Walter M. Miller, Jr.

Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Born Walter Michael Miller, Jr.
(1923-01-23)January 23, 1923
New Smyrna Beach, Florida, USA
Died January 9, 1996(1996-01-09) (aged 72)
Florida
Occupation Novelist, short story writer
Language English
Nationality American
Period 1951–1959, 1997 (publications as writer)
Genre Science fiction
Notable works A Canticle for Leibowitz
Notable awards Hugo Award for Best Novelette (1955)
Hugo Award for Best Novel (1961)
Spouse Anna Louise Becker (1945-1995)
Children 4
Miller's novella "The Reluctant Traitor" was the cover story for the January 1952 issue of Amazing Stories
Miller's novella "Plus Me Plus Three" was cover-featured on the August 1952 issue of Other Worlds Science Stories
Miller's novella "Let My People Go" was the cover story in the third issue of If in July 1952

Walter Michael Miller, Jr. (January 23, 1923 – January 9, 1996) was an American science fiction writer. Today he is primarily known for A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959), the only novel he published in his lifetime. Prior to its publication he was a prolific writer of short stories.

Early life

Miller was born in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Educated at the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas, he worked as an engineer. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps as a radioman and tail gunner, flying more than fifty bombing missions over Italy. He took part in the bombing of the Benedictine Abbey at Monte Cassino, which proved a traumatic experience for him. Joe Haldeman reported that Miller "had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for 30 years before it had a name", and that Miller displayed a photograph he had taken of Ron Kovic prominently in his living room.[1]

After the war, Miller converted to Catholicism. He married Anna Louise Becker in 1945 and they had four children. He lived with science-fiction writer Judith Merril in 1953.

Career

Between 1951 and 1957, Miller published over three dozen science fiction short stories, winning a Hugo Award in 1955 for the story "The Darfsteller". He also wrote scripts for the television show Captain Video in 1953.[2] Late in the 1950s, Miller assembled a novel from three closely related novellas he had published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1955, 1956 and 1957. The novel, entitled A Canticle for Leibowitz, was published in 1959.

A Canticle for Leibowitz is a post-apocalyptic (post-nuclear holocaust) novel revolving around the canonisation of Saint Leibowitz and is considered a masterpiece of the genre. It won the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The novel is also a powerful meditation on the cycles of world history and Roman Catholicism as a force of stability during history's dark times.

After the success of A Canticle For Leibowitz, Miller never published another new novel or story in his lifetime, although several compilations of Miller's earlier stories were issued in the 1960s and 1970s. A radio adaptation of A Canticle for Leibowitz was produced by WHA Radio and NPR in 1981 and is available on CD.

Later years

In Miller's later years, he became a recluse, avoiding contact with nearly everyone, including family members; he never allowed his literary agent, Don Congdon, to meet him. According to science fiction writer Terry Bisson, Miller struggled with depression during his later years, but had managed to nearly complete a 600-page manuscript for the sequel to Canticle before taking his own life with a gun in January 1996, shortly after his wife's death.[1][3] The sequel, Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman, was completed by Bisson and published in 1997.[4]

Publications

Saint Leibowitz series

The series includes Miller's two novels, published almost 40 years apart.[4]

Collections

Short stories

(** stories collected in Miller collections)

Anthologies

Works about Miller

References

  1. 1 2 "An Appreciation", Joe Haldeman, Locus, February 1996, pp. 78-79.
  2. ↑ "Obituaries: Walter M. Miller, Jr.", Locus, February 1996, p. 78.
  3. ↑ Streitfeld, David (October 9, 1997). "'Canticle' Author Unsung Even In Death". Orlando Sentinel.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Saint Leibowitz series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB). Retrieved 2014-08-01. Select a title to see its linked publication history and general information. Select a particular edition (title) for more data at that level, such as a front cover image or linked contents
  5. ↑ "Publication Listing" (Amazing Stories, January 1952). ISFDB. Retrieved 2014-08-01.
  6. ↑ "Publication Listing" (Beyond Armageddon, first edition). ISFDB. Retrieved 2014-08-01.

External links

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