The Pleasure of Imagination

Kes: From Inside Higher Ed comes this article by a psychologist on why fiction is so appealing. I was hoping he would use more precise terms and concepts, but I will also note that he dismisses horror and S&M as operating by some principle other than that which he proposes in his article, so I'm a little dubious about how his biases shape his argument.
Still, this is definitely Readercon territory.

The Pleasures of Imagination
By Paul Bloom

http://chronicle.com/article/The-Pleasures-of-Imagination/65678

Need a pop culture reference

I need something sickening-sweet that a cute six-year-old girl would have on a t-shirt.

Story: Pinky and The Bane

Kes: The idea for this story came to me pretty much fully formed as soon as I read the title of this anthology, which is due out in September: _Unicorns Vs. Zombies_ edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (Margaret K. McElderry, September 21, 2010)
http://www.amazon.com/Zombies-vs-Unicorns-Holly-Black/dp/1416989536

Bane was standing by the shore of Lake Despair contemplating the inky shadows of its icy depths when he first saw the little girl coming out of the Fearful Forest.

Granted, the kid was difficult to miss, what with the cotton candy pink pigtails and the fuschia backpack being shades rarely found in nature, at least, not in the sort of nature Bane considered to be natural.

Let other unicorns go all lavender-maned emitting silvery light out of their asses--Bane preferred the eternal twilight of ageless pine forests and the blue-black pool of an ancient bottomless tarn which Bane felt were the natural complements to his own jet black mane and sleek sooty flanks. Shine some darkness in the world, that was Bane's motto.
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