#queer folklore

We’re in the final 48 hours of our crowdfunding campaign to publish the anthology Wild and Full of Marvels: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Folklore and Fairy Tales!

With Wild and Full of Marvels: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Folklore and Fairy Tales, our authors and artists bring our perspective as queer adults in the 21st century to the stories, some ancient, some modern, that meant the most to us when we were young. Each creator selected a folktale, fairy tale, myth, or legend that had personal significance for them, then reimagined these personal touch-stones as we wish they could be: stories that uphold our cultures, stories that impart the lessons and morals we wish to impart, stories that drive home the cautions we wish we’d received, stories in which people like us are the heroes held forth for emulation. We’ve transformed these stories to be more inclusive, more personal, more understanding of others, and—of course!—much more queer.

Hitting our base goal, of course, ensures we can publish. But hitting our stretch goals is also super helpful, as they enable us to increase the pay of all our creators. We’d love to be able to do that, and raises for this many creators add up fast, so please please signal boost this last push for our Kickstarter if you’re able.

Curious what they’ve made? Check out our many reveals and teasers!

Cover Reveal, art by Jinx Inks

Merch Reveal 1: Stickers by Alessa Riel and Elias Strunck, Bookmark by Jagoda Zirebiec

Merch Reveal 2: Enamel Pendant by Aceriee, Slate Coaster by Clare DeZutti

Merch Reveal 3: Journal by Aceriee, Art Print of the Front Cover, and Window Hanging by Betta

Contributor Post 1: zazrichor, Shea Sullivan, H. Armstrong, and T. L. Sly

Contributor Post 2: Cris Alborja, Kendall Pletcher, E. V. Dean, and Sage Mooreland

Contributor Post 3: Anne Hessel, Elias Strunck, Lyonel Loy, and R. L. Houck

Contributor Post 4: Razz, Florilége, Zel Howland, and J. D. Rivers

Contributor Post 5: Amalia Zeichnerin, Sam Inverts, Isabelle Delisle, and ilgaksu

Contributor Post 6: May Barros, Max Jason Peterson, Joy Summers, and Mikki Madison

Contributor Post 7: Xander Day McCafferty, J. Radin, Em Rowntree, and Nicola Kapron

Contributor Post 8: radicalhoodie, Luck Stellaluna Faer, S. J. Ralston, and Cedar D. McCafferty-Svec

Contributor Post 9: guoldu, Clare DeZutti, Terra P. Waters, and Robin S. Blackwood

Contributor Post 10: Betta, Aceriee, J. D. Harlock, and Alex Pfaw

Contributor Post 11: As Cores Da Lua (Lulu), Jupiter V, Sue Wilson Munro, and boneturtle

Hey y'all, I finished my research and would like to formerly introduce...

The Fabric of Identity: Using Clothing and Style to Communicate Gender Expression.

Project Summary: A free and accessible website about nonbinary and gender nonconforming people, their history, and how they use their style to interact with the world around them.

Includes:

What Does "Nonbinary" Mean?

Interviews with Nonbinary Folks

Identity Centric Events

The Effect of Digital Spaces

Further Reading and Resources

Community Building

Please give it some love!

found a cool ass wordpress blog. specifically bc of this gem:

Ethan: so what was this great discovery that you made about cave suckers?

huh huh huh???

Silence: I’m getting there. Calm down.

Ethan: how long will this take

where’s the climax?

Silence: Shhh! I’m still in literary foreplay mode: titillating you with suggestive foreshadowing ... giving just enough detail to inflame your desire for more, more, more, GOD YES, more ...

Ethan: aaaaaaah

the suspense

aaaaaaah

it’s like blue balls

but for a story

Silence: That’s the point. I’m building sexual narrative tension. >:}

Ethan: oh baby

is it getting hot in this story

or is it just me? ;)

-from “Cave Suckers” in Cunning Linguists

Elizabeth A. Allen edits for a living and writes for fun. She lives in Vermont, where she was born and raised. Hardship somewhat resembles the town she grew up in, albeit with more puns, witches, and intergenerational drama. Her work appears in Master Works, We’re the Weird Aliens I, Strange Horizons, Gender Who?, the Williston Observer, the Essex Reporter, Outside In Regenerates, and The Shadow of the Gallifreyan.

What inspired you to write this story?

Storytelling can be a lot like sex -- sneaky, seductive, entertaining, and, at its best, transcendent. What better way to celebrate that similarity than to write a story have someone seducing someone by telling stories about people having sex?

What's the favorite sexy word of one of your story characters?

Silence thinks that the word "research" is incredibly hot. Ethan tells her than this is just because she has the weird idea that research itself is sexy, and she says, "That too!"

What stories are you working on now?

Silence and Ethan star in many stories about queer doings in Hardship, Vermont. This is the first one to be published, but hopefully more will follow.

Cunning Linguists comes out May 18th, 2022! This anthology of language, literature, and lechery is available at

Gumroad (use coupon code NEWSMUTPROJECTFAN for $1 off)

Amazon.com  Amazon.co.uk  Amazon.ca  Amazon.de  Amazon.fr  Amazon.es  Amazon.com.mx   Amazon.co.jp   Amazon.it   Amazon.nl   Amazon.com.br  Amazon.com.au   Amazon.in

Smashwords

Support indie bookstores when you buy a paperback copy through Bookshop.org

Barnes and Noble

Indiebound (where you can arrange to get a copy through your local bookstore)

Book Depository

Alibris

Other retailers – Books2Read

If you’re interested in fantasy and folklore, slice of life friendship stories, and genuine LGBTQ+ characters written by creators of the same community, go ahead and check out their page!!

There are 11 days left in our Kickstarter to fund publishing our next anthology, Wild and Full of Marvels: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Folklore and Fairy Tales!

We’re sharing teasers from four more of the included works today, from artists Razz and Florilége and from authors Zel Howland and J. D. Rivers! You can check out all the teasers using the links at the end of today’s post.

Learn more about what’s been created for this project:

Cover Reveal, art by Jinx Inks

Merch Reveal 1: Stickers by Alessa Riel and Elias Strunck, Bookmark by Jagoda Zirebiec

Merch Reveal 2: Enamel Pendant by Aceriee, Slate Coaster by Clare DeZutti

Merch Reveal 3: Journal by Aceriee, Art Print of the Front Cover, and Window Hanging by Betta

Contributor Post 1: zazrichor, Shea Sullivan, H. Armstrong, and T. L. Sly

Contributor Post 2: Cris Alborja, Kendall Pletcher, E. V. Dean, and Sage Mooreland

The Princess of China

Albanian folktale, published in 1879 by Auguste Dozon, translated by Robert Elsie.

[Cw: Cross dressing used as deception, but never maliciously.]

This tale follows a Prince and his friend the son of the Grand Vizier. The latter dresses and presents as a woman on two separate occasions. Once to meet the princess of China and tell her his friend is in love with her, once to pretend to be the princess, so he can go get married in her place while she runs off with the prince. Then this happens:

When the son of the Grand Vizier arrived, he was led to the house of the groom with all the pomp and ceremony of a royal wedding. It was the custom there for the sisters of the groom to spend the first three nights with the bride, but the three sisters could not agree which one of them was to go first. The queen, the groom's mother, decided that the youngest daughter, whom she loved the most, should spend the first night with the bride. After the first night, the youngest daughter fell in love with the bride and begged her mother to let her spend the second night there too. The second night, she realized that the bride was actually a young man and said to him, "Tell me the truth, are you a man or a woman?" "I am a man," he replied, " and then told her the story of what had happened. She saw that he was very handsome and said, "I'd like to marry you but I don't know whether you want me." "Oh yes, I do."