Open Road Media will publish "27 Knots," a very different kind of post-Vietnam novel, on Nov. 24, 2026. It has been getting advance praise from those who have previewed it. Novelist Aimee Liu calls it “a masterpiece,” saying it “deserves a place of honor between 'Sophie’s Choice' and 'The Things They Carried.'" Suspense author Cam Torrens calls it “the year’s best war story … a heartbreaking tale of ‘profound love and appalling violence.’”

I’m humbled by their kind words, because in some ways I feel like the novel wrote itself. While the story is fictional, it’s based on the experiences of my older brother Bill, who like Vance Leford, the novel’s narrator, served as a sniper aboard a napalm boat in the U.S. Navy’s fabled Mobile Riverine Force in 1969 and 1970. It took my brother 50 years, but after he finally began telling me about his combat experiences in 2022 a powerful story began to take shape in my mind. "27 Knots" is the end result of that five-year conversation, but also an overdue examination of the long-term effects of the moral injuries inflicted on warriors during combat.

“Vietnam. Afghanistan. Iraq. Doesn’t matter,” Leford, the narrator, writes in what essentially is a 350-page confession to his wife of half a century. “I see that now, looking back.” Given our species’ seemingly endless appetite for war, I’m afraid it’s a story that will remain forever timely and relevant- an "Odyssey" indeed.

I've written previously about my two brothers on my Substack page, "The Shitshow Observed," and I offer that essay here to help tell the backstory of why I wrote "27 Knots." I hope you enjoy it. You can read more about the novel, and pre-order it, at https://www.martinjsmith.com.

https://open.substack.com/pub/martinjsmith/p/role-models?r=uw9a&utm_camp...