#11: Definitely Glowing Right Now

John, Alison and Liz are live from Liz’s house!*

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and use #OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media!

• Letters of comment:
  • Andrew Hogg sends us a link to Kieron Gillen’s manifesto on New Games Journalism
  • Pat McMurray reports that if you search for Oglethorpe you find a shopping mall, rather than our podcast
  • Claire Brialey sent us an excellent poem
  • España Sheriff sent us an excellent meme

*May be a lie.

#10: We’re Gonna Turn the Virus Off for an Hour

John is channelling Ian Sorensen, Alison is on Sydney time, and Liz has written a poem.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and use #OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media!

• Letters of comment:
  • Max Harden tells us she listens at 3x speed, and says “If only we could speed up pub chats too”.
    • This gives John the idea for a panel show; have people listen to podcasts at various speeds, see how much they understood, and then have them drink alcohol and repeat!
  • Dave Mansfield says he often doesn’t have time to read all the BSFA nominees and thanks us for reminding him you can abandon books you dislike
  • Mark Plummer sent a clerihew to John which cannot be broadcast, and a triptych which can
    • The triptych is printed below
    • Liz wrote a limerick in response to Mark’s clerihew, also below
• Alison’s GUFF trip has started!
  • Video diaries on YouTube
  • GUFF trip VR playlists on YouTube
• Virtual conventions
  • The open letter to the CoNZealand committee signed by a number of Hugo finalists
  • Eurocon in 2020 – membership is €10
  • MIT Puzzle Hunt
• Hugo Awards
  • Alison wrote about the Best Fancast
  • If you’re looking here for a picture of Alison looking confused, I misspoke: look at the album art instead
  • Anki
• Aftershow
  • An Irish Goodbye

Liz’s limerick

• The poems of Croydon fan Plummer,
• Entertain Octothorpe for the summer.
• Though his rhymes are first class,
• They’re too rude to broadcast,
• Which is really a bit of a bummer.

Mark’s triptych

• Doctor John the boy Coxon
• Didn’t notice several LOCs on
• Octothorpe because he hadn’t checked
• And thus he failed to Mark protect

• Liz Batty (also Doctor)
• Didn’t know so many people had LOCced her
• Octothorpe’s a fannish gestalt
• But in this respect it’s all John’s fault

• GUFF winner Alison Scott
• Has several Novas and she has also got
• Two Hugos for the fanzine Plokta
• But unlike John and Liz she’s [Fremulon] not a doctor

#9: The Mark Neglection League

John is an entryist from the Mark Neglection League, Alison is podcasting from a Secret Remote Location, and Liz would like to see the cats.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and use #OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media!

• Letters of comment:
  • Claire “Correct” Brialey, Lilian “Time-Traveller” Edwards, “Crazy” Dave Mansfield, Helena “Not Andrew or Mark” McCallum, Mark “Neglection League” Plummer
• Alison is preparing for her virtual GUFF trip
  • 11 July–2 August
  • We are going to be doing a live recording from virtual Liz’s house, with real Liz and virtual Alison and John
• CoNZealand
  • How does accessibility change on Zoom?
  • Hugo voting will open no later than 8 July
  • The Colonised, Marginalised, and Historically Underrepresented People Inclusion Initiative
    • Aotearoa Inclusion Initiative Scholarships
• We discuss the new wave of #MeToo in the SF/comics/gaming communities
• Staying sane in the apocalypse:
  • Liz is reading New Suns
  • John has printed the following on Dox Direct:
    • An official Arkham Horror print-and-play
    • An unofficial Arkham Horror print-and-play
    • Polyhedral Park Planner

#8: We Promise We’ll Read It This Time

John is bad at emails, Liz is bad at Twitter, and Alison is going to be quieter this week.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and use #OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media!

• We are really sorry to the following people who we inadvertently ignored for ages:
  • Andrew January
  • Andrew Hogg
  • Mark Olson
  • Mark Plummer
• Black Lives Matter follow-up:
  • 50 Brilliant Speculative Works by Black Authors
  • #BlackInTheIvory
  • N. K. Jemisin asking for black SF authors to reply on Twitter
• The WSFS Business Meeting “cannot” go online
  • (Our perspective on this is perhaps quite British)

#7: Pontificating from a Complete State of Ignorance

Black lives matter.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and use #OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media!

• Black Lives Matter:
  • Black UK racial justice organisations
  • Anti-racism resources
  • FIYAH Magazine
  • The 2017 #BlackSpecFic Report
  • The 2018 FIYAH Black SFF Writer Survey Report
• Virtual conventions:
  • Balticon:
    • A mixture of Zoom and Discord with Twitch and YouTube
    • España Sheriff attended Balticon
  • CoNZealand:
    • The platform announcement: Using a similar pattern to Balticon
  • The Nebulas:
    • Alison spoke to Steven H. Silver about how the Nebulas went
    • John Scalzi posted his set list from the disco
  • Wiscon:
    • We did not attend! If you did, send us locs!
  • Virtually Expo (UK Games Expo)
    • 21–23 August 2020
    • Free at the point of use, but you can donate
• Hugo Voter Packet
  • It has been made available
  • What’s in the HVP
  • ALL THE COMICS
• Staying sane in the apocalypse
  • Oculus Quest
  • Calla: Specialized Voice Chat for Meetups

#6: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Extruded Product

John has seen it all, Alison hasn’t seen Us, and Liz hasn’t seen Star Wars.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and use #OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media!

• Letters of comment
  • España went to WiFi SciFi
• Two Chairs Talking
  • A podcast from two Australian ex-Worldcon chairs about SF
  • Let us know about any other fannish podcasts!
• BSFA
  • Awards
  • Vector Readings
  • Discord
• Hugo Award finalists for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
• Michael Sheen and David Tennant are to star in Staged on BBC One
• Our theme music is Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod, used under a CC BY 3.0 license

#5: The Pope of All Worldcons

John needs validation, Alison hatches a scheme, and Liz is definitely never going to run a Worldcon.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and use #OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media!

• The tiles that Alison helped make
• CoNZealand
  • They have announced they will hold Worldcon virtually
  • They have a streaming partner
  • Memberships are $300 (NZ): approximately £150
• The SFWA Nebula Conference 2020 is also being held virtually
  • Registration is $150 (US): approximately £120
• Alison’s virtual GUFF trip is on Facebook!
  • If you’re not on Facebook, email us and she’ll send the itinerary to you
• Our theme music is Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod, used under a CC BY 3.0 license

#4: Several Degrees Less Sane

John got drunk, Alison threw a party, and Liz was awake early.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and use #OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media!

• ConFusion 2021 is the next Eastercon
  • We were right about the Guests of Honour:
    • Dan Abnett
    • Nik Vincent
    • Dave Lally
• The provisional bid for 2022 is to be launched at Novacon
• Fan fundery:
  • Alison won GUFF
  • Anna Raftery’s trip report is being streamed on Zoom and will be available afterwards
    • The next instalment is on Friday 8 May
  • John’s trip report is (almost) finished
  • We got trip report bounties wrong:
    • SCIFI (in California) awards $500 within five years
    • FANAC (in Florida) awards $500 within five years or $250 thereafter
    • Notably, neither California nor Florida is in Canada
• Staying sane in the apocalypse
  • The Arkham Horror Tabletop Simulator mod got taken down after we recorded
• Our theme music is Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod, used under a CC BY 3.0 license

#3: Can I Pin Three People at Once?

John has a pin, Alison has a lot of pins, and Liz has opinions.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and use #OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media!

• Letters of comment
  • Kevin MacLeod also does excellent graph paper
• Easter without Eastercon
  • “A Toast for Alison Scott” (the Facebook group)
  • The card for the Concentric 2020 committee
  • John Robertson did The Dark Room for 48 hours
    • His website
    • His Twitch channel
  • Alison’s Zoom party was a great success
  • Bid session
    • ConFusion 2021 won the bid for that year
    • Phil Dyson is head of a 2022 bid which will launch at Novacon
  • Drawn to the Flame did a live podcast which John listened to
• Hugo Awards
  • 2020 Finalists
  • Fanzines:
    • The Book Smugglers
    • Galactic Journey
    • Journey Planet (John edited Journey Planet #45, on The Matrix)
    • nerds of a feather, flock together
    • Quick Sip Reviews
    • The Rec Center
  • 1945 Retro-Hugo Finalists
• Staying sane in the apocalypse
  • Virtual exercise
    • Team Body Project
    • Dancing Stage Fusion
    • Ring Fit Adventure
    • Beat Saber
      • PlayStation VR
      • Oculus Quest
  • Board games
    • Tabletop Simulator
    • Arkham Horror: The Card Game
      • Buy online
      • Play on Tabletop Simulator
    • Marvel Champions: The Card Game
      • Buy online
      • Play on Tabletop Simulator
• Our theme music is Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod, used under a CC BY 3.0 license

#2: The Pre-Discord Times

John grumbles, Alison parties, and Liz can’t stay awake.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and use #OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media!

• The BSFA have a Discord server
• First Thursday London pub meetings (“the Tun”)
• CoNZealand announces they’re going online
• Alison is still running for GUFF
• Concentric 2020 is hosting a virtual Eastercon bid session on Easter Sunday
• WiFi SciFi
  • Panel 1: Fear, Hope and Speculative Fiction
  • Panel 2: The Plague-Writer’s Tale
• Zoom has had some problems with respect to privacy concerns:
  • Every Zoom Security and Privacy Flaw So Far, and What You Can Do to Protect Yourself
  • The Washington Post was able to view private, archived Zoom videos
  • Bruce Schneier goes in-depth on Zoom’s relationship with marketing
  • Zoom’s response to the technical issues that have been highlighted
• Our theme music is Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod, used under a CC BY 3.0 license