161: You Pay Your Money, You Send Your Books

John, Alison and Liz read the Clarke Award shortlist.

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: Gun control and dystopian government (The Dream Hotel), body dysmorphia (Luminous), child abuse (The Salt Oracle)

• The Arthur C Clarke Award
  • Medium
  • Substack
  • Website
• This year’s shortlist
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
  • The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
  • Luminous by Sylvia Park
  • There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
  • When There Are Wolves Again by EJ Swift
  • The Salt Oracle by Lorraine Wilson
• This year’s submission list
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Judge Coxon’s Last Stand” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: John, wearing a Judge Dredd-style helmet with the Clarke Award logo on it and holding a lightsaber, dispenses judgement from behind a wall of books. The words “Octothorpe 161” appear above him, whilst words below say “Arthur C. Clarke Award 2026: Judge Coxon’s Last Stand”.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)