John is middle, Alison is even sadder, and Liz is sorry.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Discussion of access issues (chapter 2), wealth privilege (chapter 6)

• Letters of comment
  • Abigail Nussbaum
  • Ali Baker Brooks
  • Andrew January
    • The Eastercon members’ portal
  • Caroline Mullan
  • DC
  • Farah Mendlesohn
    • Critical Friends 8
  • Jacob Holder
  • Mark Plummer
  • Meg MacDonald
• Doc Weir award
  • Dave Langford receives the trophy
    • Alt text: Dave Langford triumphantly lofts a blue Bag for Life from Tesco, which we are expected to believe contains the Doc Weir trophy. He is standing in front of a house.
• GUFF
  • The results
• Chengdu 2023
  • “The Pidu district of Chengdu announces a 10-year science fiction plan”
• Glasgow 2024
  • Town Hall Event: Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards Glasgow
  • Town Hall Event: Site Selection Glasgow 2024
• Eastercon and money
• Picks
  • John: Dredge
  • Alison: Hopeland by Ian McDonald (paper, epub, audiobook, Amazon)
  • Liz: Starling House by Alix E. Harrow (paper, epub, audiobook, Amazon)
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Voyagers” by Ulrika O’Brien
    • Alt text: The background is a starry, lightning-filled square in blues, purples, and yellows. Atop that, there is a spaceship, somewhat like a rocket, with engines coming out of the sides. There are yellow lights shining from it, and a ladder reaches up to a central archway. John, Alison and Liz are depicted as silhouettes, regarding it with wonder. Their shadows stretch off the canvas, and they look faintly alien or futuristic in a hard-to-define manner.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John is ignorant, Alison is first, and Liz is a trendsetter.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: COVID (chapter 8).

• Letters of comment
  • Chris Garcia
    • Maundy Thursday
  • Andy Openshaw
  • Nuala on Bluesky: sorry!
  • Raj recommends pizza crunch
    • Mono
  • Raj on Mastodon
    • Track Changes
  • Meg MacDonald
  • DC’s loc
• Eastercon 2024
  • Telford
    • Telford International Centre
    • KFC
  • Catchup
    • Members’ area
    • Catchup will be closing at the end of April
  • Dealers’ room
    • Beyond Cataclysm
  • COVID
    • No reported cases, as far as we are aware
• Picks
  • John: Thunder Road: Vendetta
  • Alison: Fallout (the TV series)
  • Liz: Stardew Valley
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Vibrant Food Culture” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: A drawing of a blackboard with text that reads: “Octothorpe 108 guide to Glasgow street food.” A picture of a deep fried pizza with glasses is next to text reading ’The “Coxon” pizza crunch’, a picture of three pakora with glasses next to ‘The “Scott” haggis pakora’, and a picture of a deep fried Mars bar next to ‘The “Batty” deep fried Mars bar”. Stars also adorn the backboard, and bottles of red and brown sauce are in the bottom-left-hand corner.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John, Alison, and Nicholas are live from Levitation!

A transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: None

• Thank you very much to our stunt Liz, Nicholas Whyte!
  • Nicholas’ blog, From the Heart of Europe
• April Fool’s Day
  • The rocket in all its glory!
• The Hugo Awards
  • Hugo Award finalists
  • The announcement video
  • Thank you to everyone who nominated us!
  • Congratulations to the other Fancast finalists:
    • The Coode Street Podcast
    • Hugos There
    • Publishing Rodeo
    • 科幻Fans布玛 (Science Fiction Fans Buma)
    • Worldbuilding for Masochists
  • The first Town Hall will be on 20 April 2024
    • Tickets available on Eventbrite
    • The stream will be available on YouTube
  • Three Black Halflings
  • Tammy Coxen
    • The Glasgow Gimlet
    • Tammy’s Tastings
    • Tammy’s podcast, My Tiny Bottles
  • Bigolas Dickolas
• Gallifrey One
• BSFA
  • Join their Discord!
• Picks
  • John: Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (Channel 4)
    • Our cosplay
  • Alison: Eastercon catch-up
  • Nicholas:
    • The Black Archive
    • David Whitaker in an Exciting Adventure with Television by Simon Guerrier
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Octothorpe at Levitation” by Sue Dawson
    • Alt text: John, Alison, and Nicholas Whyte stand in front of a projection of the Octothorpe podcast and behind a panel table. Each of them wears a convention badge, and Nicholas holds the Glasgow Landing Zone Rocket. Nicholas is looking at the camera, while John and Alison are not quite as good at this. The table they stand behind holds beers, coffees, convention newsletters, phone batteries, microphones, and table tents.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John used to be an undergraduate, Alison has been keeping a list, and can Liz be a stunt Liz?

A transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Death (Deb Geisler, chapter 3) and gambling (Hugo Awards, chapter 7; Alison’s pick, chapter 8).

• Letters of comment
  • Chris Garcia
  • Mike Glyer
    • Transcripts
  • Bob Morrell
  • Colin Murtagh
  • We also heard from Jonny Baddeley, Alex Holden, Farah Mendlesohn, and Ang Rosin
• Deb Geisler
  • File 770
• Eastercon
  • Programme
    • Octothorpe Live is at 13:00 on Monday!
  • Games
  • Newsletter
    • Please come help, post in the Discord if you’d like to volunteer!
  • GUFF
    • Vote here!
  • Doc Weir
  • BSFA Awards
• Awards
  • Nebula Award finalists
    • Android Press Games
    • The Bread Must Rise
  • Hugo Award betting markets
    • Liz has decided not to put her referral link here because the people who run the website might be a bit too Silicon Valley-y
  • Hugo, Girl! un-recuse
• Picks
  • John: Airecon
    • Overs: The Cricket Card Game
  • Alison: The 2023 Eastercon souvenir book
    • Balatro
  • Liz: “No CGI is really just INVISIBLE CGI” on YouTube
    • Todd Vaziri on X, BlueSky, Mastodon
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Podcasting Is Magic” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: Three ponies in the style of My Little Pony adorn the cover. The left-hand one is orange, and has a six-sided die as a cutie mark. The central one is teal, and has a rainbow Apple logo for a cutie mark. The right-hand one is blue, and has a Hugo Award for a cutie mark. They look like they are having a nice time. The words “My Little Octothorpe 106” appear at the top, and the words “Podcasting Is Magic” appear at the bottom.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John watches movies, Alison walks on the Moon, and Liz has special bonds.

Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, check out our subtitles/transcripts, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Censorship, in the form of more Hugo Award controversy

• Letters of comment
  • Ang Rosin
  • Andy Openshaw
  • Chris Garcia
    • Zodiac Speaking
  • ErsatzCulture and Raj
  • España Sheriff
    • Brighton 1987
  • Martin Easterbrook
  • Tammy Coxen
  • Sandra Bond
    • Keep an eye out for Poetry Slum!
    • Click here to see the cover
  • Nicholas Jackson on Bluesky
  • Harry Payne on Bluesky
• BSFA Awards shortlist
• Hugo Awards
  • The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion by Chris M Barkley and Jason Sanford
  • Charting the Cliff: An Investigation Into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics by Camestros Felapton and Heather Rose Jones
  • More on Other Chinese Hugo Nominations, based on “Charting the Cliff” by Prograft
  • Recent updates from the MPC/WIP
  • Journey Planet #79
• Picks
  • John: Monolith dir. Matt Vesely
  • Alison: Moonwalkers
  • Liz: FRIENDSHIP
• Credits
  • Cover art: Liz’s Bedtime Reading by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: A famous photograph of Margaret Hamilton standing beside printed outputs of the code that took the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon, overlaid with the words “Octothorpe 105” and “Liz has finished reading the latest Hugo Award exposés”.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John, Alison and Liz respond to a letter of comment from Tobes.

Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, check out our subtitles/transcripts, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X, Mastodon or Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Chinese censorship (discussion of the Hugo Awards), Jim Crow Florida (Liz’s pick), general socioeconomic inequality (John’s pick)

• Glasgow 2024’s hotel bookings are open
• Letters of comment
  • Alex Ingram
  • Bill Higgins
  • Chris Garcia
  • Colin Murtagh
  • Jersey Gryphon
  • Karen Schaffer
  • Raj
  • Tobes Valois
• Hugo Awards controversy
  • File 770’s roundup
  • Some recent writing on these topics:
    • Abigail Nussbaum
    • Cora Buhlert
    • Genre Grapevine
  • Ada Palmer on censorship
  • Reaction from Chinese fans
    • A reaction from Zimozi Natsuco
    • Check out Ersatz Culture’s feeds for more information on Chinese reactions (Bluesky, Mastodon)
  • Dave McCarty
    • His apology
    • A link to his Facebook
  • The Useful Idiot
    • It’s not Lenin, it’s a Western term originating in the 1940s and 1950s
  • Worldcon Intellectual Property statement about resignations, censures, and reprimands
  • Glasgow 2024’s Hugo nominations post
• Picks
  • John: The Kitchen, dir. Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares
  • Alison: Dangerous Space, designed by Jason Greeno and Jason Tagmire
  • Liz: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (paperback, ebook, Amazon)
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Scooby Gang” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: Scooby, Velma and Daphne unmask the panda from last week’s cover art, and the person wearing the panda suit looks a lot like Dave McCarty. They say “It was old Mister McCarty all along!” and he says “And I would have gotten away with it too if it hadn’t been for you meddling Hugo finalists!” He is tied up with rope. The words “Octothorpe! 102” appear at the top of the image.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)