Some quick fun links to balance out the heavy stuff I’ve been blogging about this week:

• There will be a second Machine of Death anthology! The editors are accepting submissions through July 15, on which date David Malki ! will be in the process of taking Readercon by storm. Maybe he’ll do a countdown to midnight while desperate authors fling manuscripts at him. (Already forgotten or never knew about the bestselling first volume of MOD? A rundown is here.)
• Harry Connolly on Colson Whitehead on willpower and writing. This hit my RSS reader just as someone on Twitter linked to a rather speculative article on willpower and poverty. The link between writing and poverty is, of course, well-known. QED.
• PW reviewer James Nicoll points out that Richard Kadrey’s first novel is available for free download here in a charmingly old-fashioned format. Anyone want to convert those HTML files to epub?
• People on Twitter are writing cthaiku. I may have contributed one or two. “Who could remain sane/ through to the hideous end?/ Madness is mercy!”
• Late addition: The finalists for the Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel have been announced.