Dry Land
In the woods of Wisconsin, a young forester named Rand Brandt learns that he can grow any plant he imagines in minutes, merely by touching the dirt. Soon, he and his compatriots are recruited to grow timber for the Great War in France. He dreams of perfecting his gift and restoring landscapes destroyed by exploitation, but soon makes a horrifying discovery: everything he grows withers and dies within hours, leaving behind nothing but dead, dry soil. Brandt’s dead trees mirror the war dead, but it’s not until he’s returned to the States and exhausted his efforts to change his art that he begins to understand what his ability both is and is not. His love for a fellow forester and his love for the land both prove more complicated, and more resilient, than he presumes—as does, their love for him in return.