Ink Alchemy Books | Publisher

New Release

Whimsy
A Literary Doom & Gloom Antidote
(2025)

A dozen delightful reads for those days you've made the unfortunate mistake of ingesting too much news. The real world is rough right now; we need escapism! Playful, fanciful, amusing, magical, all with an uplifting ending. This anthology will tuck you in with the warm glow of wonder, and send you off to sleep with whimsical dreams.

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About Ink Alchemy Books

An independent publisher based in Ithaca, NY, we are committed to giving emerging authors a platform to begin their publishing journey. While some of our anthologies are invite-only, we also periodically put out open calls for stories to be included in upcoming compilations.

Our Authors

Call for Submissions

We are currently accepting short story submissions for XENO: Stories Sans Humans

Details

✨ Sunday, June 29th at one in the afternoon @allmyfriendsbooks ✨

Michael Heyman, is a scholar, writer, and performer of literary nonsense, poetry, music, and children’s literature. He is a Professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston. His poems and stories can be found in various journals and in The Puffin Book of Bedtime Stories, The Moustache Maharishi, and This Book Makes No Sense: Nonsense Poems and Worse, which he edited. He is the head editor of The Tenth Rasa: An Anthology of Indian Nonsense.

✨ Find Heyman's story, Sky Cricket; or How Moon Bear and Clouded Leopard Became Themselves, in 'Whimsy: A Literary Doom and Gloom Antidote' ✨

Today 2-3! Ink Alchemy Author, Augusto Luiz Facchini, with be reading from his short story published in 'Whimsy: A Literary Doom & Gloom Antidote' as part of the Spring Writes Literary Festival. If you're in Ithaca, please come out and support him 💖

Hear Ink Alchemy Books author, Augusto Luiz Facchini, read "Voyage Story" from "Whimsy: A Literary Doom & Gloom Antidote," this Saturday (5/10, 2-3 PM) as part of the Spring Writes Literary Festival. springwrites.org

Facchini is a Brazilian-American writer residing in Ithaca, NY. He has a PhD in Fiction from SUNY Binghamton, and has taught creative writing at Ithaca College. His work has also been previously published in the Rio Grande Review.

✨ Featured new fiction @allmyfriendsbooks ✨
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#whimsy #whimsicalliterature #UpliftingStories #anthology #inkalchemybooks #readlocal #cortlandny #allmyfriendsbooks

Meet Ink Alchemy Books author, Cheyenne Shaffer!
✨ Cheyenne became enamored with all things weird and fantastical at a young age, and she herself is becoming weirder and more fantastical every year.
✨ She is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop and The Never-Ending Odyssey, and she currently attends Northeastern Ohio's MFA program in creative writing.
✨ Her work has been published in English and Spanish, appearing in places such as Factor Four Magazine, Colectivero, and several anthologies, including Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic: An Anthology of Hysteria Fiction, which won a Shirley Jackson Award.
✨ When not writing, she works as an emergency veterinarian to fund her addictions to books, cats, and fancy coffee.
✨ Find her at cheyenneshaffer.com

Big thanks to @kjeselstories for her staff pick of 'Whimsy: A Literary Doom & Gloom Antidote' @buffalostreetbooks!

In her words: ✨ A collection of twelve stories that show the good in people and the world (and sometimes, other worlds). Many made me smirk, giggle, stare at the wall, even cry. Recurring themes of hope, growth, and loneliness cured. ✨

Bringing some of our favorite writing prompts to the Ithaca Book & Zine Fair @buffalostreetbooks, part of the @community_arts_partnership Spring Writes Literary Festival. Come write with us! ✨✨✨✍
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#buffalostreetbooks #springwritesithaca #inkalchemybooks #readlocal #downtownithaca #LiteraryFestival #writingprompts #bookfair #bookandzinefair

Find us on the shelves @allmyfriendsbooks 🤗

#inkalchemybooks #allmyfriendsbooks #friendlystaff #shoplocal #readlocal #cortlandny

On the Eye of Jupiter space port it's the day of the Kilowatt Festival, where Kyrzak will choose what to do with his life. But every occupation just seems so BORING. So he does the most recklessly adventurous thing he can think of: he visits the infamous (and magical?) Mel's Rock Pile. ✨ Story by J.J. Stewart

✨ Find out what secrets Mel's shop holds in 'Whimsy: A Literary Doom & Gloom Antidote' ✨

✨ ITHACA READING TOMORROW! ✨ Sunday, March 23rd at two in the afternoon, in the cozy reading room of Buffalo Street Books 💖

Voyage rides his horse Dream through a surreal and wondrous landscape to try and figure out who, and where, he is. Will he find his way home? 😶‍🌫️
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Hear Augusto Luiz Facchini read from 'Voyage Story' this Sunday 3/23 at two in the afternoon @buffalostreetbooks for a whimsical anthology reading.

The villagers of Chail like to play cricket. What they do not know, is that what they are playing is, in fact, Wrong Cricket. When they've finish their games and wound their way back down the hill to their homes, that is when Clouded Leopard and Moon Bear play Right Cricket—but it is not for the villagers to see. Until Ashkay peeks.
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Story by Michael Heyman
Illustration by David Kirk
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#whimsy #anthology #upliftingstories #literarynonsense #nonsenseliterature

Pick up your copy at Buffalo Street Books!

#buffalostreetbooks #supportyourlocalbookstore #buylocal #readlocal #ithacany #downtownithaca #anthology #whimsy #inkalchemybooks

Felicia loathes Baron Eustace von Tinklebaum III, a fact that the Baron is blissfully ignorant of. While Felicia plots the Baron's demise, he plans extravagant and absurd ways to woo her. Who will come out on top in this comedy of errors?
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Felicia and the Baron, by T.J. Young

When Sister South and Sister North get into a fight, flashfloods and firestorms sweep through the village of Buribarren. Everyone has an opinion about how to get the Sisters to stop their bickering, but no one will listen to Mrs. Spittleberg's silly suggestions. How bad will it get before they do?
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Penned by Jenn Hopkins, 'Mrs. Spittleberg Serves the Two Sisters Tea', is one of a dozen delightful reads from this literary doom and gloom antidote.
✨☕✨

Dandelion spirits grant wishes all of the time without us knowing. The little boy who wishes for ice cream suddenly hears the tinkle of music coming down the street, the old man who wants his roses to grow better gets a dream about trellises, the single mother who lost her worry stone sees it lit up under the counter by a well placed ray of sunshine. But will Dafna be brave enough to wish for her heart's desire?
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Hear Leora Spitzer read from 'Dandelion Wishes' (Sunday, 3/23, 2 pm) at the @buffalostreetbooks reading of 'Whimsy: A Literary Doom & Gloom Antidote'

#anthologyreading #buffalostreetbooks #inkalchemybooks #whimsy #ithacany #downtownithaca #readlocal

The three 'Whimsy' authors local the the Ithaca area will read excerpts from their short stories with Q&A to follow @buffalostreetbooks

Details at inkalchemybooks.com/whimsy

#anthologyreading #inkakalchemybooks #buffalostreetbooks #ithacany #downtownithaca #readlocal

Clangsy is sick (and skeptical) of her husband's fee-fi-fo-fuming about a "measly man" that will be the death of him. Until she discovers Jack making himself at home in her dollhouse.
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It's Not Really About Jack by @andrea_chesman
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One of a dozen delightful reads in this literary doom & gloom antidote of an anthology. Out now!

#fairytaleretelling #whimsy #anthology #shortstories #inkalchemybooks

TODAY! inkalchemybooks.com/events

#inkalchemybooks #booklaunch #reading #anthology #shortstories #whimsy

Percy wasn’t a very good witch, and sometimes she wondered if she wasn’t very good at being a person, either. But that all changes when she discovers a mysterious Grimoire...
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Hear @christineboyerauthor read from 'She Who Destroys' at the virtual book launch reading for 'Whimsy: A Literary Doom and Gloom Antidote'
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Tomorrow afternoon! Zoom link at inkalchemybooks.com/whimsy

Plump and stout and altogether strange, a gaggle of green, snaggle-toothed, 'Yesterling' guides are a knight's only hope to find his lost princess. Will they lead the way or lead him astray? Find out 3/1!
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Story by @anthony.ermi
Illustration by @davidkirktreehouse

What would you do if you were told you had to play by someone else’s rules? Find out what Cassiopeia does on 3/1!
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Story by Sandra Unerman.
Illustration by David Kirk.

A lot of strange people live in Wayfarer Dock, but the strangest by far is Mr. Baz. Every Sunday he leaves his house precisely at noon and purchases ruby red paint, five candelabra candlesticks, and a bag of cat food (chicken, not beef). Find out what Mr. Baz does with his odd assortment of items on March 1st!
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Join Xinyuan Shi and the other 'Whimsy' authors for their virtual reading on book launch day! (link in bio)
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Illustration by David Kirk.

'Whimsy: A Literary Doom & Gloom Antidote' opens with 'Sosi's Wings' by renowned author and illustrator, David Kirk @davidkirktreehouse
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A fairy who has lost her wings, Sosi seems willing to do anything to get them back, including playing a trick on an unsuspecting caterpillar.
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Find out what happens on 3/1 when the anthology launches!

✨ Virtual Book Launch Reading ✨
Saturday, 3/1 at 1 pm (EST)

Details and Link: inkalchemybooks.com/whimsy

'Whimsy: A Literary Doom & Gloom Antidote' is a collection of a dozen delightful reads for those days you've made the unfortunate mistake of ingesting too much news. The real world is rough right now; we need escapism!

#whimsy #virtualreading #inkalchemybooks

🗓 Mark your calendars! Sun, 1/19, 2 PM 🗓 'Shift' Book Launch reading at Buffalo Street Books in Ithaca, NY.

#bookreading #buffalostreetbooks #inkalchemybooks #supportlocalauthors❤️

Matchy-matchy!

@inkalchemybooks ❤️ @legendhasitlinocutart

We love our local @tcplny

#librarylove 📚🥰📚

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

Seeking short stories that take place in a bizarre place or atmosphere. Many of us are limited to small patch of this Earth---let's explore into our imaginations!

Details and guidelines: inkalchemybooks.com/submissions

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The books have arrived--just in time for the holidays! Now available @buffalostreetbooks (can you spot the wolf in sheep's clothing?)

❄ Thanks for supporting your local bookstore this season of giving ❄

#inkalchemybooks #buffalostreetbooks #buylocal #ithacany

Not all change is good -- six short stories about shapeshifting. Coming to your nightstand very soon.

inkalchemybooks.com/shift

#inkalchemybooks #goodliarsclub #anthology #shapeshifting #horror

Seeking short stories with a whimsical element. Think playful, fanciful, delightful, magical, surreal, wondrous. The real world is rough right now, we need escapism!
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Details & submission guidelines for, Whimsy: A Literary Doom & Gloom Antidote, at inkalchemybooks.com/submit
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Art by @mystery_manufactory

A collection of five cautionary tales against things that lurk in the light. Rebirth, monsters living among us, the glitter of gold, God himself, and a drug that lets you see in the dark. Delightfully dystopian! 🖤 Link to buy in bio.

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Whimsy A Literary Doom & Gloom Antidote (2025)

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Whimsy
A Literary Doom & Gloom Antidote
(2025)