Y’all probably already know that the awesome Duck Prints Press Patreon offers backers behind-the-scenes access to our Discord, and awesome backer blog, short stories as rewards, exclusive merchandise, and more.
Now, based on feedback from our backers and from non-backers who completed the survey, this great Patreon is about to get even better! We’re adding new backer rewards!!
- one art piece per month. Our blog will now feature one gorgeous, fully rendered art piece per month, created by an artist we’ve worked with on a previous project. Depending on backer level, Patrons will be able to view the finished piece, check out work-in-progress sketches and speed paints, download a high-resolution version of the art piece, and even get free merchandise featuring the art! Even non-backers will get a crack at this awesome art, as we’ll be using the pieces to produce an annual calendar starting in 2025 and potentially other merchandise such as art prints, zines, a portfolio as well!
- one convention-style panel a month. Panels will be held on Saturdays and Sundays each month, at different times as fit the schedules of the panelists and with an effort made to vary up the time to accommodate backers on different schedules. We expect each panel to be run live, with about an hour to discuss the panel topic, and a minimum of 15 minutes for Q&A (longer depending on how many questions people have and panelist availability). Panel topics will range from discussions about writing (such as worldbuilding, editing, etc.), publishing, fandom, and queer media, but we’re open to any topic at all related to what the Press does that we can find people with the expertise to participate in. We’ll be recruiting panelists from among the Press contributors, though in specialized cases we may also solicit outsiders who have knowledge that’ll enhance our ability to give a high-quality panel.
These new rewards are unrolling in August, 2024, and we’re already gearing up to share the new awesome with our backers, current and new – and we’d love to have you on board in the “new” category. To find out about our backer levels, ranging from $3/month to $25/month, and find out what access each level gives you, make sure you check out our membership benefits.
Curious what we’ve got in the works, then read on!
Art
Our first art piece? A gorgeous, dark piece by artist Zel Howland, inspired by their story Chrysopoeia. This eerie story tells the tale of Faith, found guilty of witchcraft and imprisoned, alone, in a cave as punishment. Except the longer Faith is trapped the clearer it becomes that she’s note alone. Zel is a wonderful author and accomplished artist, and chose to do an art piece of a scene from their own work!
Our second art piece, coming in September, is by May Barros. Teasers on that are pending…
Panels
Our first panel will be a re-run of the panel we’re doing live and in person at Fandom Fest, a convention in Schenectady, New York running the 10th and 11th of August. For people able to attend that con, you can come see our panel on August 10th at 2 p.m. For everyone else, well, we’ll be running the panel again, online, on Sunday August 25th. What’s the panel about?
Queer Representation in Media: Then and Now
In the past decade, there has been dramatic progress in the commonness and availability of media that includes LGBTQIA+ characters and themes. In this panel, we’ll posit a definition of “queer media” that establishes a baseline of what features we think separate queer media from other media (beyond the obvious “there are queer people in it,” of course) and why these distinctions matter. We’ll delve into the history of queer representation in media, chat about the changes we’ve observed over our lifetimes, and give our own views on the state of the diverse books, shows, movies, comics, and other media across many genres that now feature queer characters. As all of our panelists are queer and are writers, we’ll also touch on how the queer representation we’ve encountered has led us to tell our own stories in our own voices. We hope you’ll come and contribute your own views as well, we’d love to hear from you during the Q&A at the end of the session! Panelists: Claire Houck (Author, Editor, and Small Press Owner), Tris Lawrence (Author), Catherine E. Green (Author), and Shea Sullivan (Author)
We’ve also been planning the September panel, with more information pending – the topic will be Harassment and Bullying in Fandom, an issue that one of our backers requested we discuss!
Adding all this did require removing a little from our current offerings, of course – instead of six stories per month, we’ll now be publishing five, and we’ve removed the two freebie stickers and one freebie “other merch” options we’d previously been offering annually. But that’s all we removed – everything else is still on offering for our Patrons, AND they’ll be getting even more.
Not enough to tempt you yet? There’s more! Starting August 1st, we’ll be running a promotion with freebie merchandise for current and new backers – and a chance to win one of the handful of remaining copies of the original print run of our debut anthology Add Magic to Taste! So be on the look out – and don’t wait to become one of the core supporters that help keep the lights on at Duck Prints Press!
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