention. A little creativity turns a baguette into a tool, and voilà--

(paper towel roll falls on my face)

The reason it was so important for narrative purposes, was that the plot concerns the visit of the Astronaut, in his completely opaque spacesuit, to a planet populated entirely by self-aware robots (originally from Earth) who have built their own society and are petitioning to be allowed to interact with Earth again as equals.

They have a democratic government and free choice of careers etc. as the orange robot serving as guide tells the Astronaut.

The Astronaut notices that there are two different types of robot on this world; the orange ones, who are in charge, gifted access to all information and facilities. and the blue robots, who are seen as more limited in function, have less access to information and resources, and are not allowed positions of power or as wide a choice of employment opportunities. Even transportation is segregated.

The Astronaut investigates further and discovers that the blue and orange robots are actually structurally identical, there is absolutely no difference between their potential or capabilities, and it is only because the orange robots are instructed by their Educator system to consider themselves superior, that the difference exists.

The Astronaut tells the robots they are not ready for re-alignment with Earth, until they come to terms with their own unfairness, and how Earth had had to deal with this issue themselves. When that time comes, the robots will be able to ally with Earth.

Then he leaves in his spaceship, and it's only in that one final panel that we see the Astronaut is black.

Not subtle, nor should it be, but for 1950 this was a breathtakingly powerful statement, perhaps the first of it's kind in the genre.

Happy release day!! Our latest anthology, Monsterotica: Tales of Unusual Courtship and Coupling, is now officially published and available to people who didn’t back our crowdfunding campaign.

You can buy Monsterotica in e-book or print formats direct from our webstore, via itch.io, or through one of the many other places that carry out books.

We also have some leftover campaign merchandise for you folks who missed the chance to buy the merch during the campaign!

art print of the full wrap-around Monsterotica cover art by Siao Bell

stretch goal art print of The Riddle by Shea Sullivan

enamel pin featuring a monster licking a person as they embrace, with art by reshipkmn

our signature campaign dux, this time in purple and rather tentacly, by Alessa Riel

a very snakey, Medusa-esque bookmark with art by Jagoda Zirebiec

our quirky, funny postcard set, featuring the designs of Xianyu Zhou