Book Review: Conditionally Human by Walter Miller Jr.

 

Conditionally Human by Walter Miller Jr.

191 pages

Published 1962 by Ballantine

Walter Miller Jr. is a strange case in Science Fiction. His novel A Canticle for Lebowitz is a hands-down classic that is not only canon but beloved as many readers’ favorite. It is a towering achievement of science fiction and yet, it is the single novel that Miller produced in his lifetime. There was a sequel he was working on when he died, but it had to be finished by another writer (Terry Bisson). Most of the classics of the genre were penned by writers with entire catalogs of work.

When ACFL won the Hugo in 1960 it didn't come out of nowhere for fan voters of the era. Miller was a regular in magazines like Galaxy and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction with short stories and novellas. In fact, the classic novel started as a series of serialized novelettes in F & SF.  The surprise of course was that after dropping a true masterpiece Walter Miller essentially disappeared. In his decade of active writing, he won two Hugo awards.

Miller was a tail gunner in World War II and flew in over 50 missions over Italy. After the war, he became an engineer, which explains the science-heavy take on the genre he had even if those elements feel out of date these days. Miller’s novel is so assured and well done I was shocked to learn that was his first and only completed novel. Stranger, still he won the Hugo award and still disappeared. He sold so many stories in those 10 years it is just amazing that he quit. His stories often earned cover art and promotion, as he was clearly a fan favorite.  From everything that is available and public, it appears while his one novel remained in print Miller became a recluse not even talking to family.

I read ACFL only a few years ago, we covered it on the Dickheads and it was so great I knew I had to read more. But where to start? His books are rare and a little hard to come by. This collection and this edition that I read were three novellas issued shortly after the success of the book. I got my copy at Artifact books in Encinitas, shout out to Greg up there his store is amazing.  It features three stories including his Hugo award-winning novella from 1955 for the story The Darfsteller. 

It was time to read it as the first title novella Conditionally Human, was mentioned in Sherryl Vint’s book about Animal rights in Science Fiction Animal Alterity Soon after I read that repeat guest on Dickheads Mark Conlon shouted the third story Dark Benediction. These were all signs.  No more waiting on this book, that I just happened to buy. Glad I did as with ACFL this book was incredible. If you want to not be spoiled at all this is your jump-off point…

We can start with the title story. Having just spent a month for the 40th anniversary of Blade Runner deep diving Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Philip K. Dick. It was amazing how similar the themes and stories are. I know, I know as a PKD podcast host you might think I look at clouds at seeing the themes of the Bay Area writer everywhere.  You’ll see what I mean. This novella takes place in an ecologically devastated future when humans have to apply to have children, an act that is very strictly regulated. To replace the need to nurture in this future a hilariously named device called “Evolvotron” is used to give Cats and Dogs the intelligence and emotional state of children ages 2-10.  These animals are referred to as Neutroids. This clearly has shades of the DADES theme of the way humans collect animals in a dying world.

The main character Norris is what he calls “An up-to-date dogcatcher,” working for the pound. He and his wife have a debate about the ethics of his job. If this sounds familiar the novella has the same opening scene as DADES. So much so that I don’t think it was an accident. Tessa Dick has commented online about Phil’s love for Lebowitz and he often nods to novels he liked in his outlines so if he was a fan of Miller this appears to be an overlooked homage. As Vint points out “Like Deckard in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Norris gradually finds himself less and less able to adopt the ideology of absolute separation between human and non-human that he requires to do his job.”

Indeed, there are more human-like Neutroids that are illegal beings who are almost human-like except having tails, an attempt to circumvent the no breeding laws, this is off-handily introduced in a scene when Norris walks into the shelter.  DADES explores new ethical grounds because the andys are so close to being human but still not they are somewhere between human and something else. The irony, of course, is that the empathy tests in Dick’s novel are based on the ethical treatment of animals again I starting to think that was a tip of the hat to this novella.

“Their human appearance was broken only by two distinct features: short beaver-like tails decorated with fluffy curls of fur, and an erect thatch of scalp hair that grew up into a bright candle flame. Otherwise, they appeared completely human, with baby-pink skin, quick little smiles, and cherubic faces. They were sexually neuter and never grew beyond a predetermined age-set which varied for each series.”

They are excited because Norris feeds them Apple cores when he arrives. The novella deals with many of the subtle ways society adapts to this ecological crisis and new technology. The first family Norris interacts with is looking to replace their dog with a copy, magazine ads that sell “Mutants for the childless, buy a bundle of joy.” Miller also mentions a popular TV show involving evolved animals like the Soap Opera about an Evolvotron operator called “A Chimp to Call My Own.” Considering how new TV was that is a fascinating bit of world-building.

One of the most powerful scenes is when Norris catches the owner of a “pet shop” who is hiding a very intelligent mutant dog named “Peony.”  This leads to a heartbreaking scene. Norris is disgusted and tells the O’Reilly couple they will lose their license to sell animals. Peony is scared and sad when Norris takes her away. By the way, Animals do have this experience even if they can’t use words as Peony does.

“Daddy’s eyes are all wet,” she observed.”
O’Reilly began trembling again. Never mind, child. You go get your coat.”
“Whyyy?”
“You’re going for a ride with Mr, Norris.”

Dogs as they are today, don’t need words to express their connections to their families and humans, and certainly, we connect to our companion animals. What I found interesting is the idea that words and made-up technology like an Evolotron being used to break down the human/animal boundry as if that was needed for Miller to express to his readers in the 1950s the idea of animal rights. For the record, the shelters still in the 21st century are filled with the former companion animals of humans who need this point expressed to them. So many so-called pets are dumped on the streets or shelters when families grow tired of these beings. Many cats and dogs are confused and mourning,  not understanding why they have lost their family.

This leads to the central debate theme of the story. The Human/animal boundary. Norris has to turn in Peony his wife argues it is murder. Eventually, Norris tries to come up with a solution, new better beings. The idea Miller is playing with is moving this boundary between human and non-human animals closer. As Vint pointed out in Animal Alterity “The story challenges the human-animal boundary with its population of talking dogs and cats, able to express love for their owners, as well as the quasi-human neutroids who occupy a liminal space between human and animal.”

It is an amazing piece.  The novella creates this interesting third ethical standing that is not quite human or non-human animal, which reminded me of the underrated Neal Barrett Jr. Novel Through Darkest America when a post-ecological human society started to breed unintelligent food-use humans who were called “stock.” Seven decades later the themes are important and sadly still in need.

The second novella won the Hugo for novelette and it is called The Darfsteller (1955) and appeared in Astounding. Reading this in 2022 it seems comically out of date/time with the weird retro-future tech that I will always find charming. The story takes place in an Autodrama theater, where plays are acted by robots who run on tape recorded by actors at another location. It is of course reading a 70-year-old story that takes place in the future that looks back wistfully to the good old days when actors still appeared on stage.

While it didn’t turn out how we expected it, look at the deep fakes, and de-aging that Marvel, and Star Wars have been doing.  The Darfsteller explains the technology and how the tape works all directed by a stage Maestro who gauges audience reactions live and controls the tape feed. I really loved this line…

“Art!” He hissed. Theater! What’d they give you a degree in, Richard? Dramaturgical engineering?”
 
Of the three novellas, this was the one that moved me the least but I did enjoy it.

Dark Benediction was the earliest and while this 1951 novella didn’t win any awards but it was Miller’s fourth sale and appeared in the September issue of Fantastic Adventures. It has since become the title story in SF Masterworks edition collection. This is a pandemic story set in post-apocalyptic Texas. The disease was carried to earth by alien-infected meteors. “Neuroderm had no first cousin among Earth diseases.” It slowly destroys the skin while driving people insane. The victims are called Dermies, and it only affects humans. The implication is that the disease was sent to target humans. 

It is a very character-driven story about Paul who saves a young girl who is infected but not presenting the full danger of what is yet to come. “After all, if she lived, and the leg healed, she would only prowl in search of healthy victims again. She would never be rid of the disease, nor would she ever die of it – so far as anyone knew. The death rate was high among dermies, but the cause was usually a bullet.”

Dark Benediction was released three years before Matheson’s I Am Legend, seventeen years before Romero’s Night of The Living Dead, and Fifty-one years before 28 Days Later. It is a groundbreaking work of character-driven political SF horror, pretty timeless and powerful enough to have earned SF Masterwork status.  One of the most powerful moments is when Paul discusses the nature of the parasites and admits some heavy ideas about the nature of human beings. Pretty deep political issues about the destructive nature of humans in 1951. Sadly we have not turned it around.

In the end, all three novellas are ahead of their times. I am not sure that any of the three comes as close to the high bar of A Canticle for Lebowitz. That said they are all three tales of well-realized characters and even better ideas. I want to leave with you will something Miller wrote in the 1950s and imagines a character from the start of the 21st century looking back at the 20th:

“There was no escaping the past. The last century had gutted the earth with its children and grandchildren, had strained the earth’s capacity to feed, and the limit had been reached. It had to be guarded. There was no escape into space either. Man’s rockets had touched two planets, but they were sorry worlds.”

There is no other planet.   I know that is supposed to be dystopian, but one theme in vintage Science Fiction is the society that is ecologically devastated and reproduction is rare and strictly regulated.  That sounds utopian to me at this point, because the alternative where flooding, heatwaves, wildfires, and droughts get the response of reusable bags ain't working for your grandkids.   

Read Walter Miller Jr. that is the Bottomline.