Episodes
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
76: Does It Matter What We Think?
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
John is watching movies, Alison is making games, and Liz isn’t picky.
Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Twitter or on The Wandering Shop) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: China (chapter 2), death of a parent (chapter 4)
- Letters of comment
- Claire Brialey
- Tammy Coxen
- Chris Garcia
- Irwin Hirsh
- Chengdu is a shower
- Tip of the hat to File 770 for some sterling reporting on this
- Chengdu Worldcon changes dates, site
- Mockups appear to show buildings permanently branded with Worldcon/WSFS marks
- Images of the proposed Chengdu Science Fiction Museum
- Chinese fans are not best pleased
- It’s no longer in the summer so students will be in school and not able to go, and the students are the ones who brought the con to China
- But, Chengdu can take credit card payments now
- Fiona Moore confirms
- GUFF
- Alison announced in Octothorpe 73 that she was going to go after the coronation
- But there’s now an Australian Natcon (Conflux, 29 September to 2 October) with which Alison is aiming to intersect
- Picks:
- Credits
- Cover art: Groundhog Day by España Sheriff
- Alt text: Three groundhogs in the general shapes of John, Alison and Liz regard their shadow, in the shape of an octothorpe, beneath the text “Octothorpe 76”.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: Groundhog Day by España Sheriff
Thursday Jan 19, 2023
75: Optimus Prime But for Books
Thursday Jan 19, 2023
Thursday Jan 19, 2023
John wants to play, Alison has met lots of authors, and Liz is a womble.
Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast (on wandering.shop) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: Capitalism (chapter 3), China (chapter 4)
- Letters of comment
- Sandra Bond
- Lilian Edwards
- Chris “The Legend” Garcia
- Duncan MacGregor
- Dave Mansfield
- Curt Phillips
- Kevin Standlee
- Raj on Twitter
- Magazines
- Chengdu is a shower:
- Chengdu are finally taking non-Chinese memberships
- A mere 22 days before the deadline for Hugos
- Chengdu have not yet produced PR1
- There is another petition against Sergei Lukyanenko
- Chengdu are finally taking non-Chinese memberships
- Liz is going to do the runalongwomble TBR challenge
- Picks:
- Aftershow:
- If I Ran the Zoo…Con (NESFA Press, The Book Patch)
- Credits
Thursday Jan 05, 2023
74: Great Cthulhu
Thursday Jan 05, 2023
Thursday Jan 05, 2023
John and Alison read a poem by Sandra Bond.
- Credits
- Cover art: The Great Cthulhu and John Coxon by Alison Scott
- Alt text: Liz and Alison (dressed in their Sunday best) take John (dressed in Star Wars cosplay but with short trousers) to see Cthulhu, depicted in a cage at the zoo.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: The Great Cthulhu and John Coxon by Alison Scott
Thursday Dec 22, 2022
73: A Magic Cave Full of Games
Thursday Dec 22, 2022
Thursday Dec 22, 2022
John is going to Sweden, Alison is going to Australia, and Liz isn’t moving back to Europe.
Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast (on wandering.shop) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: Capitalism (chapter 1)
- Letters of comment
- Phil Dyson
- Chris Garcia
- Perrianne Lurie
- Mike Scott
- Duncan MacGregor
- Raj on Twitter
- Graphs!
- European Fan Fund (EFF)
- TAFF race in 2023 now open - GUFF stuff
- Smofcon goes to Providence, Rhode Island (not Sweden)
- We are on Mastodon:
- Picks
- John: Star Wars: The High Republic
- Alison: Dragonmeet
- Liz: It by Stephen King (Amazon, paperback, epub, audiobook)
- Credits
- Cover art: Visions of St Octothorpe
- Alt text: Three rodents stand under a mantlepiece covered in holly above a roaring fire. John’s stocking has dice and is orange; Alison’s has moose and is green; Liz has molecules and is blue. Rodent John is holding a B2-EMO coffee mug and wearing entirely Gregg’s-themed Christmas wear. Alison has her knitting, and is wearing red, orange and green Christmas wear. Liz is crocheting and is decked out in tasteful indigo. Each of the rodents is having a thoroughly lovely Christmas and wishes you the same!
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: Visions of St Octothorpe
Thursday Dec 08, 2022
72: I’m Not a Fan in the Way John Is
Thursday Dec 08, 2022
Thursday Dec 08, 2022
John isn’t gambling, Alison isn’t reading, and Liz doesn’t care.
Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: Capitalism (chapter 3)
- Letters of comment
- DC
- Mark Plummer
- Karen Schaffer
- Curt Phillips
- Christopher J Garcia
- Hugo, Girl!
- Duncan MacGregor
- Beneath Ceaseless Skies recuses from the Hugo Awards
- Locus is crowd funding
- Picks:
- Credits
- Cover art: Ictithirpe by Alison Scott
- Alt text: The text “# Octothorpe” written in fonts that make it look like the Andor logo, and “Seventy Two” written in the Star Wars logo, in a golden colour on black.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: Ictithirpe by Alison Scott
Thursday Nov 24, 2022
71: Just Nearly Froze to Death
Thursday Nov 24, 2022
Thursday Nov 24, 2022
John is on the Holodeck, Alison is in the past, and Liz is at school.
Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: COVID-19 (chapter 5)
- Letters of comment
- Chris Garcia
- Jonny Baddeley
- Farah Mendlesohn
- Peter Sullivan
- Raj
- Locus fundraiser
- Novacon
- Satellite 8
- Picks:
- John: Star Wars Trek: The Next Generation
- Alison: Genre Fiction: The Roaring Years by Peter Nicholls
- Liz: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik
- Credits
- Cover art: Cat Detectives by Alison Scott
- Alt text: John, Alison, and Liz are depicted as cats wearing the clothing of noir detectives by a door marked “Octothorpe Detective Agency”.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: Cat Detectives by Alison Scott
Thursday Nov 10, 2022
70: Oh
Thursday Nov 10, 2022
Thursday Nov 10, 2022
John is logging in, Alison is getting emails, and Liz is collecting Pokémon.
Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: War in Ukraine (chapter 5)
- Letters of comment
- Chris Garcia
- Esther MacCallum-Stewart
- Mark Plummer
- Nicholas Whyte
- Karen Schaffer
- Peter Sullivan
- Raj
- Arthur C Clarke Award winners
- First Nations Travel Fund
- World Fantasy Con will be in Birmingham in 2025
- Chengdu Worldcon
- Picks:
- John: Moon Knight vol. 9 (Marvel Unlimited) and Werewolf By Night (Disney+)
- Alison: Swimming in the North Sea
- Liz: Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin
- Credits
- Cover art: 2024 NASFiC bid by Alison Scott
- Alt text: A drawing of a Canadian Consulate, adorned with Scottish and Canadian flags, and a banner which says “Edinburgh NASFiC 2024: Presupports $60 inc. free T-shirt”. A mountie is in front of the building, which is in the Greco-Roman style. OCTOTHORPE 70 is written at the top, on a light purple sky above the building.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: 2024 NASFiC bid by Alison Scott
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
69: Hugo Thunderdome
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
John is Chris Garcia, Alison is Chris Garcia, and Liz is Chris Garcia.
Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: None
- Hugo statistics by Nicholas Whyte and Kat Jones
- Credits
- Cover art: What If…? by Alison Scott
- Alt text: Three figures with long brown hair and brown bears are central in the image. They look eerily like Chris Garcia. The left Chris Garcia is wearing John’s glasses and a Flintstones shirt with his arms folded; the central Chris Garcia is wearing Alison’s glasses and a black shirt with his (her?) arms outstretched and fingers doing horns; and the right Chris Garcia is wearing a stripy blue-and-white top and appears to be doing a wrestling move in a downward fashion. The left Chris Garcia has a speech bubble saying “WELCOME TO THE VERY 69TH EPISODE OF OCTOTHORPE. I’M CHRIS GARCIA”. The central Chris Garcia has a speech bubble saying “I’M CHRIS GARCIA”. The right Chris Garcia has a speech bubble saying “AND I’M CHRIS GARCIA. IN THIS EPISODE I REVEAL MY MULTITASKING TIPS”. The text “What if… all three of us were Chris Garcia? appears in a typeface reminiscent of classic Tintin covers in the top-centre of the artwork. The top-left corner has “Octothorpe 69 Nov 2022” written in the style of a comic cover; the top-right corner has “Rejected by the Comics Code Authority”. In the bottom-right hand corner the words “You can catch Chris Garcia every month in Journey Planet and the Drink Tank” appear. A barcode in the bottom-left hand corner is actually cunningly-disguised text that reads (ROT13 to avoid spoilers) “Lbh ner Puevf Tnepvn naq V pynvz zl svir cbhaqf”. The background is two shades of purple.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: What If…? by Alison Scott
Thursday Oct 13, 2022
68: It Made John Laugh
Thursday Oct 13, 2022
Thursday Oct 13, 2022
John is clever, Alison has lost her composure, and Liz is confused by WSFS.
Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: None
- Letters of comment
- British Fantasy Society Awards
- Maureen Kincaid Speller
- Glasgow 2024
- Join here!
- WSFS Memberships
- These have confused some people
- WSFS Memberships let you vote in the Hugo Awards and in Site Selection
- But not in the WSFS Business Meeting
- Cheryl Morgan at Salon Futura
- Picks:
- Credits
- Cover art: Glasgow by Sara Felix with kind permission of Glasgow 2024
- Alt text: The Glasgow 2024 logo with black line drawings of John, Alison and Liz on three planets. Alison has a tiara. In place of the words “Glasgow 2024” are the words “Octothorpe 68”. The logo is on a background in Octothorpe’s purple.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: Glasgow by Sara Felix with kind permission of Glasgow 2024
Thursday Sep 29, 2022
67: Straight Back to Star Wars
Thursday Sep 29, 2022
Thursday Sep 29, 2022
John has hairspray, Alison has a tiara, and Liz has a necklace.
Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: Falling out of boats (chapter 8)
- Letters of comment
- Chris Garcia
- Facebook, Twitter, assorted other mentions
- Conventions
- Chicago
- Hugo Award statistics
- Picks:
- Credits
- Cover art: “Alison Phones It In” by Alison Scott
- Alt text: A commemorative plate with a blue rim which says “Octothorpe 67” and “Number #2 in an obviously infinite series” on it. Within that there is another commemorative plate with a purple rim edged in gold, and gold writing which says “Octothorpe 64” and the names of the hosts on that rim. In the centre, three figures; John on the left, giving a thumbs up in a yellow Star Trek uniform with ocular implants like Rutherford’s in Lower Decks; Alison in the centre wearing a red Star Trek uniform; and Liz on the right wearing a blue Star Trek uniform with blue-green skin and pointy ears. We each have a single command pip. In the top-right corner there is text reading “UNIQUE COMMEMORATIVE PLATE OF A COMMEMORATIVE PLATE”.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
- Cover art: “Alison Phones It In” by Alison Scott