Today is Samuel Delaney’s 65th birthday (yep, it’s true). It’s also the Feast Day for St Hugh of Grenoble and, for you Roman pagan revivalists, Veneralia (please wear a condom). On such an auspicious day, I thought it would be a good time to celebrate several projects (by other people, I’m afraid) that I am very excited about…

Jonathan Strahan closes deal on new collection

Editor Jonathan Strahan’s workload threatens to reach critical density any time now. Should the Earth be sucked into a black hole, it may be the fault of his latest blockbuster project, a 920-page retrospective of Lionel Fanthorpe’s historic work, with introductory essays by Karl Zeigfreid and Olaf Trent.

Orson Scott Card rereleases classic novel

Orson Scott Card, best known for Ender’s Game and the Alvin Maker stories, is about to release a new edition of a novel that became something of an underground legend passed from hand to hand by admirers. At last he has had the chance to edit the novel to remove changes that he had previously acceded to and has reintroduced the original title that the publisher had refused to run with.

Pirates of the Caribbean crew reforms for new adventure

By any sensible standard, Pirates of the Caribbean ought to have been a sheer unmitigated disaster. Based on a Disney theme park ride with a deadline of less than a year from greenlight to cinema, it should have been a shambles. Instead, the director, cast, and writers, clicked and the result was a modern adventure classic. In the forthcoming third instalment, one of the central characters will die, spelling the end of the franchise. Disney, though, has revived its flagging stock performance with the announcement of a new adventure series that brings back the original creative team. Director Gore Verbinsky will reunite with the Pirates scriptwriters to bring a new classic. It stars Johnny Depp as America, Keira Knightley as England, Orlando Bloom as Tom of Finland, and Geoffrey Rush reprising his exuberant villainy as General Snidely Syria.