The first publication from Bobby Housel, Dreamers in a Drift State, is a collection of short stories and poems telling realist stories from rural, blue collar America.

It’s in the moments when the world goes quiet, when no one is watching, that the true characteristics of humanity reveal themselves. This book is a collection of poems and short stories that find themselves unfolding in moments like these.

There’s no clear beginning, middle, or end. A moment unfolds, life happens, we get a glimpse, and then we are taken to a new moment. Bobby wrote this book to tell the stories of an America outside of the one we watch on TV and see in New York and Los Angeles. We so often hide our humanity in our closets, especially as Americans. This is a call to embrace the imperfection, the hurt, the rawness of it all.

This book is about stepping into the trials of another and walking away better because you did. Bobby crafts realistic portraits of struggling middle class American heroes on a quest for the promised “American Dream.” The stories are real, raw, and leave you wanting more. Inspired deeply by the works of Raymond Carver, Charles Bukowski, and Ernest Hemingway, Bobby gives the reader a glimpse at his characters’ world, and then takes them away.

Bobby believes storytelling is at the core of everything humans do. These stories will leave you with new lenses to view the world and its infinite characters stumbling through the darkness.