LOS ANGELES - GeorgiaChron -- Drew Nellins Smith, author of Arcade (Unnamed Press, 2016), returns with Wince (Itna Press, July 2026), a darkly comic, razor-sharp portrait of American masculinity in freefall. Equal parts character study and slow-motion implosion, the novel follows a man who mistakes rock bottom for a second chance—and finds himself in far deeper trouble than he ever imagined.

Winston Fisher, Jr. —Wince to the people who still put up with him—is broke, unemployed, and freshly divorced for the third time. He drifts through his rented McMansion in a bathrobe, cocaine-addled and surrounded by the private arsenal he's assembled piece by piece. His mother won't stop calling. His newly engaged daughter keeps him updated on wedding plans. Both still believe in the man he used to be. Only his dealer and his best friend—an escort—know the truth.

More on Georgia Chron

• Mr. Milton Collier Releases New Book: Who's The Best Middleman?
• Georgia: Gov. Kemp Announces Appointments for District Attorney, State Court
• Share your workplace safety solutions at 2027 Applied Ergonomics Conference
• Parents No Longer Have to Wait 3 Weeks for a Sleep Consultant: Nora Talks Tonight, Stays for 5 Days, Costs $89
• May The Worst Team Win! Loserball Kicks Off Another NFL Season of Hilarious Mayhem

What starts as a side hustle, customizing AR-15s in his garage, spirals into something far more lucrative, far more dangerous, and somehow far more tedious than Wince expected. The tedium shatters when he discovers a cartel-run stash house tucked inside a South Texas junkyard. He can't stop imagining what it would take to rob it. Soon, he starts wondering if he's desperate enough to actually try.

Wince is an unflinching, often hilarious satire about depression, gun culture, and the particular American delusion that catastrophe can somehow be the first step toward stability.

Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask, praised the book as "funny, profane, sly and bruising." Dan Chaon, author of One of Us, described it as "a trenchant, timely and hilarious noir." Novelist Donald Ray Pollock, author of The Devil All the Time, called Wince "gritty and compulsively readable," and praised Smith for "accomplishing the nearly impossible: making a repellent character likeable," while Nico Walker, author of Cherry, described the book as "a Chekhovian dive into the spiritual desolation of the American West."

More on Georgia Chron

• Psychology Today Welcomes Charmaine Augustin, New Leadership and Lifestyle Transition Coach
• cXm Professionals Association Announces 2026 Industry Award Recipients for Customer Communications Innovation
• Black Women Living With, and Impacted by, HIV Express Gratitude, Grief, Joy, and Resilience
• MainConcept Easy Video API Extends Full Transcoding to Arm and NETINT VPUs
• After Losing the Same 50 Pounds Twice, Suwanee Coach Built a Different Kind of Health Program

Drew Nellins Smith is a writer based in Austin, Texas. His work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Believer, Tin House, VICE, and Literary Hub. Wince is his second novel.

Wince is available now on Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and select independent bookstores.