This Was Not the Truth & Other Collected Stories

"This Was Not The Truth" is a collection of stories that draws the reader into common and yet extraordinary worlds, inhabited by the broken, the hopeful, the lost. Keeping a rapid, almost frantic pace at times, the reader moves between unique worlds, but yet, the stories linger in the mind long after the book is finished. If there is only one aspect to ponder, it is that time is fluid and unforgiving.

Isaac had disappeared again, his mother was desperate, and Christopher is lost in dreams of riverboats, the Congo, and his father's approval. This Was Not The Truth and Other Stories is a collection of three literary novellas that weave its tales around common themes of family, trust, race. In "And Building Something" Kyla's low, slender voice hides a secret world tattooed across her body, but when the rain and the revival come to the dusty town of West Medford, it unleashes a flood of truth that cannot be contained. "Melody" carries the reader through a complex family history that is intertwined across generations sending Leslie, Preacher Boy, and the entire Dupree plantation headlong into a battle against the cultural misgivings of the past. Three stories, three families, all struggling against the ceaseless tide of the past while desperate to change their future.

Born in February between snowstorms, Drew decided early on that he would rather stay indoors and make art. His love of books quickly turned into an intense desire to write. Taking early inspiration from comics, he quickly transitioned to short fiction, finding success in local literary magazines in high school. Inspired by a wide range of influences, including Toni Morrison, Raymond Carver, and Haruki Murakami, he developed his first novellas while obtaining a BFA in Creative Writing. It was during his time at university that he began experimenting with visual arts and painting using wax to create unique textures by modifying the traditional method of encaustics. When he set his first painting on fire with a blowtorch and lighter fluid, his visual voice was found and began to expand exponentially. His unique work has been shown in New York, Rhode Island, and New Jersey and is in private collections across the country.

Since returning to NJ, he has partnered with Jeffrey Allan Davis to form Chimera Productions, an influential independent theater company operating out of the Arts Council of Princeton in New Jersey. They have staged productions including Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Never Swim Alone, On An Average Day, The Other Place, and Bottle Factory, Drew’s first original play.

His first collection of novellas, This Was Not The Truth, was published in December of 2018 and is available now in print and eBook. He is currently working on a new play to debut in 2020.