Octothorpe

75: Optimus Prime But for Books

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
  • The Locus fundraiser is well over target
  • Amazon are stopping doing Kindle Periodical magazine subscriptions
  • Interesting numbers on subscribers/supporters from Michael Damien Thomas
• 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
• Liz is going to do the runalongwomble TBR challenge
• Picks:
  • John: The Moonday Letters by Emmi Itäranta (paperback, epub, audiobook)
  • Alison: Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchison (paperback, epub, audiobook)
    • Please recommend me (and everyone else) one fantastic 2022 book to read
    • Recommend me one science fiction or fantasy thing from 2022 that you’ve particularly enjoyed that is not a novel
    • Strange Horizons’ 2022 in Review
  • Liz: A Game of Birds and Wolves by Simon Parkin (paperback, epub, audiobook)
• Aftershow:
  • If I Ran the Zoo…Con (NESFA Press, The Book Patch)
• Credits
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

74: Great Cthulhu

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)

73: A Magic Cave Full of Games

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
    • There Has Always Been Locus
  • Perrianne Lurie
  • Mike Scott
  • Duncan MacGregor
  • Raj on Twitter
• Graphs!
• European Fan Fund (EFF)
  • European Fan Fund rules
  • European Fan Fund announcement
• TAFF race in 2023 now open - GUFF stuff
• Smofcon goes to Providence, Rhode Island (not Sweden)
  • But Eurocon is in Sweden
• We are on Mastodon:
  • Octothorpe
  • John
  • Alison
  • Liz
• Picks
  • John: Star Wars: The High Republic
  • Alison: Dragonmeet
    • Beans dice
  • 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)

72: I’m Not a Fan in the Way John Is

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:
  • John: Andor (Disney+)
  • Alison: Andor (Disney+)
  • Liz: Andor (Disney+)
    • With a 70s-style intro sequence
• 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)

71: Just Nearly Froze to Death

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)

70: Oh

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)

69: Hugo Thunderdome

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
  • E Pluribus Hugo
    • It was up for reratification at Chicon 8
    • Nicholas Whyte wrote about EPH in 2015
• 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)

68: It Made John Laugh

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
  • Kev McVeigh (on Octothorpe 63)
    • Burntcoat by Sarah Hall (epub, hardback, audiobook, Amazon)
  • Congratulations to Raj for catching up!
    • [Do not listen from the beginning – John]
    • [It is also okay to skip episodes – Alison]
  • Mark Plummer
  • Chris Garcia
  • Farah Mendlesohn
• British Fantasy Society Awards
  • Maureen Kincaid Speller
    • Tribute on Strange Horizons
• 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:
  • John: A Vertical Empire: History of the British Rocketry Programme by CN Hill (ebook, paperback, Amazon)
  • Alison: Wandavision (Disney+)
  • Liz: Return to Monkey Island (Steam, Nintendo Switch)
• 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)

67: Straight Back to Star Wars

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
  • Chicon 8
  • Dragon Con
  • Pemmi-con
  • Gen Con
• Chicago
  • Morse Museum of American Art (not in Chicago)
  • Chicago Architecture Foundation Center River Cruise aboard Chicago’s First Lady
  • Art Institute of Chicago
• Hugo Award statistics
• Picks:
  • Alison: Phantom Peak
  • Liz: The Founders trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett
    • Foundryside (epub, paperback, Amazon)
    • Shorefall (epub, paperback, Amazon)
    • Locklands (epub, paperback, Amazon)
  • John: Galaxy’s Edge
• 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)

66: Thank You, Steven

John is in the fanzine lounge, Alison is under a bison hat, and Liz is good, thank you.

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

• We talked to the following people!
  • Fia Karlsson, TAFF delegate
  • Lynelle Howell, Facilities Division Head for CoNZealand
  • Chuck Serface, Hugo Award finalist for Journey Planet
  • Ric Bretschneider, co-host of Fanboy Planet
  • Perry Middlemiss, past Worldcon chair and co-host of Two Chairs Talking
  • James Bacon, past Worldcon chair and Hugo Award finalist for Journey Planet
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Hugo Reception”
    • Alt text: A purple square with “OCTOTHORPE 66” written at the bottom and inset, a photograph of John, Alison, and Liz. John is wearing a grey suit with a Hugo Award finalist pin and a matching purple tie and mask; Alison is wearing a black mask, a burgundy dress, a tiara by Sara Felix, and has glitter on her temple; and Liz is wearing a green dress and matching mask, a necklace by Vanessa Applegate, and a yellow shrug. They are against a backdrop which has alternating Hugo Award logos and Chicon 8 logos.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)