A Most Auspicious Day

As usual, many people have saved up news of the most amazing and unlikely nature to post today, on the glorious First of April. Antick Musings is entirely in favor of such news, and, as we have done in past years, endeavors to link to as much of it as we can find, beginning with...

• Charles Stross explains the genesis of his upcoming sparkly-unicorn romance series from Harlequin.
• Jeff VanderMeer announces the hasty sequel to The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals -- The Goyim Guide to Tainted Meats -- which he will edit with Ann VanderMeer.
  
• OF Blog of the Fallen's Larry announces his upcoming anthology: Squirrelpunk.
• OF Blog of the Fallen also rounds up some apocryphal and unlikely news.
  
• Orbit has harnessed the power of proton decay to create environmentally-friendly, carbon-neutral, self-destroying e-books.
• SFWA reinstated their previous, much-loved, website.
• Fantasy writer Steven Brust announces his retirement from writing to dive into the much more lucrative world of professional bingo.
• ComicMix reports that DC is recalling the last issue of Blackest Night due to a production error that led to massive story changes.
• Independent-bookstore newsletter Shelf Awareness's issue today contains several shocking stories, including a lead feature on the new Nazi-Communist-socialist-African-atheist-Islamist regime, a look at Apple's iPad accessories, and Borders' new two-for-one CEOs.
• Locus magazine, as usual for early April, is ahead of the curve with stories on Google's new plan to digitize the Library of Alexandria, a list of author news from the first quarter of 2010, the new authorized sequel to Atlas Shrugged, and Tachyon's new make-a-genre contest.
  
• I do not believe that the latest installment of Mike Sterling's amazing End of Civilization -- in which Sterling, a humble comic-shop manager in sunny California, reads through the mighty monthly Diamond catalog and presents various items for perusal by the thrilled masses -- is actually in this category. But I just can't be sure. (That's the horrible thing about the modern comics market.)
  

Updates to come as events warrant -- Keep Watching the Skies!

Update 1: Publishers Weekly reports on a petition to make notable author of rotten thrillers Brad Meltzer stop writing -- including quotes in support from David Baldacci, Nora Roberts, and R.L. Stine.

Update 2: John Scalzi -- who seriously doesn't need a link from me -- is not participating in the general tomfoolery, but he has posted a poll about his current Sekrit Project.

Tor.com has posted a flurry of interesting articles this morning:

• The Lost finale will be directed by M. Night Shyamalan
• There's a new Doctor in the house.
• Lady Gaga goes Bronte.
• Jo Walton reviews Last Dangerous Visions.
• Your next computer will be a Delldo.
• Tor launches line of body-focused SF for middle-schoolers.

Update 3: ComicMix reports on a Ghost Rider musical. (Note: there's an outside chance that this is real; I'm not going to bet that Marvel doesn't have a stupider idea than Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.)

A Dribble of Ink reports George R.R. Martin is slicing up his novel-in-progress yet again, to focus on fan-favorite character Brienne.

Update 4: Blizzard introduces the Battle.net Neural Interface, for a more immersive World of Warcraft experience.

The Tour de France has been bought by Disney.

Finally -- in the least likely news of all -- ex-Veep candidate Sarah Palin will host a TV show tonight, in which other celebrities pretend that she interviewed them.

Update 5: And a few scattered fragments discovered the next day:

Trainjotting crusades against the possibility of seat licences on Metro-North Railroad.

Get ready for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1988!

Entmoot discusses same-sex marriage.

Mark Waid shoots up Boom! offices.

Congress declares Pluto "is, too" a planet.