Leo Frankowski

Leo Frankowski (February 13, 1943 – December 25, 2008) was a Polish-American writer of science fiction novels.

Life Frankowski was born in Detroit, Michigan to parents of Polish (Kashubian) descent. His family run an inn in the city.

Writings Though he had tinkered with short science fiction for several years, Leo's writing career began in earnest in the early 1980s when he was invited to join what became the National Science Fiction Writer's Exchange, a now-defunct Detroit-area group founded by Guy Snyder, and whose membership included Lloyd Biggle, Ted Reynolds and future published author Ann Tonsor Zeddies. Members read manuscripts aloud, which were then critiqued; from the beginning, Leo's stories related to time travel were well received by the membership. Most of these meetings were audio-taped, and those tapes were retained by Snyder.

Encouraged by the positive responses, Leo quickly wrote his first novel, initially titled The Polish Engineer. The book landed at Del Rey Books, and the publisher offered him a multi-book contract. Retitled The Cross Time Engineer, it became the first book in his Conrad Stargard series, in which his Polish background is particularly evident.

Two other series were written partially in collaboration with Dave Grossman; alone, he also wrote the stand-alone novels Fata Morgana and Copernick's Rebellion.

Frankowski's most recent work again featured Conrad Stargard. He wrote Lord Conrad's Crusade in collaboration with Rodger Olsen, which his then-publisher Baen rejected 'for "bad writing" (an explanation Frankowski doubted). Baen also terminated its contracts for other upcoming titles. Frankowski published the novel himself, and promised another Stargard book which would conclude the series. His death apparently precluded completion of this volume. The book and the series were positively reviewed by Kashubian writers and critics ( and ).

Political views

Frankowski stated that most of his fans were "males with military and technical backgrounds," and that his detractors were "mostly Feminists, Liberals, and Homosexuals."

In the preface to the 1990 Lord Conrad's Lady, Frankowski remarked: "Any overt sexism and male chauvinism noticed in this work is totally the fault of Bill Gillmore, and all complaints should be addressed to him at the Dawn Treader Bookshop of Ann Arbor, Mich."