Draft:Martha Miller (author)

Martha Miller
Born	Martha Jane Thompson December 21, 1947 Springfield, Illinois
Education	Sangamon State University, BA University of Illinois, Springfield, MA
Occupation(s)	Author of novels and short stories, journalist and critic, English professor (retired 2015)
Spouse	Ann Lynn Steiner
Children	Phillip Duane Miller, April 27, 1973—August 24, 2018 Andrew Ryan Miller, December 15, 1975—May 21, 2018
Website	https://www.marthamiller.net

Martha Miller (author)

Martha Miller is a writer and English professor best known for her stories that explore gay and lesbian life across genres including crime, YA, and memoir.

Biography

Personal Life

Martha Jane Thompson was born on December 21, 1947 in Springfield Illinois to World War II veteran, Carl E. Thompson and A. Geraldine (Drum) Thompson. She has two younger sisters. Miller graduated from Feitshans High School, in 1965.

She married Phillip Dale Miller in 1971 and had two sons, Phillip and Andrew. Her oldest son Phillip Duane Miller was born April 27, 1973 and died August 24, 2018. Her second son Andrew Ryan Miller was born December 15, 1975 and died May 21, 2018.

In 1989, Miller "bottomed out," got sober, divorced her husband, and came out as a lesbian.

She has been with Ann Lynn Steiner since 1994, whom she married July 10, 2011 when same-sex marriage was legalized in Illinois.

Education

Miller earned her BA from Sangamon State University and her MA from University of Illinois, Springfield.

Career

In 1984, Miller joined AA, came out, and began writing, focussing on gay and lesbian themes. She wrote short stories including lesbian erotica for On Our Backs and the short story anthologies, Herotica published by Susie Bright and Joani Blank. In an interview with CORAL Historical interview she says, “When I started writing gay and lesbian stories, they were just snapped up right away. The publishers were hungry for that stuff."

She took classes from the poet John Knoepfle and Jacqueline Jackson. While at Sangamon State and later the University of Illinois, Springfield, she took as many writing classes as she could, mastering first the short story and then the novel.

In the 1990s, Miller joined the Sangamon Writers group which met in the home of Tim Osburn and Becky Bradway. Osburn and Bradway were publishing an arts magazine, The Writer’s Bar-B Q for which miller edited and learned about publishing.

Miller met the poet and playwright Shannon Keith Kelley in this group who encouraged her to write plays. Kelley had started a theater company "Mid America Playwrights’ Theatre" or "MAPs Theatre." Miller had four plays produced there. One play, "Billy’s Voice," a one act play about a woman who has lost her son to AIDS had four encore performances and was published in the arts journal, "Modern Words."

Miller has written nine books, multiple short stories, and wrote the column "Martha [lesbian] Living” for Prairie Flame for many years.

Activism

During the 1990s AIDS epidemic Miller developed a five-week workshop in which a group of men with AIDS wrote stories about themselves. She received a Lila Wallace Grant for this work and arranged for a space at the local SARA (Springfield AIDS Resource Association) Center.

Teaching

Until she retired in 2015, Miller was an English instructor at Benedictine University at Springfield, IL, Lincoln Land Community College, and Richland Community College, Decatur, IL.

Awards

Her book Retirement Plan: a Crime Story was a finalist in the 2011 Lambda Literary Awards

Her short story,“At the Last Minute” won the Raymond Carver Short Fiction Award.

Her book Widow was a finalist in the Golden Crown Literary Awards

Organizations

Author’s Guild [1]

Sisters in Crime [2]

CORAL (Coalition of Rainbow Alliances—an organization that organizes on Facebook)

Society of Midland Authors [4]

Books

Novels

• Torrid Summer, Sapphire Press May 22, 2024. ISBN 1959929267
• Me Inside, Sapphire Press September 1, 2020 ISBN 1952270065
• Four Years: a Memoir, Royal Press Oct. 1, 2018 ISBN 9781619293885
• Widow: A Mystery, Bold Strokes Books. 2014 ISBN 1626392145
• Retirement Plan: a Crime Novel, Bold Strokes Books. May 16, 2011 ISBN 1602822247
• Tales from the Levee, Harrington, Southern Tier Press. 2005 ISBN 1560232978
• Dispatch to Death: A Mystery, New Victoria Publishers, Vermont. Fall of 2003 ISBN 1892281201
• Nine Nights on the Windy Tree: A Mystery, New Victoria Publishers. Vermont. 2000. Translated to German and republished in 2001 by Adriane Krimi 1135, Argument Verlag ISBN 1892281112
• Skin to Skin: Short fiction, New Victoria Publishers. Vermont, 1998 ISBN 0934678863

Short Fiction

• “Motordrome Molly,” Our Happy Hours: LGBT Voices From the Gay Bars. Winter 2017
• "At the Last Minute" Carve Magazine. Summer 2009
• “Elise Riley” (Anthology) Women Writing Mysteries. ed. by Katherine Forrest. Spinster’s Ink. Winter. 2004
• "Unsent Letter." (Anthology) All the Women Were Heroes, 1998
• "Garden of the Hungry Cats." (Anthologies) Sappho Says 1999, All the Women Were Heroes, 1998; Common Lives, Vol. #42, Spring 1992, Skin to Skin, New Victoria Press, 1998
• "The Sirocco." Bad Attitude, Spring 1996
• "Hormones." Herotica 4, New American Library/Plume Spring 1996. ISBN 0452271819
• "Billy's Voice." (Play) modern words, Summer 1995
• "Best Friends." Herotica 3, NAL-Plume, Spring 1994 ISBN 0452271800
• "Life Signs." The Evergreen Chronicles, Fall 1993
• "Seductions." Herotica 2, Plume, Spring 1992 ISBN 0452267870
• "Tell Me About California." Common Lives Vol. #42, Spring 1992.
• "Gremlins and Gypsy Moths." The Evergreen Chronicles, Summer 1991
• "Mea Culpa." (Anthologies) The Alchemist, Spring 1991; Common Lives Vol. # 31, Summer 1989
• "Reflections on Mars; or Sunrise on the 405." Common Lives Vol. # 37, Winter 1991
• "Scar Tissue." Battered But Not Broken, Fall 1990
• "Lady Verushka's Lover." Amethyst, Summer 1990
• "Last Trip to the Yukon." The Writer's Bar B-Q, Vol. # 5, Spring 1990
• "Obsession." On Our Backs, May-June 1990
• "Queen of Tanqueray." Common Lives Vol. # 25, Winter 1988
• "Watch of the Valkyrie." On Our Backs, Summer 1988
• "Shark's Tooth." The Writer's Bar B-Q, Vol. # 3, Fall 1988
• "Needs." Lovtann (translated) Oslo Norway, Winter 1989
• Common Lives, Vol. # 2, Spring 1987

Creative Non-Fiction

• Tales from the Levee, 2005, Harrington Press, ebook 2016 Bold Strokes Press ISBN 9781619293885
• "No Queens on Pickett Street" In the Middle of the Middle West: An Anthology of Creative Non-Fiction, Ed. Becky Bradway. Indiana University Press. Spring 2003. ISBN 0253216575

Journals and Newsletters

• "Growing Old Gay in Springfield" Illinois Times, May 16, 2024. Vol.49. No 41
• “Why Teens Still Smoke” Illinois Times. January 31, 2003
• “Martha Living” Prairie Flame
• “Better Late Than Never” Illinois Times. Springfield, Illinois. February 21, 2002
• Third Space; a Woman’s Peer Review Journal, book review, "The Life of Dorothy Richardson". Fall 2001
• “People and Folks: Springfield Street Gangs.” Illinois Times. Springfield, Illinois. Summer 2001
• “Cops and Authors,” Illinois Times. Springfield, Illinois. Fall 2000
• The Gay & Lesbian Review, Frequent Contributor
• Lambda Book Report, review of a novel, Unforgettable, July 2000
• "Kate Clinton Interview," Illinois Times. Springfield, Illinois. Winter 2000
• "Ruth Ellis Comes Home," an article, Illinois Times, September 1999