Richard Milton McKenna (1913- 1964) was an American sailor and writer. 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ...

McKenna served his 22 years in the Navy, retiring shortly after the Korean War as a Chief Machinists Mate. He took advantage of the GI bill to go to college, where he studied creative writing. He attended University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and, while there, he fell in love with, and married, one of the librarians. The G. I. Bill of Rights or Servicemens Readjustment Act of 1944 provided for college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans as well as one-year of unemployment compensation. ...

His most well-known work was The Sand Pebbles (1962), made into the well-known 1966 film of the same title. The hero was an enlisted career sailor on a US Navy boat named the San Pablo in China during the 1920s. McKenna himself served aboard a River gunboat on the Yangtze Patrol, but about ten years following the events in his novel. See also: 1961 in literature, other events of 1962, 1963 in literature, list of years in literature. ... The Sand Pebbles is a 1966 film which tells the story of an American gunboat plying the rivers of China in the 1920s. ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for conducting naval operations around the globe. ... The Yangtze Patrol, part of the US Navys Asiatic Squadron, existed under various names between 1854 and 1941. ...

He began his writing career publishing science fiction. His posthumously published short story "The Secret Place" won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in 1966 and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1967. Casey Agonistes and Other Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories (1973) collects the title story and four other short works. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Winners of the Nebula Award for Best Short Story. ... See also: 1965 in literature, other events of 1966, 1967 in literature, list of years in literature. ... // About this award According to Article 3. ... See also: 1966 in literature, other events of 1967, 1968 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1972 in literature, other events of 1973, 1974 in literature, list of years in literature. ...

External links

• The Yangtze Patrol
• Biographical profile from the Boise Weekly
• Biographical profile
• Richard McKenna at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database