We ended up having a very writerly Valentine's day. Daniel had a short story that he wanted to get out, so when he finished it, I took him to Kinko's to print it (our printer's still not working, dammit) and then to the central San Jose post office with the 8 p.m. pickup, so he could mail it.

Then we got sandwiches and rented movies. ("Office Space" and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico". Not a great choice for a double bill. We watched "Office Space" and we'll probably watch "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" tomorrow.)

We forgot to collect our own mail until this morning, when I found that I'd received my contributor's copies of the April 2004 issue of Realms of Fantasy, containing my story, "Portrait of an Unidentified Angel". The story looks great, and the accompanying illustration is pretty darn cool. (I never pictured my angel with sixpack abs, but otherwise the artist got closer to drawing what was in my head than I'd expected.)

And, to boot, I got my name on the cover. Along with Gene Wolfe and Tanith Lee (and one Eric M. Witchey, whose work I'm not familiar with. I'm looking forward to reading his story). Readers at newstands everywhere will be able to gaze upon the April issue, and say, "Wendy who? Oh, look, a new Gene Wolfe story!"

I don't know exactly when this issue hits newstands, but you can be sure I'll let everyone know when I find out!