P. Schuyler Miller | |
Birth Date: | 21 February 1912 |
Birth Place: | Troy, New York, U.S. |
Death Place: | Blennerhassett Island, West Virginia, U.S. |
Occupation: | Author and critic, technical writer |
Genre: | Science fiction |
Peter Schuyler Miller (February 21, 1912 – October 13, 1974) was an American science fiction writer and critic.
Miller was raised in New York's Mohawk Valley, which led to a lifelong interest in the Iroquois Indians. He pursued this as an amateur archaeologist and a member of the New York State Archaeological Association.
He received his M.S. in chemistry from Union College in Schenectady. He subsequently worked as a technical writer for General Electric in the 1940s, and for the Fisher Scientific Company in Pittsburgh from 1952 until his death.
Miller died October 13, 1974, on Blennerhassett Island, West Virginia. He was on an archaeological tour to the "Fort Ancient culture" site west of Parkersburg at the time.
Miller wrote pulp science fiction beginning in the 1930s, and is considered one of the more popular authors of the period. His work appeared in such magazines as Amazing Stories, Astounding, Comet, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Marvel Tales, Science Fiction Digest, Super Science Stories, Unknown, Weird Tales, and Wonder Stories, among others.
With his friend John D. Clark, Miller is also known as a bibliographer of Robert E. Howard's "Conan" stories. The two worked out an outline of Conan's career and a map of the world in Howard's work in 1936 from the then-published stories. Their map became the basis of maps that later appeared in the book editions of the Conan stories.[1] Their revised outline, "A Probable Outline of Conan's Career" was published in the fanzine The Hyborian Age in 1938.
Miller began a shift to book reviewing in 1945, writing for Astounding Science Fiction, later renamed Analog, for which he wrote a monthly review column, "The Reference Library", from 1951 to 1963. As a critic he was notable for his enthusiasm for a wide coverage of the science fiction field. He was awarded a special Hugo Award for book reviews in 1963.
After his death his sister Mary E. Drake donated his extensive collection of papers, maps, books and periodicals, accumulated largely as a result of his review work, to the Carnegie Museum. They now form the basis of the P. Schuyler Miller Memorial Library at the Edward O'Neill Research Center in Pittsburgh.