Octothorpe

80: Four Constituent Blobs

John is jetlagged, Alison is working, and Liz is under pressure.

Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Twitter or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Eating octopus (chapter 1), N*zism (chapter 8)

• Letters of comment
  • Mark Plummer
    • Nicholas Whyte
  • Ian Hillman
    • They Called Us Enemy (Forbidden Planet, Amazon)
  • Gwen Frazer
  • Briardene Books
  • Karen Schaffer
• Chengdu is a shower
  • Their website is back!
• Picks:
  • John: Digger by Ursula Vernon (read online, Kickstarter)
  • Alison: The Eastercon programme (not quite yet online, keep an eye on their website)
  • Liz: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (hardback, epub, audiobook, Amazon)
    • Joe Manganiello’s D&D campaign
• Eastercon
  • Programme coming soon
  • Discord now available!
• Corflu Craic
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Intelligent Spider Aliens” by Sue Mason
    • Alt text: Spiders looking like John, Alison and Liz hang from the top of the art on webs, with “O80” written on their abdomens.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

79: You Get to Be a Little Cat

John wants new gloves, Alison is foreshadowing, and Liz scrolls past spiders.

Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Twitter or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Spiders (chapter 6)

• Letters of comment
  • Raj
  • Bridget Bradshaw
  • Chris Garcia
    • Bigbug (Netflix)
    • OSS 117 (Amazon)
    • Brice de Nice (Hoopla)
  • Lori Anderson
  • Curt Phillips
• Chengdu is a shower (but not as bad as the BBC)
  • They have opened Hugo nominations
  • Conversions for Chinese language nominees: “A factor of 1.6 will be used when converting from English words to Chinese characters. As such the fiction category breakpoints will be: 1) Short Story: fewer than 7,500 English words or 12,000 Chinese characters. 2) Novelette: between 7,500/12,000 and 17,500 English words or 28,000 Chinese characters. 3) Novella: between 17,500/28,000 and 40,000 English words or 64,000 Chinese characters. 4) Novel: greater than 40,000 English words or 64,000 Chinese characters.”
• Nebula nominees are out
  • Strange Horizons argues erroneously that Our Flag Means Death is fantasy, actually
• BSFA nominees are also out
• Everything Everywhere All at Once prop auction(s)
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once shop
• Picks:
  • John: Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (ebook, paperback, Amazon)
    • Force Majeure Outer Dark Trilogy Part 2 Episode 1 - “In Space, No-One Can Smell Your Frog”
    • The Dark Room by John Robertson
  • Alison: Allegiance by George Takei
    • Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (ebook, paperback, Amazon)
  • Liz: Los Espookys **(HBO, Now TV)
• Credits
  • Cover art: ”MidJourney Into Space” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: Three adorable little rockets with faces corresponding to John, Alison and Liz above the text “Octothorpe 79”.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
  • “Announcement” from Orange Free Sounds (CC BY-NC 4.0)

78: Sqrrl Grrl

John is chuckling, Alison is conversing, and Liz is critical.

Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Twitter or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Immigration (chapter 2), COVID (chapter 3)

• Letters of comment
  • Ang Rosin
  • Dave Coxon
  • Raj
  • Chris Garcia
    • Fempire by Honora Talbot
    • Lost Beyond the Stars by Kayla Arend
    • Bean Feasa by Daniel Butler
    • AlieNation by Ray Raghavan
    • I XXXX My Sex Doll by Fay Beck
• Chengdu is a shower
  • PR1
  • The USA says “reconsider travel”, which is level 3 of a 4-level alert, partly due to COVID which may change before October. They have level 4 alerts which are “do not travel”
• Conversation COVID policy
  • Liz thinks Boskone has a nice, straightforward policy
• Picks:
  • John: Living with Ghosts by Kari Sperring (only available in the US: ebook, Amazon)
  • Alison: Spider-Man: Far From Home (Disney+)
  • Liz: The Owl Job
• Credits
  • Cover art: Sqrrl Grrl by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: John and Liz are squirrels with acorns and Liz is Squirrel Girl, sitting in a tree under the words “Octothorpe 78”.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

77: Slightly Less Troglodyte-y Than You

John has trauma, Alison has poetry and Liz hasn’t got Paramount+.

Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Twitter or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: None

• Letters of comment
  • Raj on Mastodon
  • Hugo, Girl! on Twitter
    • Whisper.cpp
  • Chris Garcia
• Chengdu is a shower
  • Dave McCarty on Hugos
  • Since we recorded, people are reporting seeing emails about Hugo voting – they seem to be landing in spam folders. John posted more info on Mastodon.
• Hugo handicapping
  • The Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom
  • Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form
    • John
      • The Expanse: “Babylon’s Ashes”
      • Severance: “Defiant Jazz”
      • Star Trek: Strange New World: “Spock Amok”
      • Moon Knight: “Asylum”
      • The Boys: “Herogasm”
    • Alison
      • Severance: “The Way We Are”
      • Ghosts: “It’s Behind You”
      • Mythic Quest: “Across the Universe”
      • Harry Josephine Giles’ performance of Deep Wheel Orcadia at the Edinburgh Book Festival
      • Severance: “whatever other episodes, they’re all great”
    • Liz
      • Andor: “One Way Out”
      • Star Trek: Lower Decks: “Hear All, Trust Nothing”
      • What We Do In the Shadows: “Go Flip Yourself”
      • For All Mankind: “Stranger in a Strange Land”
      • Stranger Things: “Chapter Four: Dear Billy”
• Picks:
  • John: The Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist
    • The official website for the award doesn’t have historic shortlists on it (why) so have a Wikipedia article instead
  • Liz: Strange Horizons’ 2023 criticism special
  • Alison: More print and play games
    • In lieu of a list of games, you can browse Alison’s post history on the BoardGameGeek forums to get an idea for what she’s playing
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Denizens” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: In black and red, three fantasy creatures resembling John, Alison and Liz.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

76: Does It Matter What We Think?

John is watching movies, Alison is making games, and Liz isn’t picky.

Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Twitter or on The Wandering Shop) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: China (chapter 2), death of a parent (chapter 4)

• Letters of comment
  • Claire Brialey
  • Tammy Coxen
  • Chris Garcia
    • Journey Planet on Chinese Science Fiction and Space
  • Irwin Hirsh
• Chengdu is a shower
  • Tip of the hat to File 770 for some sterling reporting on this
  • Chengdu Worldcon changes dates, site
    • Mockups appear to show buildings permanently branded with Worldcon/WSFS marks
  • Images of the proposed Chengdu Science Fiction Museum
  • Chinese fans are not best pleased
    • It’s no longer in the summer so students will be in school and not able to go, and the students are the ones who brought the con to China
  • But, Chengdu can take credit card payments now
    • Fiona Moore confirms
• GUFF
  • Alison announced in Octothorpe 73 that she was going to go after the coronation
  • But there’s now an Australian Natcon (Conflux, 29 September to 2 October) with which Alison is aiming to intersect
• Picks:
  • John: Prey (Disney+) and Invasion of the Body-Snatchers (1956, MGM)
  • Alison: Print and play games
    • [Alison went out for the day and did not give me links to the games, listeners! I’ll try to fill this in before next episode – John]
• Credits
  • Cover art: Groundhog Day by España Sheriff
    • Alt text: Three groundhogs in the general shapes of John, Alison and Liz regard their shadow, in the shape of an octothorpe, beneath the text “Octothorpe 76”.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

75: Optimus Prime But for Books

John wants to play, Alison has met lots of authors, and Liz is a womble.

Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast (on wandering.shop) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Capitalism (chapter 3), China (chapter 4)

• Letters of comment
  • Sandra Bond
  • Lilian Edwards
  • Chris “The Legend” Garcia
  • Duncan MacGregor
  • Dave Mansfield
  • Curt Phillips
  • Kevin Standlee
  • Raj on Twitter
• Magazines
  • The Locus fundraiser is well over target
  • Amazon are stopping doing Kindle Periodical magazine subscriptions
  • Interesting numbers on subscribers/supporters from Michael Damien Thomas
• Chengdu is a shower:
  • Chengdu are finally taking non-Chinese memberships
    • A mere 22 days before the deadline for Hugos
  • Chengdu have not yet produced PR1
  • There is another petition against Sergei Lukyanenko
• Liz is going to do the runalongwomble TBR challenge
• Picks:
  • John: The Moonday Letters by Emmi Itäranta (paperback, epub, audiobook)
  • Alison: Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchison (paperback, epub, audiobook)
    • Please recommend me (and everyone else) one fantastic 2022 book to read
    • Recommend me one science fiction or fantasy thing from 2022 that you’ve particularly enjoyed that is not a novel
    • Strange Horizons’ 2022 in Review
  • Liz: A Game of Birds and Wolves by Simon Parkin (paperback, epub, audiobook)
• Aftershow:
  • If I Ran the Zoo…Con (NESFA Press, The Book Patch)
• Credits
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

74: Great Cthulhu

John and Alison read a poem by Sandra Bond.

• Credits
  • Cover art: The Great Cthulhu and John Coxon by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: Liz and Alison (dressed in their Sunday best) take John (dressed in Star Wars cosplay but with short trousers) to see Cthulhu, depicted in a cage at the zoo.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

73: A Magic Cave Full of Games

John is going to Sweden, Alison is going to Australia, and Liz isn’t moving back to Europe.

Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast (on wandering.shop) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Capitalism (chapter 1)

• Letters of comment
  • Phil Dyson
  • Chris Garcia
    • There Has Always Been Locus
  • Perrianne Lurie
  • Mike Scott
  • Duncan MacGregor
  • Raj on Twitter
• Graphs!
• European Fan Fund (EFF)
  • European Fan Fund rules
  • European Fan Fund announcement
• TAFF race in 2023 now open - GUFF stuff
• Smofcon goes to Providence, Rhode Island (not Sweden)
  • But Eurocon is in Sweden
• We are on Mastodon:
  • Octothorpe
  • John
  • Alison
  • Liz
• Picks
  • John: Star Wars: The High Republic
  • Alison: Dragonmeet
    • Beans dice
  • Liz: It by Stephen King (Amazon, paperback, epub, audiobook)
• Credits
  • Cover art: Visions of St Octothorpe
    • Alt text: Three rodents stand under a mantlepiece covered in holly above a roaring fire. John’s stocking has dice and is orange; Alison’s has moose and is green; Liz has molecules and is blue. Rodent John is holding a B2-EMO coffee mug and wearing entirely Gregg’s-themed Christmas wear. Alison has her knitting, and is wearing red, orange and green Christmas wear. Liz is crocheting and is decked out in tasteful indigo. Each of the rodents is having a thoroughly lovely Christmas and wishes you the same!
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

72: I’m Not a Fan in the Way John Is

John isn’t gambling, Alison isn’t reading, and Liz doesn’t care.

Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Capitalism (chapter 3)

• Letters of comment
  • DC
  • Mark Plummer
  • Karen Schaffer
  • Curt Phillips
  • Christopher J Garcia
  • Hugo, Girl!
  • Duncan MacGregor
• Beneath Ceaseless Skies recuses from the Hugo Awards
• Locus is crowd funding
• Picks:
  • John: Andor (Disney+)
  • Alison: Andor (Disney+)
  • Liz: Andor (Disney+)
    • With a 70s-style intro sequence
• Credits
  • Cover art: Ictithirpe by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: The text “# Octothorpe” written in fonts that make it look like the Andor logo, and “Seventy Two” written in the Star Wars logo, in a golden colour on black.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

71: Just Nearly Froze to Death

John is on the Holodeck, Alison is in the past, and Liz is at school.

Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: COVID-19 (chapter 5)

• Letters of comment
  • Chris Garcia
  • Jonny Baddeley
  • Farah Mendlesohn
  • Peter Sullivan
  • Raj
• Locus fundraiser
• Novacon
• Satellite 8
• Picks:
  • John: Star _Wars Trek: The Next Generation
  • Alison: Genre Fiction: The Roaring Years by Peter Nicholls
  • Liz: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik
• Credits
  • Cover art: Cat Detectives by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: John, Alison, and Liz are depicted as cats wearing the clothing of noir detectives by a door marked “Octothorpe Detective Agency”.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)