156: Surprisingly Well-Adjusted Young Gentlemen

John has a headache, Alison has a cold, and Liz is fine, thanks for asking.

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

Content warnings this episode: None

• Letters of comment
  • Liz said “RoboCup world championship” not “RoboCop world championship”
    • RoboCup Germany
    • RoboCup Federation
    • RoboCup on Wikipedia
  • Alexandra Lanes (Bluesky)
  • Ali Baker Brooks (Facebook)
  • Ang Rosin (Facebook)
  • Ed Morland (Bluesky)
  • Farah Mendlesohn (Facebook)
  • Fredrik V Coulter (Facebook)
  • Juan Sanmiguel (email)
  • Kin-Ming Looi (Facebook)
  • Neil Ottenstein (Facebook)
  • Paul Weimer (Bluesky, email)
  • Phil Dyson (Facebook)
  • Renay (email)
    • Hugo Award Recommendations!
  • We also heard from Alex Holden, Finbarr O’Reilly, Kev McVeigh, Roseanna Pendlebury, Shi Lala
• GUFF result
  • Farah’s Facebook group: From Perth to Perth!
• Nebula Awards
  • The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association
  • This year’s nominees
    • “How SFWA Is Administering the Nebula Awards Policy Against LLM-Use” on File 770
    • “Indie Game Awards rescinds Clair Obscur’s GOTY wins over use of generative AI” on Polygon
  • G Willow Wilson’s thoughts on the Best Comic category
• Locus
  • 2026 fundraiser
• Eastercon 2026: Iridescence
  • The program is out
  • You can find John here and Alison here and Liz here
  • “Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names – With Examples”
• Picks
  • John: Vantage
  • Alison: Slay the Spire 2
  • Liz: Formula 1: Drive to Survive
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Eastercon Planning” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: A black-and-white cartoon. John is behind a stack of games, saying “Games Room”; Alison is behind a stack of printers and paper, saying “Newsletter”; Liz is on a beach reading with sunglasses and a cocktail. In purple, the words “Octothorpe 156 Eastercon Planning:” appear at the top and “questioning our life choices” at the bottom.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)