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Walter M. Miller, Jr.

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Walter Michael Miller, Jr. (January 23, 1923 - January 9, 1996) was an American Roman 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, almost all of them within a five-year span from 1951 to 1955.

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

Bibliography

Novels

Short stories

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