John Scalzi has released the ending of his new book: "And then the planet blew up and everybody died horribly. The end!" I wonder if the pressure of finishing the book is getting to Scalzi? :-)

And while I hesitate to add more pressure to one of my favorite authors, Douglas Adams beat him to that hilarious ending by about 15 years. The fifth and final book in Adam's Hitchhikers Trilogy, Mostly Harmless, ends with earth--or more precisely, all the earths across the entire multiverse--blowing up, much to Arthur Dent's everlasting relief. At which point life goes on as before, with the exception that there's now nothing on television.