163: Board Games 💋

John couldn’t check, Alison was wrong, and Liz is accurate.

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
  • Ali Baker (Facebook)
    • One-day Frances Hardinge symposium
  • Chris Garcia (email)
  • Frederik Coulter (Facebook)
  • Jake Casella Brookins (email)
    • “Hugo Overlaps: Some Comparisons” on Ancillary Review of Books
    • Casella’s SFF Award Comparator
  • Kate Macdonald (email)
  • Kin-Ming Looi (Facebook)
  • Mike Scott (Facebook)
  • Neil Ottenstein (Facebook)
  • Niall Harrison
  • Paul Weimer (email)
  • Raj (Mastodon)
    • The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops
    • European Coffee Trip
  • Scott Edelman (Facebook)
    • Broken Clock Café (Facebook, Instagram)
    • Tantrum Doughnuts
    • Pastéis Lisboa
  • Tammy Coxen (Bluesky and Facebook)
    • Meg MacDonald’s offer on Bluesky
  • Trish Matson (Bluesky)
  • We also heard from: DC, Farah Mendlesohn, Ivan Sinha, Karen Schaffer
• Worldcon 2026: LAcon V in Los Angeles
  • It’s that special time of year again, the WSFS Business Meeting Agenda is out!
  • Business Meetings at LAcon V
  • 17 July, 26 July, 1 August, 9 August, 30 August
• Eating the Fantastic
  • Tammy Coxen wrote about TGI Fridays being American and how Alison “couldn’t be more wrong”
• Eurocon 2026: Metropol Con in Berlin, Germany
• Eurocon 2027: Fórum Fantástico in Lisbon, Portugal
  • Fantasycon/World Fantasy Con
• Eurocon 2028: Bid for Croatia
• Eurocon 2029: Bid for Warsaw, Poland
• Eurocon 2030:
  • Bid for Birmingham, England
  • Bid for Copenhagen, Denmark
• Other things Liz thinks are neat:
  • Eddie Clark has finished the Queersar not-an-award blog series
• Picks
  • John: Widow’s Bay
    • Katie Dippold as the Babadook
    • Hugo, Girl!’s episode on Widow’s Bay
  • Alison: Portmeirion
  • Liz: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Alison the Goldfish” by Sue Mason
    • Alt text: A goldfish with the head of Alison wearing goggles and swim headphones. The words “Moist Ear Tunes*” appear at the top and the words “SF Fandom’s Premier Swim Headphone Podcast”, “Fun Fact: Moist Ear Tunes is a nonogram of Octothorpe 163” and “Sue Mason art appears courtesy of Plokta (thanks guys)” appear at the bottom. I know that Alison has forgotten to include the asterisk on the footnote, but since she also has the memory of a goldfish maybe it’s a delightful and multilayered joke.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)