102: I Fully Comprehend the Mysteries

John, Alison and Liz respond to a letter of comment from Tobes.

Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, check out our subtitles/transcripts, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X, Mastodon or Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Chinese censorship (discussion of the Hugo Awards), Jim Crow Florida (Liz’s pick), general socioeconomic inequality (John’s pick)

• Glasgow 2024’s hotel bookings are open
• Letters of comment
  • Alex Ingram
  • Bill Higgins
  • Chris Garcia
  • Colin Murtagh
  • Jersey Gryphon
  • Karen Schaffer
  • Raj
  • Tobes Valois
• Hugo Awards controversy
  • File 770’s roundup
  • Some recent writing on these topics:
    • Abigail Nussbaum
    • Cora Buhlert
    • Genre Grapevine
  • Ada Palmer on censorship
  • Reaction from Chinese fans
    • A reaction from Zimozi Natsuco
    • Check out Ersatz Culture’s feeds for more information on Chinese reactions (Bluesky, Mastodon)
  • Dave McCarty
    • His apology
    • A link to his Facebook
  • The Useful Idiot
    • It’s not Lenin, it’s a Western term originating in the 1940s and 1950s
  • Worldcon Intellectual Property statement about resignations, censures, and reprimands
  • Glasgow 2024’s Hugo nominations post
• Picks
  • John: The Kitchen, dir. Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares
  • Alison: Dangerous Space, designed by Jason Greeno and Jason Tagmire
  • Liz: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (paperback, ebook, Amazon)
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Scooby Gang” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: Scooby, Velma and Daphne unmask the panda from last week’s cover art, and the person wearing the panda suit looks a lot like Dave McCarty. They say “It was old Mister McCarty all along!” and he says “And I would have gotten away with it too if it hadn’t been for you meddling Hugo finalists!” He is tied up with rope. The words “Octothorpe! 102” appear at the top of the image.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)