Richard Milton McKenna (1913- 1964) was an American sailor and writer.

Early life

McKenna was born in Mountain Home, Idaho, in 1913. Seeking more opportunities than could be found in such a rural part of the country at the height of the Great Depression, McKenna joined the U.S. Navy in 1931.

McKenna served in the Navy for 22 years, including 10 years of active sea duty. He served in both World War II and the Korean War, and retired shortly afterwards as a Chief Machinist's Mate.

Due to the benefits of the GI bill, McKenna was able to attend college at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he studied creative writing. He also married a librarian whom he met at the college.

Writing career

McKenna began his writing career publishing science fiction. Although he also published short stories, McKenna's best 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 river gunboat 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. "The Sand Pebbles" won the $10,000 1963 Harper Prize Novel and was chosen as a Book-of-the-Month Club selection.

McKenna's 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. The collection The Sons of Martha was also published posthumously.

Death

McKenna suffered a heart attack and died in 1964.

External links

• Richard McKenna website
• The Yangtze Patrol
• Biographical profile from the Boise Weekly
• Biographical profile

sv:Richard McKenna