Fun Stuff

As our Hugo Week draws to a close, we'd like to again remind you that you can still vote for your choices for the Hugos-membership information for Renovation is available here, and you have until July 31, 2011 (Sunday) to vote.  As Kat's post earlier this week mentioned, you have the power to shape the direction of the fantasy and science fiction genres with your votes and your nominations, and we'd encourage you to become an active participant in the process.

We also hope that you enjoyed our coverage of the Hugo-nominated novels, and that you take the time to vote for your favorite in our own poll.  Let's see if we can successfully predict the winner in the Best Novel category!

Here are some other things we found floating around the Internet this week...

What would you do if you received a red envelope, sealed in gold, containing a CD and a card, upon which was written one word: SING? Would you listen to the music? Would you join in the song?

That envelope is the conceit around which the video for "Sing" by The Dresden Dolls (from their album Yes, Virginia...) is built.

Editor's note: Our apologies--this post originally ran without the interview section.  Our technical difficulties have been fixed, and we thank you for your patience.

Last week, we launched a new weekly feature where we highlight a speculative short story that is available on the Internet.  Our first feature was Kelly Link's "Valley of the Girls," and this week, we feature a story by Kat Howard, our own content editor!

Three weeks ago, Megan Kurashige posted a challenge in her column "The Unexpected Fantastic" for readers to record themselves doing something normal and then watching it in slow motion.  She followed through on her own challenge, and wrote about it on her own blog, Immobile Explorations.  Her thoughts are reposted here, as is her video of her experiment.

Recently, I started writing a column for Fantasy Matters, a website devoted to the idea that fantasy literature matters. For the longest time, I couldn't decide what to write about. I like fantasy in stories, but I couldn't imagine what I might have to say about it on a regular basis. Fortunately, I have friends who are smarter than I am. Two of them suggested that I write about the magical things you don't expect to see. You're already obsessed with the peculiar and the specific, they said, so why don't you just write about that?

Whew, it's Friday!  We hope that wherever you have been this week, you have been staying cool. 

Since the best plan for the weekend seems to be hiding out inside, browsing the Internet with the AC turned on high, here are some fun links to get you started!