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DRINK: SOME FIGHTS ARE WORTH THE SCARS.
DRINK is a story about what we carry-guilt, addiction, memory-and the quiet, painful work of learning to set it down.
Avery Sloan wakes up hungover in a stranger's bed and stumbles back to a life he barely recognizes. Once a gifted high school teacher, now just another man disappearing into his own mess, he's offered one last a temporary teaching job at a school for kids on the edge. But Avery knows second chances always come with strings-and his hands are far from steady.
As he tries to rejoin a world he once believed in, Avery is haunted by past relationships, buried grief, and the constant pull of the bottle. Old flames. Fresh wounds. A classroom full of teenagers who see more than he wants to show. Every day becomes a test, not of curriculum, but of endurance, honesty, and the slow work of becoming someone worth trusting again.
Set against the sun-drenched grit of New Mexico, DRINK is a piercing, quietly devastating novel about addiction, recovery, and the fragile possibility of redemption. For readers of Denis Johnson, Ocean Vuong, and Raymond Carver, this is a portrait of a man trying not to be saved, but to simply stay standing.
Avery Sloan wakes up hungover in a stranger's bed and stumbles back to a life he barely recognizes. Once a gifted high school teacher, now just another man disappearing into his own mess, he's offered one last a temporary teaching job at a school for kids on the edge. But Avery knows second chances always come with strings-and his hands are far from steady.
As he tries to rejoin a world he once believed in, Avery is haunted by past relationships, buried grief, and the constant pull of the bottle. Old flames. Fresh wounds. A classroom full of teenagers who see more than he wants to show. Every day becomes a test, not of curriculum, but of endurance, honesty, and the slow work of becoming someone worth trusting again.
Set against the sun-drenched grit of New Mexico, DRINK is a piercing, quietly devastating novel about addiction, recovery, and the fragile possibility of redemption. For readers of Denis Johnson, Ocean Vuong, and Raymond Carver, this is a portrait of a man trying not to be saved, but to simply stay standing.
250 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 23, 2025
About the author
Bryan Wempen
9 booksBryan Wempen is an author, speaker, and technology entrepreneur based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Known for his candid and insightful writing, Bryan delves into the complexities of human nature and power. His debut fiction novel explored country murder mysteries through suspenseful storytelling and rich character development. Now, his second novel dives into a high-stakes, future US presidential campaign, tackling the intense rivalries and moral dilemmas of those vying for power.
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