A podcast about science fiction and SF fandom from John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty.
Episodes
6 days ago
6 days ago
John has shortlisted, Alison has worked in large organisations, and Liz has done a spot-the-difference.
An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: LLMs
- Letters of comment
- Chris Garcia
- Clarrie Maguire
- Colette Reap
- Roseanna Pendlebury
- Tobes Valois
- We also heard from Ali Baker Brooks, Ang Rosin, Brian Nisbet, Caroline Mullan, DC, Doug Faunt, Ed Morland, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Farah Mendlesohn, Gareth Kavanagh, Ivan Sinha, Jonathan Baddeley, Jonathan Cowie, Kin-Ming Looi, Lilian Edwards, Meg MacDonald, Neil Ottenstein, Phil Dyson, Raj, Sandra Bond, Shi Lala, Tammy Coxen, Tony Keen, TrishEM, Zoë O’Connell
- Corflu
- Ada Palmer runs a class called “The Italian Renaissance: Dante, Machiavelli, and the Wars of Popes and Kings,” better known by students as “pope class” or “pope LARP”
- Chris Barkley has sued Dave McCarty
- Locus
- 2025 fundraiser
- Revenue is flat and costs are up 21%
- Clarke Award
- Worldcon 2025: Seattle
- Picks
- John: The Mark by Frìða Ìsberg
- Alison: Sinners
- Liz: Blue Prince
- Credits
- Cover art: “Sample FAAn Award” by Alison Scott
- Alt text: A photograph of a yellow square on a mantlepiece. On the yellow square is black text and a red shape with yellow text. The text reads “Corflu 42. 2025 FAAn Awards. Best Immutable Object: Octothorpe”. Text overlaid on the photograph reads ‘Octothorpe 134. “Don’t believe everything you read on ChatGPT.”’
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: “Sample FAAn Award” by Alison Scott
Thursday Apr 24, 2025
Thursday Apr 24, 2025
John, Alison, and Liz are live from the Belfast Eastercon!
An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: It’s a live recording!
- Eastercon 2026: Iridescence in Birmingham
- Guests of Honour
- R J Barker
- Karen Lord
- Emma Newman
- John Wilson and Serena Culfeather
- Prices
- Adult: £80
- Low income: £50
- Child/teen: £20
- Supporting: £40
- Guests of Honour
- Eastercon 2027: Unconfined in Glasgow
- Guests of Honour
- P Djeli Clark
- L R Lam
- Mark Meenan
- Tamsyn Muir
- Prices
- Adult £85
- Discounted adult: £60
- Young person: £20
- Child: £5
- No supporting rate has yet been announced
- Guests of Honour
- Eastercon 2028: BSFA v Marcus Streets
- Eastercon 2029 and 2030: Rumours abound
- Picks
- John: Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster
- Alison: Er. Steak? Spending too much? Unclear
- Liz: Karaoke and ThinkBox Belfast
- Credits
- Cover art: “Octothorpe at Reconnect” by Andrew Hogg
- Alt text: John, Alison and Liz are sat behind a table at Reconnect doing a live podcast. The words “Octothorpe 133” appear at the bottom.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: “Octothorpe at Reconnect” by Andrew Hogg
Sunday Apr 06, 2025
Sunday Apr 06, 2025
John, Alison and Liz discuss this year’s Hugo Awards finalists.
An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: None
A note from John: I’ve done my level best to find useful URLs and link them below. Please let me know if there are better links or things I’ve missed!
- Best Novel
- Best Novella
- Best Novelette
- Best Short Story
- “Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K Jones
- “Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal
- “Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” by Nghi Vo
- “Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine
- “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M Yoachim
- “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J Kim
- Best Series
- Best Graphic Story
- The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag
- The Hunger and the Dusk, Vol. 1 by G Willow Wilson and Chris Wildgoose
- Monstress, Vol. 9 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
- My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Vol. 2 by Emil Ferris
- Star Trek: Lower Decks: Warp Your Own Way by Ryan North and Chris Fenoglio
- We Called Them Giants by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans
- Best Related Work
- “Charting the Cliff: An Investigation into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics” by Camestros Felapton and Heather Rose Jones
- r/Fantasy’s 2024 Bingo Reading Challenge
- “The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel” by Jenny Nicholson
- Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right by Jordan S Carroll
- Track Changes by Abigail Nussbaum
- “The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion” by Chris M Barkley and Jason Sanford
- Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)
- Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)
- Best Game or Interactive Work
- Best Editor (Short Form)
- Best Editor (Long Form)
- Carl Engle-Laird
- Ali Fisher
- Lee Harris
- David Thomas Moore
- Diana M. Pho
- Stephanie Stein
- Best Professional Artist
- Best Semiprozine
- Best Fanzine
- Best Fancast
- Best Fan Writer
- Best Fan Artist
- Iain Clark
- Sara Felix
- Meg Frank
- Michelle Morrell
- España Sheriff
- Alison Scott
- Best Poem
- Lodestar Award
- Astounding Award
- Credits
- Cover art: “Scorching Hot Takes” by Alison Scott
- Alt text: A black background. Text in purple reads “Octothorpe 132” while text MADE OF FIRE says “Scorching hot takes on the Hugo finalists”.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: “Scorching Hot Takes” by Alison Scott
Thursday Mar 27, 2025
Thursday Mar 27, 2025
John is moderating, Alison is auctioning, and Liz is lecturing.
An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: The situation in the USA
- Letters of comment
- Handwriting guesses!
- John, Alison, Liz: Ed Morland
- Alison, John, Liz: Chris Garcia
- Alison, Liz, John: Tammy Coxen
- Liz, John, Alison: Tammy has another go
- Liz, Alison, John: Ang Rosin, Niall Harrison
- John is the top one: Doug Faunt
- John is in the middle: Roseanna Pendlebury
- Alison is in the middle: Mike Scott (who is cheating)
- Liz is the top one: Bridget Bradshaw
- All handwriting fonts: Bridget Bradshaw
- You all have nice handwriting: Shi Lala
- [But mine’s nicest—John]
- Roseanna Pendlebury (email)
- Farah Mendlesohn (email)
- Chris Garcia (email)
- Ivan Sinha (Facebook)
- Renay (email)
- Fredrik Coulter (Facebook)
- We also heard from Lilian Edwards
- Handwriting guesses!
- Worldcon 2025: Seattle
- Eastercon 2025: Belfast
- We have provisional programme schedules!
- John, Alison, and Liz:
- Monday 12:30: Octothorpe Live
- John and Liz:
- Sunday 17:00: Fandom, Politics, and Boycotts: What is the line and where do we draw it?
- John:
- Sunday 12:30: Is The Force With You?
- Sunday 15:30: “What does this card really mean?”: History in Board Games
- Alison:
- Sunday 20:00: Fan Fund Auction
- Liz:
- Saturday 15:30: Hay Lecture [SO EXCITED—John]
- John, Alison, and Liz:
- Colourfields by Paul Kincaid
- This will be launched at the convention
- Adam Roberts reviews the collection
- We have provisional programme schedules!
- Peter Mabey has passed away
- BSFA Awards
- Fan funds
- Picks
- Credits
- Cover art: “Happy Birthday to Us” by Alison Scott
- Alt text: A birthday cake with six layers, from purple to a dark orange, and then a red 5 and five red candles on top, with fireworks overhead. The words “Octothorpe 131” are at the top.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: “Happy Birthday to Us” by Alison Scott
Thursday Mar 13, 2025
Thursday Mar 13, 2025
John is working, Alison is plugging and Liz is ghosting.
An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: Capitalism, death (Chapter 8: Picks)
- Please remember that we have recused from consideration for the 2025 Hugo Awards
- Letters of comment
- BSFA
- If you attended please let us know what happened!
- Awards
- Oxford–Bloomsbury Fantasy Summer School
- Free to apply with limited in-person spaces
- Or, wait for the streaming link! (FAQ)
- GUFF: The Incomplete Chronicles
- Liz previously described a Pepper’s Ghost at Tokyo Disneyland
- Picks
- Credits
- Cover art: “Handwriting Analysis Special”
- Alt text: The words “Octothorpe 130: Handwriting Analysis Special” appear three times in the three hosts’ handwriting.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: “Handwriting Analysis Special”
Thursday Feb 27, 2025
Thursday Feb 27, 2025
John thought of something, Alison is educational, and Liz reads contracts.
An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: Money (chapter 3)
- Please remember that we have recused from consideration for the 2025 Hugo Awards
- Letters of comment
- Chris Garcia
- DC
- On Blind Chance (skeet, requires sign-in)
- On picking books (skeet, requires sign-in)
- Doug Faunt
- Farah Mendlesohn (Facebook)
- Eastercon 2025: Reconnect in Belfast
- Cancelling non-refundable hotel rooms does not net one a refund
- We get ourselves into knots trying to work out what’s happened here and we’re not sure
- Alison taught John and Liz about complaining about cancellations
- Cancelling non-refundable hotel rooms does not net one a refund
- Worldcon 2025: Seattle
- Virtual Business Meeting details
- Lumi Global
- The meetings are all at 09:00–12:30 (PDT/UTC-7) on 4, 13, 19, 25 July
- Hugo nominations are open
- Virtual Business Meeting details
- Picks
- John: Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: The Official Black Spire Outpost Cookbook by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Marc Sumerak
- Alison: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
- Liz: Nova by Samuel Delany
- John Nielsen-Hall’s article, “Running up that Hill: or Life with the Brunners” appears in Prolapse #7
- Credits
- Cover art: “Thailand Positioning Service” by Alison Scott
- Alt text: Words read “Octothorpe 129: Can you pin Thailand on the map?” above a black-and-white world map. The backs of John, Alison and Liz’s heads are shown. John is thinking “Yup!”, Liz is thinking “100%”, and Alison is holding Thailand and thinking “???”.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: “Thailand Positioning Service” by Alison Scott
Thursday Feb 13, 2025
Thursday Feb 13, 2025
John picks too soon, Alison is fully paid-up, and Liz found the comment.
An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: COVID (chapter 7)
- Letters of comment
- Andreas Davour (toot)
- Bridget Bradshaw (skeet)
- Chris Garcia
- David Bamford (skeet)
- DC (skeet, requires sign-in)
- Farah Mendlesohn (Facebook)
- Karen Schaffer
- Meg MacDonald (Facebook)
- Raj (toot)
- Short story: “Bond, Bond, and James Bond” by Eric Molinsky
- Novelette: “Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie (from her new collection, Lake of Souls)
- Novella: Last Stop by Django Wexler
- Tammy Coxen (skeet)
- Eastercon 2025: Reconnect in Belfast
- John has been asked to head up the Discord
- Bursaries
- Deadline is noon on 16 February
- Email finance@easterconbelfast.org with as much or as little detail as you like
- Eastercon 2026: Iridescence, a bid for Birmingham
- BSFA
- BSFA Award Longlist
- Octothorpe 122 has been nominated, thank you very much!
- Review policy rumours
- New chair: Stewart Hotson
- BSFA Award Longlist
- Picks
- John: Severance S2
- Alison: The Brutalist
- Liz: Lady Eve’s Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow
- Credits
- Cover art: “Live From Minidisc” by Alison Scott
- Alt text: A blue Sony MiniDisc Walkman shows, on its LCD screen, “Now playing: Octothorpe_128”.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: “Live From Minidisc” by Alison Scott
Thursday Jan 30, 2025
Thursday Jan 30, 2025
John is incoherent, Alison is excited, and Liz is romantic.
An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: None
- Letters of comment
- Abigail Nussbaum
- Ali Baker Brooks
- Andy Openshaw
- Chris Garcia
- Claire Brialey
- David Salter
- Ed Morland
- Farah Mendlesohn
- Irwin Hirsh
- Jonny Baddeley
- Neil Ottenstein
- Roseanna Pendlebury
- We also heard from:
- Fiona Moore, Ivan Sinha
- Readers’ recommendations
- Best Novel
- Private Rites by Julia Armfield
- I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S Beagle
- Metal from Heaven by August Clarke
- In Universes by Emet North
- The West Passage by Jared Pechaček
- Three Eight One by Aliya Whiteley
- Someone You Can Build a Nest in By John Wiswell
- Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)
- Deadpool and Wolverine
- Tim Travers & the Time Travelers Paradox
- Best Game or Interactive Work:
- Tactical Breach Wizards
- Best Fancast
- Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones by Emily Tesh and Rebecca Fraimow
- Lady Eve’s Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow
- Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones by Emily Tesh and Rebecca Fraimow
- Astounding Award
- The End of Nobility by Michael Green
- Best Novel
- Briardene Books
- Eastercon 2025: Reconnect in Belfast
- Picks
- John: Sliding Doors
- Alison: Three Men in Orbit by Sandra Bond
- Liz: Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
- Credits
- Cover art: “Availability Flowchart” by Alison Scott
- Alt text: A flowchart entitled “How to meet John, Alison and/or Liz at Eastercon”. The boxes culminate in “console yourself with Octothorpe 127”, and the various options are listed below, but the original file is here in case that’s more helpful to the partially sighted.
- How to meet John, Alison and/or Liz at Eastercon
- Are you going to Reconnect?
- Of course!/Not sure
- Oh go on it will be a laugh
- Oh all right then/No…
- Are they in the bar?
- Yes!
- I can’t see them
- Are you quite sure? Check again
- Oh wait… there they are
- No sign
- Is there another bar?
- Yes!
- Nope
- Are they on programme?
- Yes!
- No
- Wait till the moderator asks for questions
- But it’s Octothorpe Live!
- Is your joke very funny?
- Obviously!
- Excellent! Good to know.
- COME AND SAY HELLO
- until then…
- Are they asleep or on the loo?
- No, they look chill
- Er, yes?
- Oh, that’s a shame
- Console yourself with Octothorpe 127
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: “Availability Flowchart” by Alison Scott
Thursday Jan 16, 2025
Thursday Jan 16, 2025
John is a thief, Alison plays games, and Liz is bullied.
An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: None
- Letters of comment
- Andreas Davour
- Bella Garcia
- Constanze Hoffman
- Farah Mendlesohn
- Jonathan Cowie
- June Young
- Mike Scott
- Neil Ottenstein
- Raj
- Tammy Coxen
- Zoe O’Connell
- We also heard from Bridget Bradshaw, Colin Harris, Meg MacDonald, and Shi Lala
- Fan funds
- The 2025 TAFF race has begun
- Zi Graves, Mikołaj Kowalewski, Jan Vaněk jr.
- CUFF comes to an end
- The 2025 TAFF race has begun
- Fowler Award
- Hugo Awards
- 2025 spreadsheet of doom
- Novels
- T**he Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
- The Sentence by Gautam Bhatia
- The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
- The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
- Jumpnauts by Hao Jingfang
- The Siege of Burning Grass by Premee Mohamed
- Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Absolution by Jeff Vandermeer
- We Are All Ghosts in the Forest by Lorraine Wilson
- Novellas
- A Mourning Coat by Alex Jeffers
- North Continent Ribbon by Ursula Whitcher
- Short Stories
- Related Works
- Track Changes: Selected Reviews **by Abigail Nussbaum
- Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the A**lt-Right by Jordan S. Carroll
- Series
- The Horus Heresy
- The Southern Reach
- The Tyrant Philosophers
- Graphic Stories
- Warp Your Own Way by Ryan North and Chris Fenoglio
- Dramatic Presentations
- All of Us Strangers
- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
- I Saw the TV Glow
- Late Night with the Devil
- My Old Ass
- A Quiet Place: Day One
- The Substance
- Timestalker
- Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
- The Wild Robot
- Games
- Tabletop
- Arcs
- City of Six Moons
- Mothership
- Undaunted 2200: Callisto
- Video
- Animal Well
- Caves of Qud
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard
- The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdo**m
- Slice and Dice 3.0
- Star Wars: Outlaws
- Tale of the Golden Idol
- UFO50
- Other
- Tabletop
- Poems
- Fan categories
- Artists
- Alison Scott
- España Sheriff
- Podcasts
- Fanac Fan History Zooms
- Going Rogue
- Hugo, Girl!
- A Meal of Thorns
- Writers
- Camestros Felapton
- Ersatz Culture
- Roseanna Pendlebury
- Fanzines
- Ancillary Review of Books
- Banana Wings
- Ornithopter
- Unofficial Hugo Book Club
- Artists
- Debut authors
- Moniquill Blackgoose
- [Alison did not write any of her selections into the show notes and I was sorely tempted not to go through and write them all down for her but I did it for you, listener. I did it for you—John]
- Picks [isn’t this a whole episode of picks?—Liz]
- John: Earthborne Rangers
- Alison: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
- Liz: Horizon Zero Dawn
- Sorry Mark
- Credits
- Cover art: “Waffle of comment” by Bella Garcia
- Alt text: A picture of a Belgian waffle that looks like an octothorpe, on a white background, with the words “Octothorpe 126” above and “now with added waffle” below.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: “Waffle of comment” by Bella Garcia
Friday Dec 20, 2024
Friday Dec 20, 2024
John is travelling, Alison is coding, and Liz is faithful.
An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: Death (chapter 6)
- Letters of comment
- Chris Garcia
- Jt
- Raj
- Rotsler Award
- Seattle 2025
- Upcoming Worldcons
- Vince Docherty reports from Smofcon 41
- There are many links to convention bid websites contained within
- Montréal are continuing for 2027, but Tel Aviv have suspended
- Conventions on cruise ships
- Vince Docherty reports from Smofcon 41
- Vanessa May
- Picks
- Credits
- Cover art: “Christmas Hats” by Alison Scott
- Alt text: John wears an Octothorpe Christmas jumper and a green and red hat with elf ears, Alison wears a red Christmas jumper and a moose/reindeer hat, and Liz wears a blue jumper and a Christmas tree hat. The words “Octothorpe 125” appear at the top in a Christmassy font that looks like it has snow on the letters.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: “Christmas Hats” by Alison Scott