He started writing as a teenager, but didn’t sell his first story, Time and Time Again, until he was 32 years old. To others Piper appeared suddenly and from out-of-nowhere in 1947 at the top of his form and went on to write a number of memorable short stories in the premier science fiction magazine of the time, Astounding Science Fiction, under legendary editor John W. Campbell.

His best novels "Little Fuzzy," "Cosmic Computer," "Space Viking" and "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" are considered SF classics.

A solitary man to the end, Piper did not tell his friends of his financial predicament.

Instead, he took a way out that could only be reasonable to a man who abhorred state handouts and was determined not to burden his friends and family.

On November 6th, 1964, H. Beam Piper shut off the utilities in his apartment at 330 East Third Street in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, placed painter’s drop cloths over the walls and floor and shot himself with a .38-caliber pistol.