The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit, August 2015), about a world where deadly earthquakes happen regularly, will be developed as a TV series for TNT. (Deadline Hollywood)

Fox Searchlight has optioned the novel Two Steps Forward by husband and wife writing team Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion (which we covered recently and is slated for publication in Australia and New Zealand in October). The romantic comedy is told from alternating viewpoints, by a widowed American artist and a British engineer. (Deadline Hollywood)

Sky Original Productions and Bad Wolf Television are producing A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (Viking, February 2011), about a witch who discovers a secret manuscript, with Matthew Goode to star. (Entertainment Weekly)

Pascal Pictures has optioned Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan (Lake Union Publishing, May 2017), about the true story of the 17-year-old who helped Jews find safety in Switzerland during World War II. (Deadline Hollywood)

Alice Isn't Dead, the podcast from Night Vale Presents about a truck driver searching for her wife, has been optioned by the USA Network. The podcast is also in the works as a book, with Harper Perennial having signed creator Joseph Fink to write a novel based on the popular series. (Entertainment Weekly)

5x5 Media TV has optioned book one in Kim Hornsby's the Dream Jumper's Series, The Dream Jumper's Promise (Top Ten Press, January 2014), about a woman who experiences otherworldly dreams. (Publishers Marketplace)

Correction: This story has been updated from its original version to reflect the fact that in Alice Isn't Dead, the description should read that the truck driver is searching for her wife, not his wife.