Grendelsong Issue No. 2 has been released - check out the online party for cover art coolness and poetry podcasts by Catherynne Valente (the featured poet)! I absolutely love the cover art for this issue (butterflies AND cool surreal weirdness = pretty much my perfect combination). My story in this issue, "By the Light of the Dark", was a Christmas present for Patrick, so it's pretty blatantly romantic. It's based on my very favorite fairy tale ("East of the Sun, West of the Moon"), and I'm really happy to see it published. Issue No. 2 also has stories by Eugie Foster, Christopher Heath, Samantha Henderson, Steve Goble, and Berrien C. Henderson, and a fascinating-looking article by E. Sedia called "Contraception throughout the ages and cultures: a short overview for a fantasy writer".

In other news, I had a nice coffeeshop trip yesterday, wrote another 300 words of Kat by Moonlight last night, and also finally, finally began revising "Red Ribbons" (my operatic short story about vampiresses in love in Revolutionary Paris). Today's been much quieter and also less productive, but it's still been nice. With gray sky outside, it feels just right to snuggle into the couch with Maya and re-read Jade Tiger for action/romance/fantasy goodness. (This book has so many pleasures, but my favorite feature this time around is just how nicely and believably Jenn turns around the usual romantic prototype of 'hard action-man who learns to love through the heroine's gentle nature'. Such a nice change!)

Mm, and now an omelette is calling me...time to start cracking some eggs!