Sober: A novel set in the world of Drink

Six months ago the story ended with a single line.

“It’s me.”

The game Drink followed a man moving through a town over the course of one difficult day. The story ended at the first moment of honest accountability.

This book begins afterwards.

The Story

Sober is a quiet novel told through alternating perspectives. Drink lives in a small rented room and works a routine job. His days are simple and structured, but not easy.

In the city, Sober works long shifts in a pharmacy.

Customers come and go. The shelves are organised. The routines are familiar.

The two lives move forward separately.

Sometimes the past appears in small ways - A name on a prescription. A familiar street. A memory that refuses to stay quiet.

The world does not stop for either of them.

Structure

The novel alternates between two perspectives:

Drink

Sober

Their stories move in parallel across the same city. Occasionally the lines between them come close. Most of the time they do not.

Tone

This novel keeps the restrained tone of Drink:

• Observational writing

• Minimal dialogue

• A living, indifferent world

• Small moments instead of dramatic speeches

The story is quiet by design.

Relationship to the Game

This book is a direct continuation of the narrative world of Drink.

• Set six months after the game

• Includes the character Drink

• Introduces the perspective of Sober

However, the book can still be read on its own.

Themes

• accountability

• absence

• routine

• distance between people

• the slow movement of time

Length

Approx. 33k words