Drew Tolbert | Author

Big questions. Small-town Alabama. Clean fiction, honest essays, and the occasional chaotic story.

Menu
Follow Us:
Search
More Musings
Green graphic with bold yellow text reading ‘The Least Southern Parts of Alabama’ and white text below displaying DrewTolbert.com.
The Least Southern Parts of Alabama
Graphic with a red silhouette of Texas, green text reading ‘If you’re from Texas… you might not be from the South,’ and the website name DrewTolbert.com beneath.
If You’re From Texas… You Might Not Be From “The South”
A modern-day ninja lands a job interview with a Marine who can’t believe he’s really hiring a ninja.
From Ninja to Private Investigator: The Interview That Changed Everything
Graduation day drama in Empire, Alabama — Eric receives troubling news in time-travel novel, Chapter 13 illustration.
Under the Oak Tree Chapter 13: High School Graduation Drama
Chapter 12 illustration from time travel novel set in Warrior, Alabama. Two teenage boys, Lucas and Eric, inside a rustic shed experiment with a glowing rock and stun gun to open a time portal. Electrical energy surges as a vortex reveals an untouched forest from centuries past. Image dated April 27, 2008, showcasing early morning scientific discovery tied to voltage-based time travel.
Under the Oak Tree Chapter 12: Time Travel Experiment
Purple and black swirling portal opening at night near an oak tree in Warrior, Alabama
Under the Oak Tree Chapter 11: A Portal in the Night
A small-town rural diner set in 2002, surrounded by open fields and scattered trees. The diner glows warmly under the dusky evening sky, with a simple but inviting exterior. A couple of early 2000s cars are parked outside, adding to the nostalgic atmosphere of a quiet, reflective night before a major life event.
Under The Oak Tree | Chapter 10: The Last Night Before Graduation
An eerie nighttime scene of a dark wooded area with an old oak tree glowing with supernatural purple light at its base. Mist swirls around the roots, adding to the mysterious atmosphere.
Under The Oak Tree | Chapter 9: The Vanishing of Eric
A young couple sitting inside a car in the parking lot of Corner High School in Warrior, Alabama, sharing an emotional moment. The afternoon sun streams through the windshield, casting a warm glow on their faces as they exchange heartfelt words.
Under the Oak Tree | Chapter 8: Young Love in High School

Books

Books

I write both fiction and nonfiction. While my essays focus directly on questions of faith, science, and meaning, my fiction explores many of those same ideas through story.

Below is a selection of my published work.

Fiction

Under the Oak Tree

Under the Oak Tree is a coming-of-age novel that blends small-town life with the quiet mystery of time travel. Set against familiar places and ordinary moments, the story explores friendship, first love, regret, and the feeling that certain moments in life carry more weight than others.

At its core, the novel asks what we would do if given the chance to change a single moment, and whether doing so would truly bring the peace we expect.


Read Under the Oak Tree on Amazon

Leaving the Oak Tree

Leaving the Oak Tree continues the story by expanding the scope of time travel and its consequences. As the characters wrestle with the outcomes of their choices, the novel explores responsibility, unintended consequences, and the cost of trying to protect the people we love.

The story shifts from asking whether the past can be changed to asking what happens when we succeed, and whether winning at time travel creates more clarity or more confusion.


Read Leaving the Oak Tree on Amazon

Beyond the Oak Tree

Beyond the Oak Tree moves beyond the original story’s boundaries, focusing less on altering the past and more on understanding the forces behind it. The novel explores identity, power, and the idea that some truths exist outside of time altogether.

As the characters confront realities larger than themselves, the story asks whether meaning is something we discover, create, or are entrusted with.


Read Beyond the Oak Tree on Amazon

Nonfiction

Creation Without Conflict (forthcoming)

Creation Without Conflict examines why faith and science so often appear to be at odds, and how much of that tension comes from misunderstanding what ancient texts were written to do in the first place.

Rather than arguing for conclusions, the book explores categories, context, and purpose, showing how many modern conflicts exist because we expect ancient writings to answer modern questions.

More information will be shared as the publication date approaches.

Back To Top