Octothorpe John Coxon, Alison Scott, Liz Batty

John was gaming, Alison was dancing, and Liz was batty.
An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, or tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: Wealth privilege (chapter 3)
Letters of comment
Chris Garcia
Curt Phillips
Starter Villain review

David Ian Salter
Ersatz Culture
Peter Sullivan
Sandra Bond

Levitation (Eastercon 2024)
Post-convention report

FunCon
Alan Fleming’s report

UK Games Expo
Glasgow 2024 (Worldcon 2024)
Site selection is open for Worldcon 2026
Brisbane has (re-)announced their bid for Worldcon 2028

Picks
John: The Beast
Spoilery interview with George MacKay

Alison: Baldur’s Gate 3
Liz: Godzilla Minus One (Netflix)

Credits
Cover art: “That Octothorpe Series” by España Sheriff
Alt text: John, Alison and Liz stand in the transporter on a Constitution-class Federation starship. They are mid-transportation, made of sparkles instead of fully fleshed out. The words “Octothorpe 112” appear beneath them.

Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John, Alison, and Liz read the 2024 Hugo Award finalists for Best Novel.
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: Rape and murder during a brief discussion of historically accurate piracy in Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, discussion of billionaires during Starter Villain
John’s rankings:
Some Desperate Glory
Translation State
Saint of Bright Doors
Witch King
Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
Starter Villain

Alison’s rankings:
Saint of Bright Doors
Some Desperate Glory
Translation State
Witch King
Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
Starter Villain

Liz’s rankings:
Some Desperate Glory
Saint of Bright Doors
Translation State
Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
Witch King
Starter Villain

Consensus:
Some Desperate Glory
Saint of Bright Doors
Translation State
Witch King
Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
Starter Villain

Credits
Cover art: “Favourite Reading Positions” by Sue Mason
Alt text: John is in the bottom-left, sitting in a chair, wearing a blue shirt and purple trousers, holding a can, and reading an ebook. Alison is in the upper-middle, lying down upside down, wearing a purple shirt and stripy trousers, and reading an ebook. Liz is in the bottom-right, wearing a pink shirt with green trousers, holding a mug of a hot beverage, and reading a physical book. They are surrounded by floating beer bottles, books, the Moon, a mug with a moose on it, and two cats. The text “Octothorpe 111” and “Hugo Novels 2024” appears to the top and the bottom of the image.

Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John is a professor, Alison doesn’t have a bucket list, and Liz is the country’s foremost fan historian.
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: More wealth privilege (chapter 2)
Letters of comment
Bridget Bradshaw
Christopher J Garcia
Farah Mendlesohn
Jonathan Cowie
Jonny Baddeley
Kin-Ming Looi
Sandra Bond
Tammy Coxen

Awards
Babel wins “Best Translated Work” at the 2024 Xingyun Awards
Clarke Award finalists
John: 0, Alison: 1, Liz: 3
The winner will be announced on 24 July

2024 Nebula Awards
2023 Nebula Awards
Locus Awards

Glasgow 2024
The Hugo Packet is now available
Joel’s Whisky Zoom is hosting a tour of the Clydeside Distillery on 9 August at 7pm

Picks
John: Sunderland Shorts Film Festival
Soulmate, Beautiful Things, Ensouled, Finger Food, Bisected, Own Home?, R1CO, The First Time I Never Met You
Wes Anderson’s short adaptations of Roald Dahl

Alison: Aurora
Liz’s view on auroras

Liz: A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin [paper, ebook, audiobook, Amazon]

Credits
Cover art: “Explain 2233” by Alison Scott
Alt text: Three photographs of the night sky, labelled Newcastle, Bangkok, and “Quite near London” (the labels were written by a Londoner, which is why it doesn’t just say “London”). Text above reads “Octothorpe 110” and below reads “Local Aurora Snapshots”. The Newcastle and London images show photographs of aurora with some minor bits of vegetation intruding; the Bangkok picture shows a skyline of buildings underneath a thunderstorm.

Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

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)