Carnival time!

If I were a sociologist or an anthropologist, I'd be studying the blogosphere. This is an amazing environment for the creation and evolution of all sorts of ad hoc customs and institutions, which arise and develop with blinding speed. How do they start? What functions do they serve? What determines which ones persist and which ones fail?

One of the more charming institutions is the carnival. A carnival is a collection of links to blog entries by various bloggers, generally (but not always) linked together by subject or theme. The carnival itself is an entry on the blog of its host; the links are submitted by those who wish to participate. The carnival is not always hosted in the same place, but moves around from one blog to the next. Carnivals are cool. They are a fine way to offer some of material to a wider audience, and to sample the writing of other bloggers, which is of course the whole idea. Participating in carnivals is one of the ten blogging fundamentals discussed at this useful page. Did you know that there is even a Carnival of the Carnivals, where various carnivals get listed?

Today, I'm joining my first carnival, namely the Storyblogging Carnival XIX (which was originated by Donald Crankshaw, from whom I heard about it, and hosted this time by Sheya Joie). This is a collection of fiction, both complete stories and installments of larger works. My own entry is a science fiction story that I posted here some weeks ago. But you should head over to the carnival, stroll around, check out some of the other stories, and maybe get some cotton candy.