Walter Michael Miller Jr. (January 23, 1923 – January 9, 1996) was an American
science fiction writer. His
fix-up novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959), the only novel published in his lifetime, won the 1961
Hugo Award for Best Novel. Prior to its publication, he was a writer of short stories.
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.[3]
After the success of A Canticle for Leibowitz, Miller ceased publishing, 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.[5][6] A radio adaptation of the first two parts was broadcast in the UK by the BBC in 1992; further details can be found on the BBC Genome Project.[7]
Later years and death
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, but had managed to nearly complete a 600-page manuscript for the sequel to Canticle before taking his own life with a firearm on January 9, 1996, shortly after his wife's death.[2][8]
The Science Fiction Stories of Walter M. Miller Jr. (1977) – omnibus of Conditionally Human and The View from the Stars
The Best of Walter M. Miller Jr. (1980) – omnibus of Conditionally Human and The View from the Stars plus two added stories, The Lineman and Vengeance for Nikolai
Conditionally Human and Other Stories (1982) – 6 stories from the 1980 omnibus
The Darfstellar and Other Stories (1982) – the remaining 8 stories from the 1980 omnibus
Short stories
"MacDoughal's Wife" (in American Mercury, March 1950; not science fiction)
"The Triflin' Man" (1955, also known as "You Triflin' Skunk!")
"And the Light is Risen" (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 1956; revised into A Canticle for Leibowitz[9])
"The Last Canticle" (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1957; revised into A Canticle for Leibowitz[9])
"The Lineman" (1957)
"Vengeance for Nikolai" (1957, also known as "The Song of Marya")
Anthologies
Beyond Armageddon: Twenty-One Sermons to the Dead, eds.
Martin H. Greenberg and Miller (Donald I. Fine, 1985)[11]
Works about Miller
Roberson, W. H. (2011). Walter M. Miller Jr.: A Reference Guide to His Fiction and His Life.
Roberson, W. H., and Battenfeld, R. L. (1992). Walter M. Miller Jr.: A Bio-Bibliography.
Secrest, Rose (2002). Glorificemus: A Study of the Fiction of Walter M. Miller Jr.
Musch, Sebastian (2016). "The Atomic Priesthood and Nuclear Waste Management - Religion, Sci-fi Literature and the End of our Civilization" Zygon - Journal of Religion and Science, 51 (3), p. 626-639.