False Alarm Is Published: A Garage Band Story from the 1990s
The 1990s coming-of-age novel by Zach Jerry is now available in paperback and Kindle editions. Meet the band and see the official cover.
Read the release announcementNotes from the press
The journal.
A place for the books being written, the places that inspire them, and the work behind the page.
The First Time You Hear Your Book Speak
There's something incredible about hearing a story you've written become a performance. A note on our talented narrators, the audio work underway, and what it means to hear the books come alive.
Read the new articleWhat makes a place feel alive?
From the hum of a small town to a path beneath the trees, the ordinary details can be the most important.
Read the noteNew stories, familiar roots.
An underwater winter story in development and a newly published comic fantasy about real estate in a world of villains.
Read the noteCamp 707: The German POW Camp in Northern Minnesota
Learn about Camp 707 near Deer River, Minnesota, a World War II German prisoner-of-war branch camp where POWs worked in logging operations.
Read the articleWhy Northern Minnesota Makes a Powerful Setting for Fiction
Northern Minnesota lakes, forests, long winters and small communities create a distinctive setting for mystery, memoir and historical fiction.
Read the articleStories of Service, Homecoming, and the Burdens People Carry
Why stories about service and homecoming often begin after the visible journey is over, and how fiction can explore family, memory and return.
Read the articleFamily Traditions, Hunting, Fishing, and the Stories We Keep
Why outdoor traditions, family hunting and fishing memories, and seasonal routines become stories worth preserving across generations.
Read the articleHow to Make a Fantasy World Feel Lived In
A practical look at how roads, work, food, weather, distance and ordinary routines can make a fantasy world feel believable instead of decorative.
Read the articleWhy Comic Fantasy Works When the World Takes Itself Seriously
Comic fantasy becomes funnier when the world has rules, jobs, money problems and consequences that characters treat as completely normal.
Read the articleWhy Lake Houses and Old Estates Make Good Mystery Settings
Old estates, lake houses, inherited property and isolated shorelines naturally create layers of history, access, memory and secrecy for mystery fiction.
Read the articleJournal / Note 01
What makes a place feel alive?
The places in a story are more than a backdrop. They should feel as though someone lived there yesterday and will still be living there tomorrow.
A familiar coffee mug on the counter. Tracks across a snowy yard. The regulars who know which door sticks at the diner. Or the worn stones of an old road in an imagined country. Details like these tell us that the world reaches beyond the chapter we happen to be reading.
At Pine & Prairie Press, the setting often begins with a landscape: Minnesota’s pine forests and lakes, Wyoming’s mountains and grasslands, or a place that exists only in the imagination. The story begins to breathe when people work, argue, travel, celebrate, and make ordinary lives within it.
That is the kind of detail we hope stays with you, long after the cover closes.
Discover the booksJournal / Note 02
New stories, familiar roots.
A new story is on the writing desk, while another has reached readers.
Wally’s First Winter explores a northern lake from the perspective of a young walleye, with family, seasonal change, and the unfamiliar world beneath the ice.
Already published, Gnormous Doomwhistle: Licensed to Lair heads in a different direction: comic fantasy about a determined real-estate agent trying to sell properties that ordinary brokers would rather avoid.
Wally’s First Winter remains in development. Gnormous Doomwhistle: Licensed to Lair is now published and available through the book page below.
Discover Gnormous Doomwhistle