Sam J. Miller

Sam J. Miller (born February 7, 1979) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror author. His stories have appeared in magazines such as Clarkesworld, Asimov's Science Fiction, Lightspeed, and more. They've been reprinted in over 15 "Year's Best" collections. He has been a finalist for the Nebula Award, World Fantasy Award, and Theodore Sturgeon Award. His short story "57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides" won the 2013 Shirley Jackson Award.

His second novel, Blackfish City, won the 2019 John W. Campbell Memorial Award.

Early life and education

Sam J. Miller grew up in Hudson, New York, where his family ran a butcher shop. He attended Rutgers University, where he studied Cinema Studies and Russian language and literature. He grew up Jewish and lives with his husband in New York City, where he works as a community organizer for a homelessness organization.

Miller was a member of the 2012 Clarion Workshop, studying under authors Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, and Ted Chiang.

Career

Miller began publishing stories in ’zines and online in the early 2000s, but didn't make his first pro-sale until 2013. His short story "57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides" (Nightmare Magazine) won the 2013 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Short Fiction. His other stories have been published in magazines such as Clarkesworld, Asimov's Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, and Lightspeed. His stories have been reprinted in over 15 "Year's Best" story collections and have been a finalist for multiple Nebula Awards, along with the World Fantasy Award and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award.

Miller states that he writes "speculative fiction because that's how the world looks to me. Life is magic. Human society is horror. The world is science fiction." While Miller deals with politics in his work as a community organizer, he says that "arguing a political point is a pretty good way to kill a story. But I do think it's possible to explore in fiction the issues that are important to us. That's the writing that excites me the most." "I love activism narratives. I love narratives about fighting back. As much as I love reading about what scares me, I love reading about how we fight back…"

Miller's prose has been called "evocative," "disturbing," and "grim stuff, but compelling."

Miller's young adult novel The Art of Starving was released by HarperCollins in July 2017. The novel is about a gay, bullied teenage boy who believes that extreme hunger awakens supernatural abilities and is rooted in Miller's own experience with an adolescent eating disorder. It was a finalist for the 2018 Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (formerly titled the World Science Fiction Society Award) and won the 2017 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.

His first novel for adults, Blackfish City, was released in April 2018 by Ecco Press. His second young adult novel, Destroy All Monsters, was published by HarperTeen in 2019. His second adult novel, The Blade Between, was published by Ecco Press in 2020. Both Blackfish City and The Blade Between received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews.

Miller's first short-fiction collection, Boys, Beasts & Men, was published in May 2022 by Tachyon Publications. The collection contains both previously published and unpublished stories, as well as an introduction by Amal El-Mohtar. In Paula Guran's review for Locus, she said of Miller's writing, "Only an assemblage like this can truly display his talent, versatility, imagination, and flat-out uniqueness... His tales invariably strike deep into both a reader’s heart and gut." Boys, Beasts & Men was a finalist for the 2023 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection. It won the 2023 Locus Award for Best Collection.

In October 2025, Miller released the short novel, Red Star Hustle, from Saga Doubles, in a two-sided book with Mary Robinette Kowal's Apprehension. The double-sided book is made up of "two expertly crafted crime stories set in a far-future science fiction universe..." It was named one of Lit Hub's "33 Most Anticipated Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books for the Rest of 2025".

Awards and nominations

"Calved" (Asimov's Science Fiction, September 2015) was third-placed in the 2016 Asimov's Reader Poll for Best Short Story.