Walter M. Miller
Walter Michael Miller Jr. (January 23, 1923 – January 9, 1996) was an American science fiction writer. He wrote short stories that became a celebrated fix-up novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959).
Also recorded as Walter M. Miller, Jr. · Walter Michael Miller, Jr.
Walter M. Miller

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- Name
- Walter M.
- Birth Name
- Walter Michael Miller Jr.
- Born
- 23 January 1923
- Birthplace
- New Smyrna Beach, Florida, US
- Died
- 9 January 1996
- Place of death
- Daytona Beach, Florida, US
- Occupation
- * Novelist
- Awards
- Hugo Award (19551961)
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- science fiction
- Education
- University of Texas at Austin · University of Tennessee
- Known for
- A Canticle for Leibowitz · The Darfsteller · Dark Benediction
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Walter Michael Miller Jr. (January 23, 1923 – January 9, 1996) was an American science fiction writer. He wrote short stories that became a celebrated fix-up novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959).
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Authority files
wikidata · Q357839 · wikipedia · Walter M. Miller Jr.
In this article
Biography
Biography
His only novel published in his lifetime, it won the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Miller studied at University of Texas at Austin and University of Tennessee. The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are science fiction. Works named in the authority record are A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Darfsteller and Dark Benediction. Distinctions recorded are Hugo Award for Best Novelette and Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Walter M. Miller Jr. • Birth Name — Walter Michael Miller Jr. • Born — 23 January 1923 • Birthplace — New Smyrna Beach, Florida, US • Died — 9 January 1996 • Place of death — Daytona Beach, Florida, US • Occupation — * Novelist • short story writer • Language — English • Period — 1951–1996 • Genre — Science fiction • Notable Works — A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959) • Awards — Hugo Award (19551961) • Illustration — Miller's novella "The Reluctant Traitor" was the cover story for the January 1952 issue of Amazing Stories. • Illustration — Miller's novella "Please Me Plus Three" was cover-featured on the August 1952 issue of Other Worlds Science Stories. • Illustration — Miller's novella "Let My People Go" was the cover story in the third issue of If in July 1952.
Early life
Early life
Miller was born on January 23, 1923, 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 Forces 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. 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
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. Late in the 1950s, Miller assembled a novel from three closely related novellas he had published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1955, 1956 and 1957. The novel, entitled A Canticle for Leibowitz, was published in 1959. It is a post-apocalyptic 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. 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. 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.
Later years and death
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. The sequel, Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman, was completed by Bisson at Miller's request and published in 1997.
Saint Leibowitz series
Saint Leibowitz series
The series includes Miller's two novels, published almost 40 years apart. • A Canticle for Leibowitz (J. B. Lippincott, 1959) • Fiat Homo, revised version of "A Canticle for Leibowitz", 1955 • Fiat Lux, revision of "And the Light Is Risen", 1956 • Fiat Voluntas Tua, revision of "The Last Canticle", 1957 • Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman (1997) – "Terry Bisson finished the nearly complete, and reportedly very polished, manuscript left by Miller."
Short stories
Short stories
• "MacDoughal's Wife" (in American Mercury, March 1950; not science fiction) • "Month of Mary" (in Extension Magazine, May 1950; not science fiction) • "Dark Benediction" (1951) • "Izzard and the Membrane" (1951) • "The Little Creeps" (1951) • "Secret of the Death Dome" (1951) • "The Song of Vorhu" (1951) • "The Soul-Empty Ones" (1951) • "The Space Witch" (1951) • "The Big Hunger" (1952) • "Big Joe and the Nth Generation" (1952, also known as "It Takes a Thief") • "Bitter Victory" (1952) • "Blood Bank" (1952) • "Cold Awakening" (1952) • "Command Performance" (1952, also known as "Anybody Else Like Me?") • "Conditionally Human" (1952) • "Dumb Waiter" (1952) • "Gravesong" (1952) • "Let My People Go" (in If, July 1952) • "No Moon for Me" (1952) • "A Family Matter" (1952) • "The Reluctant Traitor" (Amazing Stories, January 1952) • "Please Me Plus Three" (in Other Worlds Science Stories, August 1952) • "Six and Ten Are Johnny" (1952) • "Crucifixus Etiam" (1953, also known as "The Sower Does Not Reap") • "I, Dreamer" (1953) • "The Yokel" (1953) • "Wolf Pack" (1953) • "Check and Checkmate" (1953) • "Death of a Spaceman" (1954, also known as "Memento Homo") • "I Made You" (1954) • "The Ties that Bind" (1954) • "The Will" (1954) • "Way of a Rebel" (1954) • "A Canticle for Leibowitz" (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1955; reprinted as "The First Canticle"; revised into A Canticle for Leibowitz) • "The Darfsteller" (1955) • "The Hoofer" (1955) • "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) • "The Last Canticle" (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1957; revised into A Canticle for Leibowitz) • "The Lineman" (1957) • "Vengeance for Nikolai" (1957, also known as "The Song of Marya")
Anthology
Anthology
• Beyond Armageddon: Twenty-One Sermons to the Dead, eds. Martin H. Greenberg and Miller (Donald I. Fine, 1985)
Works about Miller
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.
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
Miller was recorded at birth as Walter Michael Miller Jr. The authorities additionally record the headings Walter M. Miller, Jr. And Walter Michael Miller, Jr. His recorded language was English. His recorded confession was Catholic Church.
Identity
Identity
What the record establishes about Walter M. Miller is recorded with the occupation science fiction writer. Miller is recorded as a citizen of United States. Miller is classed in the genre science fiction.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1923
Walter M. Miller was born on 23 January 1923.
1996
Walter M. Miller died on 9 January 1996.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Walter M. Miller was born at New Smyrna Beach.
Birthplace
Walter M. Miller died at Daytona Beach.
Deathplace
New Smyrna Beach.
Birth place
Daytona Beach.
Death place
Collections
• Conditionally Human (1962), 3 stories • The View from the Stars (1965), 9 stories • 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
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q357839: Walter M. MillerWikimedia Foundation
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Partially resolved
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
The identifiers under which Walter M. Miller may be traced in institutional catalogues. Work and production. Works recorded as notable number 3: A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Darfsteller and Dark Benediction. His recorded genre is science fiction.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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