S P A C E L I G H T
INDEX
Name: MILLER, Walter Michael Jr.
Aged: 72
Born: January 23, 1923
Where: New Smyrna Beach, Florida
Died: January 9, 1996
Where: Daytona Beach, FL
Cremated: Both Walter's and Ann's ashes were scattered in Mosquito Lagoon, Fl. (Atlantic Coast), in April of 1996. A favorite fishing spot of Walter's.
Married: Anna Louise Becker
When: 1945 (d Aug 1995)
Awarded: 1955 Hugo for novelette, "The
Darfsteller;" and the 1961 Hugo for novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz
Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Served as a member of the Army Air Corp in WW II and flew 53 bombing missions over Italy and the Balkans as radioman and tail gunner. Suspected to have been psychologically affected by raids on the monastery of Montecasino, Walter turned some of this to his advantage in his most famous work, A Canticle for Leibowitz.
Miller's shorter stories have been anthologized over the years and appear in Conditionally Human, A View from the Stars, and The Best of Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Walter studied engineering at Texas University after the war and, at some point, worked for the rail lines as he retired on a railroad pension and Social Security. He left that employment due to a leg injury sustained in an auto accident. Little of his life is known and less has been shared by his family. Apparently, Miller's anti-social tendencies became manic in his later years and that brought about eventual separation from loved ones. Contact with the SF community was by mail or phone, specifically warning away visitors.
When he died of a self inflicted gun shot wound five months after his wife's death, Walter had arranged with his publisher that his nearly completed sequel, Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman be completed by a ghost writer, without credit. Terry Bisson was selected, even though unknown to Miller, and agreed to do the work. This was done, with Bisson adding a seamless 20% to the volume, published by Bantam Spectra in November of 1997 at 434 pages.
We wish to thank Jennifer Miller for additions and corrections.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mine here.
BIOGRAPHY: Science Fiction Writers, Scribners 1982
WWII DATA: Army SN 14092306, Walter M. Miller Jr., res Volusia county, Florida. Enlisted Fort Oglethorpe, GA, on Feb 18, 1942. Pvt. Born 1923 in Florida. White. 1 year of college. Single.
