UNITED STATES AUTHOR · SCIENCE FICTION
Richard McKenna
Also known as: Richard Milton McKenna, Richard M. McKenna
Richard Milton McKenna (May 9, 1913 – November 1, 1964) was an American sailor and writer. In the late 1950s, he began writing science fiction stories, and is best known for his 1963 historical novel The Sand Pebbles, which tells the story of an American sailor serving aboard a gunboat on the Chinese Yangtze River in 1925.
The late (1913-1966) Cordwainer Smith was in reality Dr. Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, Professor of Asiatic Politics at Johns Hopkins University from 1946 to 1966 and simultaneously an officer in the United States Army Intelligence Service.
— from Starships
Most acclaimed
Tom Swift and his Cosmotron Express
In the biggest, fastest spaceship ever designed by Swift Enterprises, Tom Jr. plans to make a grand tour of the planets in the solar system. But a group of criminal scientist's bent on conquering the universe is out to steal Tom's magnificent Cosmotron Express and destroy the young scientist and Swift Enterprises. Determined to foil the fiendish plot, Tom and his pal Bud Barclay locate the enemy's fortress laboratory but are captured. The boys make a daring escape, only to be faced with an even more grim challenge in their next encounter with the enemy. Pursued on their phenomenal interplanetary journey, they become the targets of VIPER's frightening weapon, the enormous Orb. How Tom, using his revolutionary device the Spider Crab, thwarts the feared, vicious leader of VIPER and his evil followers climaxes this gripping story of scientific combat.
Tom Swift and his Dyna-4 Capsule
What are the green glowing bubble creatures that the young scientist-inventor encounters in the depths of the Pacific Ocean? How do they rescue Tom and his pal Bud Barclay from an attack by the fish men? Tom's electrifying adventures begin deep in the Mariana Trench where he has based his newest invention, the Dyna-4 Capsule, in a hunt for rare metals. A super submarine, the craft has been especially designed for deep-sea research and exploration. On orders from Washington, Tom takes time out from his own project to recover5 a stolen vial containing a highly destructive explosive. The top-secret mission turns into a danger-filled whale chase in the Dyna-4 and leads to a showdown with Tom's ruthless foes.
The Sand Pebbles
Literary theorist Georg Lukacs complains in his seminal work, The Historical Novel, that the works of imaginative literature too often use history as a mere backdrop, a way for an author to decorate the story and characters. Lukas singles out Sir Walter Scott, English author of such works as Ivanhoe and the Waverly novels, as a notable exception. According to Lukas, Scott's novels document, with painstaking verisimilitude, the character of the historical period in which the action is taking place, and, as a result, treat history as more than just mere scenery. One feels that Lukacs might make a similar exception for Richard McKenna, whose award-winning 1962 novel, The Sand Pebbles, has often been compared to Scott's classic novels. Set aboard an American gunship patrolling the Yangtze river on the eve of revolution in China, The Sand Pebbles is rich in detail drawn from McKenna's meticulous research as well as his firsthand experiences of China as a member of the U.S. Navy. As a spirit of nationalism inspired by Chiang Kai-shek's leadership begins to sweep through China, the river gunship San Pablo is ordered to patrol the region and protect U.S. citizens. The crew of the ship is soon drawn into an international conflict as the Chinese Nationalists begin trying to expel the "foreign devils" from their shores. The conflict will not only illustrate the divide between east and west but also provoke a divide among the members of the crew itself. What The Sand Pebbles also has in common with the truly great historical novels of the past is that its wealth of regional and historical detail is never allowed to overwhelm the story or the characters. The protagonist of McKenna's novel is Jake Holman, a machinist aboard the San Pablo who has joined the Navy in order to avoid jail time. Fiercely independent, Jake remains something of a loner aboard the San Pablo, uncomfortable with Naval protocol and discipline. It is his rebellious spirit that animates much of McKenna's novel. His independent-mindedness chafes against military hierarchy, and helps ensure that he does not share his shipmates' disdain for the Chinese. Instead, he is fascinated with the culture and the people that surround him and develops emotional bonds that will prove difficult to manage when circumstances turn tumultuous and more dire. The perspective of The Sand Pebbles is therefore both panoramic and personal. Like Lawrence of Arabia, the great tension explored here is between the individual and the vast matrix of social and historical forces within which he finds himself. The Sand Pebbles was also made into a 1966 movie of the same name starring Steve McQueen.