Murphy's Virtue

by T.W. Smith, P.M. Compton (contributor)

Liam Murphy is a young man working on the family ranch in New Mexico. The nation is collapsing all around them and him and his grandfather are on a trip to get more livestock in order to survive the coming turmoil. However, he is caught in an unlikely situation where him and his grandfather end up helping an Arizona National Guard unit. He is faced with the collapse of America and the fact that he will not be able to escape the coming storms, and he would have no choice but decide whether to join the fight. He is forced to evaluate his beliefs and what he is willing to stand for, using the education in history and philosophy that his grandfather had given him.

347 pages, Paperback

Published July 22, 2021

About the author

T.W. Smith is fascinated with what scares people. His love affair with things that go "bump in the night" has spanned five decades, evolving into what he equates as comfort food:

"Some people crave potato chips. Others seek solace in a bowl of ice cream. Give me a comfortable couch and a classic movie like John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN, or a well-worn Stephen King paperback, and I am in heaven. It's my CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL.

After the publication of his short story NOT FAR FROM HERE (in Peter Straub's GHOSTS anthology, 1995), Smith was sidelined into the workforce by familial and financial obligations--resulting in various jobs including a five-year tenure with (the sorely missed) Borders bookstore chain.

His latest book, THE DEAD NEXT DOOR, is an homage to his favorite novel, I AM LEGEND, by Richard Matheson. Instead of vampires, it's zombies--but the motif is still there... what would an average guy do alone in a world of the dead?

T.W. Smith resides in northern Georgia, with his husband, his mother-in-law, and their pets.