Octothorpe

125: I’m Physically Present in This Hotel Room

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
    • The Beef and Dairy Network Podcast
  • Jt
  • Raj
• Rotsler Award
  • España Sheriff is this year’s winner
• Seattle 2025
  • Virtual Business Meeting announcement
  • Reportage on File 770
  • Unofficial WSFS Business Meeting Discord
• 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
    • BGG@SEA
    • JoCo Cruise
• Vanessa May
  • Vanessa was an integral part of the very beginning of Glasgow 2024
• Picks
  • John: EXIT: The Game: Advent Calendar: The Missing Hollywood Star
  • Alison: Advent of Code
  • Liz: The Muppet Christmas Carol
• 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)

124: The Third D Isn’t What You Think

John is horrified, Alison is spelunking, and Liz is detecting.

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:

• Letters of comment
  • Ali Baker Brooks
  • Andrew Hogg
    • 4D Golf
    • Braid
  • Archipelacon 2
  • Caroline Mullan
  • Chris Garcia
    • Some accusations against Ekpeki have been disproved
  • Farah Mendlesohn
  • Ivan Sinha
  • Jonny Baddeley
  • June Young
    • Aurora Australis Alerts
    • Aurora Now
    • AuroraWatch UK
    • SpaceWeatherLive
  • MonkeyKing
  • Roseanna Pendlebury
  • Shia Lia
  • Tommy Ferguson
    • Reconnect
• Upcoming conventions
  • Eastercon 2026: Iridescence at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole
    • Bid chaired by Phil Dyson
  • Eastercon 2027: Glasgow
    • Bid chaired by Alan Fleming and David Bamford
  • Eastercon 2028: Gateshead?
  • Novacon 2025
  • Conrunner 2026
    • To be chaired by Esther MacCallum-Stewart in February
  • WisCONline 2025
  • Edmonton 2030
• Picks
  • John: Mothership
    • Mothership Month
  • Alison: Caves of Qud
  • Liz: Rise of the Golden Idol
  • (Sorry that they’re all games, Mark)
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Ohmudillo” by Sophie van Setten
    • Alt text: The Glasgow 2024 logo drawn in pencils and crayon, but across the middle there is a segmented creature with eight eyes and mandibles. At the top, the words “Octothorpe 124” appear in blue.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

123: Infinite Amount of Annual Leave

John is going to Seattle, Alison is going to the Åland Islands, and Liz is going to Belfast.

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: Money, grim darkness

• Belfast Eastercon
• Seattle 2025
• Archipelacon 2
• Back to Our Futures
  • The Dark Room
• Liz’s Adrian Tchaikovsky scoop
• Edmonton Worldcon bid
• Picks
  • John: Wrath and Glory
  • Alison: Timestalker
  • Liz: The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
    • Goodie from Goodreads
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Fully Caffeinated” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: A coffee stain on a piece of paper on which are written the words “Octothorpe 123” and “fully caffineated”.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

122: Topical Pumpkin

John is on the periphery, Alison is carving, and Liz went to Japan.

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: con artistry, privilege, racism

• Letters of comment
  • Jake Casella Brookins
    • Sankey diagrams on the Ancillary Review of Books
  • Ali Baker Brooks
    • I’m a Fan of That
  • Christopher J Garcia
  • Emily January
  • Kat Kourbeti
    • SH@25 is a new, year-long interview and feature series that will delve into the archives, celebrate the work of past contributors and staff, and highlight the contributions of Strange Horizons to SFF publishing and the wider community.
  • Caroline Mullan
  • Zoe O’Connell
  • Roman Orszanski
    • Booking flights on a phone
• Awards
  • World Fantasy Awards
  • The Kitschies
  • Ursula K LeGuin award
    • Strange Horizons review in two parts: one, two
• Oghenochovwe Donald Ekpeki
  • Erin Cairns has reported that Ekpeki stole a story and passed it off as his own
    • On Bluesky
    • On Google Drive
    • File 770 report
  • Cairns tried to sound this alarm on X in June
  • Reactions
    • Gautam Bhatia
    • L D Lewis (requires Bluesky login)
  • Ekpeki’s response
  • Jason Sanford talks about his reaction to the news: one, two
• Picks
  • John: Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
  • Alison: Bridge Command
    • Alison was given free tickets by the venue’s PR team
  • Liz: Japan
    • Neat effects like Tokyo Disneyland’s Pepper’s ghost or Shiriki Utundu
    • Liz was not given free tickets but if anyone wants to give me free tickets to Disney parks please get in touch
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Octothorpe, Octothorpe, Octothorpe” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: A pumpkin carved with an image of Beetlejuice, with the words “Episode 122” at the top of the image and “Octothorpe, Octothorpe, Octothorpe” at the bottom.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

121: All About the Vibes

John, Alison and Liz read Grass by Sheri S Tepper.

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: Rape, consensual interspecies sex, murder, classism, plague/disease

• Adam Roberts’ review of Grass
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Three Little Hippae” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: Three hippae stand on a landscape of alien grass and plants in blue, purple, red, teal, and orange underneath a pinkish sky. The words “Octothorpe 121” appear at the top and the words “Grass Sheri S Tepper” appear at the bottom.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

120: Activate Liz

John does a funny voice, Alison recoils, and Liz loves big stats and she cannot lie.

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 5)

• Letters of comment
  • Abigail Nussbaum
  • Chris Garcia
    • Alison closing a parenthesis
  • Emily January
  • España Sheriff
  • Farah Mendlesohn
  • Ivan Sinha
  • Nicholas Whyte
    • Upcoming eclipses
  • Tammy Coxen
• 2024 Hugo Voting Statistics
  • 2024 Sankey diagrams
  • 2020 Sankey diagrams
• Picks
  • John: The Substance
    • Definitely not Subterranea
  • Alison: UFO 50
  • Liz: Alien Clay
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Judge Coxon” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: Words read ‘Octothorpe 120: Introducing Judge Coxon. “I am the lore”’. They are around a picture of John as a Judge in the style of 2000AD, holding a big stack of books. The logo of the Clarke Award may or may not appear in the artwork.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

119: Only One of Them Is My Bludgeoning Hand, John

John is not assigning blame, Alison is someone, and Liz is bludgeoning.

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 or on Instagram) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Sexual assault (Neil Gaiman allegations, at 39:28 to 42:02).

• Letters of comment
  • Niall Harrison
  • On our Hugo win/recusing
    • Andy on Mastodon
    • Chris Garcia
    • Meg MacDonald
    • Perianne Lurie
    • Renay
    • Sandra Bond’s poem
  • On info desk and maps
    • Alan Fleming
    • Doug Faunt
    • Peter Sullivan
  • On communications
    • Chris Garcia
    • Duncan MacGregor on Mastodon
  • On WSFS Business Meeting
    • June Young (email, 9 September)
    • Chris Garcia (email, 29 August)
      • Martin Freeman circa 2001
      • Post from Nicholas Whyte on consultative vote
    • DC on Mastodon
    • Duncan MacGregor on Mastodon
    • Raj on Mastodon
    • Our brand is now WSFS Commentators and people like it?
    • Laurie Burchell
  • On Worldcon attendance numbers
    • Tero on Mastodon
    • aoanla on Mastodon
  • Miscellaneous
    • Hugo finalists: Raj on Mastodon
    • Programme: aoanla on Mastodon
    • Back to Our Futures
  • We also heard from:
    • Ali Baker Brooks, Angela Rosin, Catherine Pickersgill, Curt Phillips, Damien Warman, Dave Coxon, España Sheriff, Farah Mendlesohn, Fiona Moore, Fran Dowd, Gav Reads, Iain Clark, Jonathan Baddeley, Julie Faith McMurray, Karen Schaffer, Leigh Edmonds, Lilian Edwards, Malcolm Hutchison, Mike Scott, Neil Ottenstein, Phil Dyson, Roseanna Pendlebury, Trish
• Neil Gaiman
  • File 770
  • Genre Grapevine
  • Elise Matthesen on Dreamwidth
  • The Guardian
  • Theremina on Patreon
• Future Worldcons
  • Seattle 2025
    • Seattle is having a Poetry Hugo
    • Seattle has announced a judged film festival
  • LAcon V looks good
    • Good guests
    • “The LA in 2026 bid received 452 out of 531 votes cast.”
  • Tel Aviv in 2027
  • Brisbane in 2028
• The latest episode of FANAC History Zoom is “The secret history of Plokta”, with Steve Davies, Sue Mason, Alison Scott, and Mike Scott
• Picks
  • John: Alien: Romulus
  • Alison: KAOS
  • Liz: Control
• Credits
  • Cover art: “We got a lot of letters” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: A famous photograph of Margaret Hamilton standing beside printed outputs of the code that took the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon, overlaid with the words “Octothorpe 119” and “Our Listeners Write In”.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

118: Och Aye, Sci-Fi

John is savage, Alison hates paper, and Liz likes stationery.

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: harsh criticism (Publications), racism (Picks)

• Glasgow wants your feedback on Facebook
• Worldcon photography
  • Glasgow 2024 photographs on Flickr
  • Andrew Hogg: Noted Fan Artist
  • Andy Openshaw’s photo on BlueSky
• Halls 4 and 5
  • Staples
  • WOOF
  • In Memoriam
  • Boris the Spider
  • John’s Swag
• Communications
  • Join fancon.dev on Discord
• Picks
  • John: The Acolyte
  • Alison: Nimona
  • Liz: The Case of the Golden Idol
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Armadillo Pins” by Sara Felix (lettering by Alison Scott)
    • Alt text: Three pins of armadillos flying colourful spaceships are on top of a piece of paper with blobs of glue that look like planets. The lettering “Octothorpe 118” appears above in a similar style to the pins.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

117: You Made That Joke Last Time, John

John liked the entertainment, Alison didn’t queue, and Liz wanted soup.

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
  • Doug Faunt
  • Renay
    • We are recusing for at least the 2025 Hugos
    • Renay is known for Lady Business and the Hugo Award Spreadsheet of Doom
  • ULTIMAFAX on YouTube:
    • “Allison [sic] looks exactly like she sounds lol. john does not”
• Fancast recommendations:
  • Stitch and Bitch by Kalanadi
  • FANAC Fan History by Joe Siclari and Edie Stern
  • Hugo, Girl! by Lori, Haley and Amy 🥰
• The Godzilla Minus One eligibility extension was voted down
• Queue entertainment
  • Cardinal Cox
  • The Quest NPC
• The Long List of World Science Fiction Conventions (Worldcons)
• Glasgow 2024
  • Back to Our Futures
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Hugo Evolution” by Iain J Clark (arranged by Alison Scott)
    • Alt text: Three photographs dominate the centre of the image. The left-hand photograph is of a prototype Hugo made of rough wood and cardboard; the centre photograph is of a rough-ish wood base and tin foil rocket but with the actual acrylic and etching, and the right-hand photograph is of the finished Hugo Award. Text below the photos reads “protoprototype”, “prototype”, and “2024 Hugo”. Above, the words “Octothorpe 117” appear.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

116: I’m Not Absolutely Sure I Voted

John, Alison and Liz have won Hugo Awards.

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!

• Credits
  • Cover art: “Octothorpe and Others” by Simon Bubb (CC BY-NC 2.0)
    • Alt text: John, Liz and Alison (I know, listener, I know) are looking off to the right holding their Hugo Awards as people take photographs of them on the stage at the SEC Armadillo.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)