Profile of Walter Miller on Famous Like Me

Walter Michael Miller, Jr. (January 23, 1923 - January 9, 1996) was a Catholic science fiction author who wrote the novel A Canticle for Leibowitz in 1959. Parts of the novel were first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Miller was born in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. He served in the Army Air Forces in World War II as a radioman and tail gunner, flying 53 bombing missions over Italy. Among these was the bombing of the Benedictine Abbey at Monte Cassino, which became for him a traumatic experience.

In his later years, Miller became pathologically reclusive, avoiding contact with most people including family members. Miller shot himself while working on a sequel to A Canticle for Leibowitz. That novel, Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman, was finished by ghost writer Terry Bisson in 2000.

A Canticle for Leibowitz was the only novel by Miller that was published during his lifetime. It won him the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and is considered one of the best post-apocalyptic novels. He also published about 40 science-fiction short stories.

An excellent radio adapatation of A Canticle for Leibowitz was produced by WHA Radio and NPR in 1981. It is available on CD.

Bibliography

Novels

• A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)
• Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman (finished by Terry Bisson) (2000)

Short Stories

• Anybody Else Like Me? (1952)
• The Big Hunger (1952)
• Big Joe and the Nth Generation (1952)
• Bitter Victory (1952)
• Blood Bank (1952)
• Cold Awakening (1952)
• Command Performance (1952)
• Conditionally Human
• Crucifixus Etiam (1953)
• The Darfsteller (1955)
• Dark Benediction (1951)
• Death of a Spaceman (1954)
• Dumb Waiter (1952)
• The First Canticle (1955)
• Gravesong (1952)
• The Hoofer (1955)
• I, Dreamer (1953)
• I Made You (1954)
• Izzard and the Membrane (1951)
• Let My People Go (1952)
• The Lineman (1957)
• The Little Creeps (1951)
• Memento Homo (1954)
• No Moon for Me (1952)
• The Reluctant Traitor (1952)
• Secret of the Death Dome (1951)
• Six and Ten Are Johnny (1952)
• The Song of Marya (1957)
• The Song of Vorhu (1951)
• The Soul-Empty Ones (1951)
• The Sower Does Not Reap (1953)
• The Space Witch (1951)
• The Ties that Bind (1954)
• The View from the Stars
• The Will (1954)
• The Yokel (1953)
• Vengeance for Nikolai (1957)
• Way of a Rebel (1954)
• Wolf Pack (1953)
• You Triflin' Skunk! (1955)

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