author
Richard McKenna
1913–1964
Best remembered for The Sand Pebbles, he drew on years in the U.S. Navy to write fiction with lived-in detail and a strong sense of place. His work ranges from historical adventure to science fiction, all marked by practical intelligence and human sympathy.
3 Audiobooks
The Night of Hoggy Darn
by Richard McKenna
Love and Moondogs
by Richard McKenna
The Fishdollar Affair
by Richard McKenna
About the author
Richard Milton McKenna was an American sailor and writer, born in Mountain Home, Idaho, in 1913. During the Great Depression he joined the U.S. Navy, and that long stretch of service later gave his fiction much of its authority, especially in stories about ships, machinery, and the people who keep them running.
He began publishing science fiction in the late 1950s, but he is most widely known for The Sand Pebbles, his novel about an American sailor on the Yangtze River in 1920s China. The book brought him broad recognition and remains the work most closely associated with his name.
McKenna died in 1964 at just 51 years old. Even with a relatively short writing career, he left behind a body of work that readers still value for its realism, craftsmanship, and the way it connects adventure with thoughtful observation.