I’m thrilled to announce that my latest fantasy short story is available to read in the newest issue of From The Farther Trees magazine! Click here to read it.
This wonderful publication featured another one of my fantasy short stories earlier this year, and I’m elated to be a part of it again. This new issue is extra special—it’s a pop-up issue celebrating the publication’s anniversary, and the theme is trees. Filled with over a dozen fantasy short stories and poems, it’s truly a magical collection that celebrates our diverse, joyous, and complicated relationships with nature.
I wrote “Pine And Sprout” in only a few days, the shortest amount of time that I’ve ever needed to write a full formed, fictional story of this length. I was inspired to do so during a backpacking trip in the Pacific Northwest that my family enjoyed this past summer. At the start of our trek, my brother-in-law found an old walking stick that had been discarded by a previous owner, and I thought to myself, “I wonder what stories that stick could tell?” This summer, I’d also been in the middle of re-reading Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time in over 20 years, so magic and wizards had been on my mind.
I returned home from that trip with the seed of this story planted in my imagination. Shortly after, I saw the submission call for this pop-up issue of From The Farther Trees. The idea of a trees-themed collection of stories and poems inspired me to reconsider—and tinker with—some character perspectives, and the result is what you can read at the link below. I wrote “Pine And Sprout” with this publication—and this particular issue—in mind, so I’m exceedingly proud that this story has found a home within its pages. I hope you enjoy it.
Click here to read “Pine And Sprout” in the special trees-themed pop-up issue of From The Farther Trees magazine.
Acknowledgments.
I’d like to thank my brother-in-law for inspiring the seed of this story, as well as for his unabashed enthusiasm for my creative pursuits. Also, special thanks to From The Farther Trees‘s editor, Rick Hollon, for assembling another amazing collection of stories and poems, and especially for possessing the love of nature and the creative spark to celebrate this particular issue’s theme.
And, as always, thank you to my wife for her boundless patience and unwavering support, and to my children for inspiring everything I do.
Follow me on Twitter—@mdouglaswhite.
