June 05, 2025

136: When Do You Not Want to Talk About Games?

1 hour 8 minutes

John is ambivalent, Alison is against, and Liz is hangry.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], join our Facebook group, 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

Letters of comment

Ali Baker Brooks (Facebook)

Chris Garcia (email)

2008 Worldcon site selection

Farah Mendlesohn (email)

Dream Foundry

The original announcement of the Carole Goldman Fund

Con or Bust

“If you are Palestinian, or identify as a member of the Palestinian diaspora … you may qualify for a larger grant from the [Carole] Goldman Fund.”

The deadline for the 2025 round seems to have been October 2024, so it might be worth checking before October 2025 if you’re interested in the 2026 round

2026 Eurocon: Metropol Con in Berlin

Jan Harley (Facebook)

Kin-Ming Looi (Facebook)

Looi

Raj (Mastodon)

Tammy Coxen (Bluesky)

We also heard from Lynelle Howell, Peter Sullivan, Sam Skipsey, Sandra Bond, and Shi Lala

Eastercon 2025: Reconnect in Belfast

Rattlebag has won Best Bar in Northern Ireland at the CLASS Awards

Worldcon 2025: Seattle

Consultative votes on Retro Hugo Awards and Best Professional/Fan Artist

New Business Meeting business had to have been submitted by 4 June 2025

Apparently WSFS is pronounced “whiz-fizz”?!

“About Choosing Convention Program Participants” by Erin Underwood

“Genre Grapevine’s Deep Dive into the Use of ChatGPT by Seattle Worldcon” by Jason Sanford

Picks

John: Welcome to Forever by Nathan Tavares

Alison: Andor

J Michael Straczynski is moving to the UK to write British TV shows

Liz: The Incandescent by Emily Tesh

Novacon 54

Credits

Cover art: “Liz Hits the Smörgåsbord” by Alison Scott

Alt text: Liz, depicted as the Incredible Hulk, comes across a table on which lie many items of food (sketched in black and white) including John (a sausage roll) and Alison (an almond croissant), rendered in colour. The words “Octothorpe 136” appear at the top and “You won’t like Liz when she’s hangry” appear at the bottom.

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

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By John Coxon, Alison Scott, Liz Batty

66 ratings