When you have a grandma with an endless supply of folktales and recipes, it’s the perfect mix of ingredients for a book series.
Ray Depew published his first book in 2015 and the most recent one was in October 2017.
It’s called "Donbridge" and Depew sells the series at grocery stores, festivals and online. The books are written under Depew's pen name R.D. Vincent.
KHOU 11 caught up with Depew at a Kroger store in Conroe. He was selling and autographing his books for fans.
"This is a 300-year-old folktale from my grandmother and great aunt,” he explained to a shopper. "She would tell me the stories in the kitchen.”
Depew meets readers all the time but the one thing he’ll never tell them to do is Google his books.
"If I was to Google 'Donbridge,' what would come up?” asked reporter Tiffany Craig.
“What would come up is that they were written by a Communist Socialist according to Google, named Vincent R. Dunne," Depew replied.
You can see how the mistake might happen. A lot of the letters are similar between Vincent R. Dunne and Depew’s pen name R. D. Vincent
Depew said he sent emails, filled out feedback forms for months and Google wouldn’t fix it.
"They talked to me for over an hour and twenty minutes,” recalled Depew. “We went round and round in circles. They told me that's there's no way to prove that I wrote the books."
Depew said he tried explaining that he doesn’t plagiarize, he’s not a Communist and wasn’t even born when that other guy died.
"When no one could finally help me, I went and started googling reporters that could help me and I found y’all,” he told us.
He emailed us and we were glad to help.
We didn’t really know the best way to get in touch with a media giant like Google. So, we emailed and called along with posting pleas on social media.
Days went by and we heard nothing.
Finally on Day 10, we got an email from a Google spokesperson that read:
"Information that appears in the Knowledge Graph comes from a variety of sources from across the web. Occasionally, we can get this wrong, and in this case we are working to address the issue."
Within days of that email, the name magically changed to the correct pen name and invited Depew to the TV station.
"Do you have any idea why I asked you to come?" asked Tiffany Craig.
"Not 100 percent, no,” he said. “I know we've been follow ups and everything about Google. So, did you make progress?”
Tiffany did a Google search for the books and turned her laptop around to show Depew the results.
“Oh my God,” he said and burst into tears. “Thank you.”
“You're welcome,” replied Tiffany.
“It's been a lot of stress. Thank you. This means a lot to our family. It means a lot to my grandma." said Depew.
If you ever meet Depew at a grocery store near you, he’ll share the story of "Donbridge" and maybe the Google tale too!
If you have an issue you can’t get fixed, let Tiffany know. You can email her at telltiffany@khou.com.