June 18, 2026

162: Do You Have Stirrups on Your Bicycle?

1 hour 10 minutes

John wasn’t overcrowded, Alison likes it small, and Liz has never been.

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 Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Drug use, war (John’s pick)

Letters of comment

Christopher J Garcia (email)

DC (Bluesky)

Els (Bluesky)

Ivan Sinha (Facebook)

Premier Inns in Llandudno

Jonathan Harden (Bluesky)

Nicholas Whyte (email)

“Best Related Work eligibility for the Hugo Awards”

Scott Edelman (Bluesky)

Eating the Fantastic

Tommy Ferguson (email)

Trish Matson (Bluesky)

Shokz OpenSwim Pro

Alison: Raj (Mastodon)

We also heard from Ali Baker Brooks, aoanla, Jonathan Baddeley, Neil Ottenstein

Satellite 9

Ottoman Coffeehouse

Blood on the Clocktower

Bristol 1350

Codex Naturalis

Farah Mendlesohn is running a one-day event about Frances Hardinge

Worldcon 2028: Former bid for Nuremberg, Germany

Worldcon 2028: Bid for Brisbane, Australia

Paul Weimer (email)

Clouds and stuff

UK Games Expo 2026

“UK Games Expo 2026 breaks NEC attendance records as infrastructure buckles under massive crowds” at GeekNative by Andrew Girdwood

“Stupid Games, Stupid Prizes” by Tim Clare

Some discourse on Bluesky

Picks

John: Starship Salvager by Jarrom Strong

Alison: Hades II

Liz: Play Nice: The Rise, Fall and Future of Blizzard Entertainment by Jason Schreier

Game Over by David Sheff

Credits

Cover art: “Scenes of the Village” by Alison Scott

Alt text: A photograph of Portmeirion made to look like a stamp or a postcard, with words overlaid saying “Holiday greetings from Portmeirion, be seeing you…”. Above reads “Octothorpe 162” and below reads “Alison has gone on holiday again”.

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

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