I was saddened to read in the magazine Commonweal that Walter M. Miller, Jr.,
author of A Canticle for Leibowitz, died in January, by suicide. According
to the story, by a man who had interviewed him and later become a friend,
Miller's wife of 50 years died just a few months ago, so one might infer the
possiblity of depression after that loss. Has anyone heard anything else
about this? I checked a couple of electronic indexes and found no mention.
The story did say that Miller had been continuing to work on a sequel to
Canticle, and suggested that some kind of posthumous publication might still
be possible.
On an unrelated issue, I had mentioned a few days ago that I had a dim
recollection of a Sturgeon short story which featured jumanity uniting under
the bogus threat of an alien invasion. Someone requested the bibliographic
information, and a search of my shelves turned up the right story (I think).
The story is "Unite and Conquer" originally published in Astounding Science
Fiction in 1948. I found it in a Sturgeon collection called A Way Home,
published by Pyramid in 1956 (I have the 3rd printing, 1968). Incidentally,
it makes me feel a bit old when I find paperbacks I bought new which have a
cover price of 60 cents. Actually I have a couple of Delany's early novels
with a cover price of 40 cents. Even with all the intervening inflation,
that sounds like a good deal.
Kevin Mulcahy
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