It’s Friday! Yay! I love to bring you links to the stories and stuff I found the most interesting this week. And it’s that time again. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

• Giveaway: The fine folks over at Fantasy Book Critic are giving away a signed copy of Rachel Aaron’s new The Legend of Eli Monpress Omnibus. The deadline is March 10, 2012.
• Are you an R.L. Stine fan? You know he published an entire horror short story line-by-line on Twitter? Here’s a link to the entire story in case you missed it.
• Giveaway: SciFiChick.com has posted an interview with Tobias Buckell along with a giveaway of his new book Arctic Rising. Deadline is March 9, 2012.
• Giveaway: Yes, another one! Tim George is giving away five copies of Mike Dellosso’s new thriller Frantic. If you’re interested, hurry. I don’t know what the deadline is.
• Students over at Lehigh University have figured out how much it would cost to build the Death Star. Wow. The figures are astounding.
• This is really cool. Georgia Tech researchers have developed an open-source Braille-like texting app for iPhones–a boon for our visually impaired friends. Of course, and then there’s the occasional need to text at a conference without offending your boss…nah. It’d never happen.
• Askajedi.com notes that three senior BioWare developers who worked on Star Wars: The Old Republic have left the company to found a new game studio. Currently housed in…a goat shed. It’s not as bad as it sounds, really. Their new project is a game called The Banner Saga.
• Are you eagerly awaiting the release of The Hunger Games movie? It appears you’re not alone. As of Feb. 23, advance ticketing records had already outsold the previous first day advance ticket-seller record held by The Twilight Sage: Eclipse. And it doesn’t open until March 23!
• This is possibly my favorite of the week. Did you know that Isaac Asimov invented a fake chemical compound in order to write a research paper for his PhD dissertation? The funniest part is the numbers of readers who flooded the New York Public Library demanding to see copies of the fake journals Asimov supposedly cited.
• What if Milton Berle had appeared in an episode of Star Trek? Believe it or not, it was almost a possibility, as evidenced by the appearance of the lost script. You can get your own copy for Kindle.
• Calling all fans of the manga Bleach. Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired the rights to adapt the Tite Kubo’s manga series into a live-action movie. Even my kids say this might have promise.
• Giveaway: Graemes Fantasy Book Review is giving away a copy of Naomi Novik’s Crucible of Gold. Hurry! The deadline is February 26, 2012.
• Seems like there’s been an awful lot of Star Wars happenings lately. This is a unique one: Here’s a link to the entire Star Wars: Episode V retold in iconoscope. It’s really pretty entertaining.
• Here’s a heart-warming story. What do you do for a lonely dog forced to spend all day by himself? You invent a robot to keep him company, of course!
• This last link shows a Legged Squad Support System (LS3) developed by DARPA. It could be a wonderful thing for toting around gear but personally, to me it looks kind creepy. Maybe that’s just me. Here’s the 35-second YouTube video:

That’s all, guys! If you have a favorite that I missed, won’t you give us the link? Just click on the comment bubble in the top right of this post. Thanks! I love to hear from you.

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”