Quiet Pine Trees

by T.R. Darling

'This is the one true star-map,' he whispered. 'Time fluctuates wildly beyond our solar system. Everything we know about distance is wrong.' Quiet Pine Trees is jet fuel for your imagination and a wrecking ball against writer's block. This collection features more than 500 compelling miniature stories that turn the humble microfiction into a self-contained work of literary art. Within the limits of the form, each story combines powerful imagery with haunting themes using just a few words, making snapshots of bigger, stranger worlds to inspire the creativity of the reader. The multitude of stories in this volume span genres and galaxies alike: from science fiction about advanced time travel techniques, to otherworldly fantasy about desperate trees and artillery pianos, to eerie horror about the real reason dolls close their eyes.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy

176 pages, Hardcover

First published February 4, 2021

Reviews

[Chelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful and quirky, snippets of inspiration and glimpses into many stories and worlds.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of very short stories. Of various genres. A lot of time-travel, including a sequence about a time-traveling university. The horror section is more eerie than gory.

[Kristin B. Bodreau · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore micro-fiction. Up until now I’ve just perused it on Pinterest. (Mostly screenshots from tumblr.) This is my first foray into a whole book of it and I loved it immensely! This is great if any or all of the following applies to you.

-Short attention span
-Really limited reading windows
-Enjoy imagining worlds from small prompts
-Just appreciate lovely writing
-Want to contemplate your place in the universe
-Like to support non-traditionally published authors

After reading this I will be checking out more books of micro-fiction and definitely watching for more from T.R. Darling.

[row row · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I first discovered Quiet Pine Trees on Twitter, through the author's account where they occasionally posted lines and snippets from the project. That led me to the project's funding page, where I decided I wanted to support it. I waited for a long time for this complete book to be published, and in the meantime, I kept following the Twitter account to soak up the words T.R Darling let loose.

The tagline for this book is "Jet fuel for your imagination," and that's exactly what it is. This tiny little book is filled with microfiction pieces, lines and paragraphs and short stories that contain entire worlds and universes in just a few sentences. It's atmospheric and ethereal and certainly makes you think, it lets your mind go wild and free, and I really, really loved the craft behind it. I would welcome a full-length fiction novel from T.R Darling, and I hope they consider something like that in the future.

People who donated money to the funding of this project got their names printed in the back of the book, and it was really, really cool to see my name listed there with the other supporters. I'm so glad I could help bring this project to life.

[Keith Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Less a collection of flash or micro fiction and more an anthology of intriguing passages. Some of the entries are really wonderful while others feel more like drafts of later, better entries. In chapter 2, you see the collection's real potential but it unfortunately turns out to be more of a standalone section. Had Darling tried to fit some of the passages together into a true flash/micro narrative this would be something truly brilliant, as it is though it merely glows brightly. I still think you should read it, and I still think you will enjoy it. I suspect, however, that the untapped potential will leave you frustrated.

[Maple · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've followed T.R. Darling's tweets leading up to this release since I was in middle school but reading it all here now just kind of feels like a watered down version of WTNV. I don't see it having much value as it's intended (for writing prompts) but there were a handful of these prompts that I really love just on their own. Overall, not bad but it's a product of its time (2014 tumblr era style writing).

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hay libros que no son libros, si no pequeñas extravagancias que una quiere tener en papel por el simple placer de TENER. Puede que los microrelatos de Darling funcionen mejor en red social, pero me gustan tanto sus pequeños fogonazos de genio que es un placer tenerlos en la estantería y poder redescubrir uno de vez en cuando.

[Michael Hanscom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over five hundred microfiction sci-fi/fantasy/horror/weird stories. Funny, creepy, thoughtful, occasionally demanding that you put it down and let them sit in your brain for a bit before the next one. Wonderful.

[segosha · Rating 3 out of 5]

magic little worlds but a book just isnt the format for microfiction: even dipping in over a couple of months its started to drag.

[Claire Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very unique book! I’ve read hundreds but never one like this!

[Cody Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me a while to read but every short story was worth it. Still read the new stuff in twitter.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not your traditional book, this is a large compilation of "microfictions" from T.R. Darling and his weird and wonderful mind (and twitter). This is best consumed by picking a page or chapter at random, and reading the self-contained mini stories. If you're short on time and/or crave some inspiration to get your own imagination going, I definitely recommend this.