104: Groundbreaking and Great Octothorpe

John, Alison and Liz discuss what SF they enjoyed from 2023.
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Content warnings this episode: None
Fanzine
The Ancillary Review of Books
IDEA
Nerds of a Feather

Fan Artist
Alison Scott
España Sheriff

Fan Writer
Camestros Felapton
Paul Weimer
Sandra Bond

Fancast
Going Rogue

Game/Interactive Work
Video games
Baldur’s Gate 3
Chants of Sennaar
Dredge
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Tabletop games
Apiary
Earthborne Rangers
Moon
Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game
INELIGIBLE: Hegemony

Galactic Starcruiser
Adrian Hon’s write-up
Cass Morris’s write-up


Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)
Blue-Eyed Samurai (Netflix)
Doctor Who (BBC iPlayer, Disney+)
For All Mankind (Apple TV+)
Foundation (Apple TV+)
The Last of Us (Now)
The Mandalorian (Disney+)
Poker Face (Now)
Silo (Apple TV+)
Star Trek: Lower Decks (Paramount+)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+)
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Netflix)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)
Asteroid City (Now Cinema)
Barbie (rent or buy)
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Paramount+)
Ghosts, series 5 (BBC iPlayer)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Disney+)
The Marvels (Disney+)
Nimona (Netflix)
Polite Society (Now Cinema)
Poor Things (rent or buy)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Now Cinema)

Best Related Work
50 Years of Text Games by Aaron A Reed
Silverwolf

A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith
All These Worlds: Reviews and Essays by Niall Harrison
A Traveller in Time: The Critical Practice of Maureen Kincaid Speller, ed. Nina Allan

Best Graphic Story
Moon Knight, volume 9 by Jed MacKay, Alessandro Cappuccio, and Rachelle Rosenberg
Why Don’t You Love Me? by Paul B Rainey

Best Series
Dune by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
Elric by Michael Moorcock
Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie
The Final Architecture by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Tyrant Philosophers by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Best Short Fiction
“Spring Woods Spring” by B Pladek
“The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer
Find stories to read at Rocket Stack Rank

Best Novella
A Theory of Haunting by Sarah Monette
Walking Practice by Dolki Min
“On the English Approach to the Study of History” by E Saxey

Best Semiprozine
Giganotasaurus
Strange Horizons
wot, no https?!


Best Novel
Bridge by Lauren Beukes
The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez
Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
Hopeland by Ian McDonald
Julia by Sandra Newman
Him by Geoff Ryman
Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford
City of Last Chances and The House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
The Year in Review 2023 by Graham Sleight

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 word “Octothorpe” appears in scattered letters around the artwork, against a pinky-purple background.

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