136: When Do You Not Want to Talk About Games?

John is ambivalent, Alison is against, and Liz is hangry.

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
  • Ali Baker Brooks (Facebook)
  • Chris Garcia (email)
    • 2008 Worldcon site selection
  • Farah Mendlesohn (email)
    • Dream Foundry
    • The original announcement of the Carole Goldman Fund
    • Con or Bust
      • “If you are Palestinian, or identify as a member of the Palestinian diaspora … you may qualify for a larger grant from the [Carole] Goldman Fund.”
      • The deadline for the 2025 round seems to have been October 2024, so it might be worth checking before October 2025 if you’re interested in the 2026 round
    • 2026 Eurocon: Metropol Con in Berlin
  • Jan Harley (Facebook)
  • Kin-Ming Looi (Facebook)
    • Looi
  • Raj (Mastodon)
  • Tammy Coxen (Bluesky)
  • We also heard from Lynelle Howell, Peter Sullivan, Sam Skipsey, Sandra Bond, and Shi Lala
• Eastercon 2025: Reconnect in Belfast
  • Rattlebag has won Best Bar in Northern Ireland at the CLASS Awards
• Worldcon 2025: Seattle
  • Consultative votes on Retro Hugo Awards and Best Professional/Fan Artist
  • New Business Meeting business had to have been submitted by 4 June 2025
  • Apparently WSFS is pronounced “whiz-fizz”?!
  • “About Choosing Convention Program Participants” by Erin Underwood
  • “Genre Grapevine’s Deep Dive into the Use of ChatGPT by Seattle Worldcon” by Jason Sanford
• Picks
  • John: Welcome to Forever by Nathan Tavares
  • Alison: Andor
    • J Michael Straczynski is moving to the UK to write British TV shows
  • Liz: The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
    • Novacon 54
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Liz Hits the Smörgåsbord” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: Liz, depicted as the Incredible Hulk, comes across a table on which lie many items of food (sketched in black and white) including John (a sausage roll) and Alison (an almond croissant), rendered in colour. The words “Octothorpe 136” appear at the top and “You won’t like Liz when she’s hangry” appear at the bottom.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)