Miller's novella "The Reluctant Traitor" was the cover story for the January 1952 issue ofAmazing Stories.Miller's novella "Please Me Plus Three" was cover-featured on the August 1952 issue ofOther Worlds Science Stories.Miller's novella "Let My People Go" was the cover story in the third issue ofIf in July 1952.
Walter Michael Miller Jr. (January 23, 1923 – January 9, 1996) was an Americanscience fiction writer. Hisfix-up novel,A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959), the only novel published in his lifetime, won the 1961Hugo Award for Best Novel. Prior to its publication, he was a writer of short stories.
After the war, Miller converted toCatholicism. He married Anna Louise Becker in 1945 and they had four children. He lived with science-fiction writerJudith Merril in 1953.
Between 1951 and 1957, Miller published over three dozen science fiction short stories, winning aHugo Award in 1955 for the story "The Darfsteller". He also wrote scripts for the television showCaptain Video in 1953.[3]
After the success ofA Canticle for Leibowitz, Miller ceased publishing, although several compilations of Miller's earlier stories were issued in the 1960s and 1970s. A radio adaptation ofA Canticle for Leibowitz was produced byWHA Radio andNPR 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]
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 writerTerry Bisson, Miller struggled withdepression, but had managed to nearly complete a 600-page manuscript for the sequel toCanticle 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 ofConditionally Human andThe View from the Stars
The Best of Walter M. Miller Jr. (1980) – omnibus ofConditionally Human andThe View from the Stars plus two added stories,The Lineman andVengeance 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
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.
