Step into the Wayback Machine once more to see me scribbling away. (What else would I be doing?) I have no idea at what, however. But based on when this picture was taken, it was more likely a comic-book script than a short story.

If my hair, the dashiki, and my clunky typewriter don’t clue you in as to when this picture was taken, check out the calendar on the wall behind me. I don’t know what year Frazetta calendar (at least I think it’s a Frazetta calendar) that February image would have been from, but a quick search of online calendars shows that the only possible years Februarys began and ended on those dates was 1977 and 1983. And since Irene and I only rented this apartment in Brooklyn on Dahill Road near McDonald Avenue from 1976 through 1982, that pins this down as having been taken sometime during the month of February 1977.

At the time, I’d been married for less than six months. (We’ll be celebrating our 34th anniversary later this year while at the Melbourne Worldcon.)

I still own the dictionary which supports the lamp, as well as the Marie Severin drawing you can barely make out which hangs above the calendar.

The dashiki, however, is long gone.