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I hope this ripping up of gun writers ends with Askins.


Then you'll be pleased to learn that I've been holding back rather than post expos�s of writers whom some of you have expressed admiration for -- whom I know to have been liars and frauds unworthy of your respect.

I much prefer to defend writers whom I knew to be worthy of your admiration but whom so many readers express intense dislike for. Even that -- though much more pleasant than exposing the seamy sides of writers unworthy of admiration -- is not exactly my idea of great fun.

Best of all is confirming the worthiness of writers whom I know to have been worthy of your deep and abiding admiration. But even this brings home the sad fact that so many of my old friends, colleagues, and mentors are dead. That isn't fun either. I appreciate the truth of the comedian's quip -- which has never given me a chuckle -- that "You know you're getting old when your address book starts filling-up with dead guys."

I never knew Francis Sell, but everything of his that I've read had "the ring" to it. A perceptive, judgemental hunter-shooter friend of mine knew Sell -- his neighbor -- well during Sell's last several years and (I'm happy to say) told me that Sell was a great example of the genuine article. I wish I'd known him.