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		© 1981 "The character of Ashra Malena has been with me a long time. I wrote a manuscript way back in 1976, hot on the heels of the all new "Star Wars" movie. The desert scene in the movie fired me with inspiration and along with that I had just completed Frank Herbert's "Dune" trilogy. I have always had a picture in the back of my head of a heroic woman dressed in some kind of protective desert gear. In 1981 I did this sketch on a large piece of tissue paper in pencil. I finally used it as a basis for my "Desert Rescue" picture.