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Dedicated to

FRANK KELLY FREAS


When I was young (and Kelly was too), I loved and looked forward to the Kelly Freas covers and inside illos that helped maintain Astounding SF as the core of science fiction, its center, the reliable monthly read.

He's been great since forever. (You want a great coffee-table book that is, at the same time, a short course in illustration? Get The Art of Science Fiction, by Frank Kelly Freas. The sonofagun writes as well as he paints!)

My very first novel, and very first sale, was to John Campbell and (Astounding) Analog, in 1969. It was the original Yngling. Bravely I wrote to the formidable Mr. Campbell and asked if Kelly Freas could illustrate it. To my delight, John wrote back that Kelly had the assignment.

His cover and lead illo caught the spirit of Nils Jarnhann and the neovikings perfectly!

* * *

Recently I resold the rights to Jim Baen, and not long afterward he told me he was having Kelly do the cover. I figure I must be living right.

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Framed