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We are entering the final 48 hours of our funding period for Scholarly Pursuits: A Queer Anthology of Cozy Academia Stories!

We’re also less than $400 from our first stretch goal – which, if (when?) we hit it, will mean all backers get the cover art as a high-quality digital file (for personal use!). Might we be able to really stretch and hit $20k – which will get our authors another raise and will get everyone who has purchased a physical backer level a cute lil bat sticker? I sure hope so! You can help by signal boosting our posts or, if you’re not already, becoming a backer on Kickstarter!

With all that said – enjoy our last three author biographies and story teasers!

Author: Zel Howland (she/her, they/them)
Biography: Zel (they/she) is a writer and artist currently living in Los Angeles with their partner. When not writing, they spend their time painting, embroidering, analyzing literature and TV shows, and playing Dungeons & Dragons. They are the author of many a fanfiction, as well as the novel The Shadow of Ophelia Walker.

Story Title: The Life Cycle of Leaf Sprites

Excerpt: 

Yes, I know, I’m not supposed to be on campus. Sue me. I wanted to check if Brendan had actually been feeding the sprites their spectral moths, not just crickets from The Pet Company .

The parking lot is by necessity not within the boundaries of the Bosque de la Bendición International Enchanted Forest, where magic has it out for any technology with more moving parts than what a medieval peasant could put together. It was a toss-up whether the campus would even be there when I arrived—the forest has a habit of disappearing and showing up somewhere else, or straddling two places while legally not being in either.

I haven’t actually violated the terms of my sabbatical. Yet.

The forest is here today, but only barely. The edges of it blur as it transitions in and out of some place cold, judging by the slushy snow spilling into the parking lot.

Nobody here cares, though. They’re more focused on the old Spanish bell tower that has managed to survive dozens of wildfires, earthquakes, and god-knows-how many pissed off victims of Spanish missionaries, but is now crumbling under the weight of the giant fucking dragon clinging to it.

Author: Lee Pini (she/her, he/him, they/them)
Biography: Lee Pini is a queer author (she/he/they) who has been writing since they could pick up a pencil and has published several contemporary m/m romances. They have lived in England, Northern Ireland, and Florida, and currently live in their home state of Minnesota with their wife, cat, and collection of action figures. Lee studied archaeology at the graduate level but currently uses their degree primarily to chuckle knowingly at classics memes. When they aren’t at their day job or writing, they’re reading vociferously, listening to music, enjoying nature, or nerding out. Their dream is for someone to one day write fanfiction about their characters.

Story Title: Queenright

Excerpt: 

Ves shot to his feet. A bright grin split his face. “Marcus! I didn’t think you’d be here so early! Wow, okay! Um—stars, I had a whole thing—but that was before I found this book and this is so much more interesting—oh! And the ‘highness’ stuff, you don’t have to do that. Ves is fine. Everyone calls me Ves. Please call me Ves.”

During this barrage, Ves crossed from the table to the doorway, hand extended. Marcus shook it, which was the kind of protocol you got in a constitutional monarchy that didn’t take itself too seriously.

Ves’s grip was warm and firm, his handshake was too enthusiastic. Marcus hadn’t expected Ves to know he was coming. That was…flattering. Marcus also hadn’t expected to be flattered.

Up close, Ves’s eyes were gray, the same color of the fog that sat over the fields on the farm on cool autumn mornings. There were two freckles under his left eye. Light from the high transom windows caught the edges of his eyelashes and turned them gold.

Marcus made himself stop noticing all of it.

“No ‘your highnessing,’” Marcus repeated. “I can do that.”

Author: Robin Huntington (she/her)
Biography: Robin Huntington (she/her) is a scientist and writer who lives in the eastern US with her spouse and reptile pets. After starting her fiction writing journey in her teens, she took a twenty-year break only to discover a passion for writing fanfic six years ago that’s recently expanded into original fiction as well. Her contribution to this volume is her first published original work. When she’s not writing, she can be found birding, cooking, watching TV shows about cooking, or spending time online with fandom friends.

Story Title: A Curatorial Puzzle of the Heart

Excerpt: 

For once, Mr. Davidson had underestimated the item that had come into his possession—sold to him, he said, by a man cleaning out his father’s attic. The box itself was almost shockingly plain, appearing at first glance like little more than a block of polished wood. If someone looked closely, however, they could spot the nearly invisible seams. A puzzle box, then, and judging by the way the wood hummed under Hank’s fingertips, an extremely magical one. These days, the bulk of historical magical items still in private possession were no more than trinkets with only trace levels of magic, but this one was in another league.

Not that Hank would let that on to Mr. Davidson, who didn’t have the training to determine such things. Knowing that he’d never get a good price for such a seemingly boring item in the antiques market, Mr. Davidson let it go for a song. Dr. Rivers would be pleased.