Steven Richard Miller (31 July 1950 – 20 February 2024), was a science fiction fan and prolific writer who built wide, rich worlds, and complex generations of memorable characters through the Liaden Universe science fiction books, co-written with his wife Sharon Lee Miller, with whom he won a joint Skylark Award for contributions to science fiction in 2012.

Born in Baltimore, Miller immersed himself in writing and science fiction from his youth, where he went from editor of his high school’s literary magazine, to managing editor of the university newspaper, to starting the university’s first science fiction club, and creating and teaching science fiction courses. Spending the rest of his life in Maine, he continued to write for a variety of publications, local and national, on topics of science fiction, fandom, rock music, news, and chess. Through his nearly half-century career, Miller sold millions of books, starting with his first publication, “Shalgiel” in 1976 through Liaden novel Salvage Right in 2023.

Author Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen remembers, “I’ve known Steve for decades and considered him a friend, as well as variously my editor and publisher. We met when my first The Amazing Conroy story was published in the same issue of Absolute Magnitude, and in subsequent conversations he generously offered me advice about chapbooks and also an opportunity to work together in publishing. I’ve gotten used to thinking of Steve and Sharon as a collective. Over the years, I’ve come to love them both and love the fiction they created together. As it happened, I’d been trading quips with Steve barely a couple hours before his passing, and it’s probably appropriate that my last exchange with him was about cats.”

Steve Miller lived 73 years.