July 02, 2026

163: Board Games 💋

1 hour 3 minutes

John couldn’t check, Alison was wrong, and Liz is accurate.

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: None

Letters of comment

Ali Baker (Facebook)

One-day Frances Hardinge symposium

Chris Garcia (email)

Frederik Coulter (Facebook)

Jake Casella Brookins (email)

“Hugo Overlaps: Some Comparisons” on Ancillary Review of Books

Casella’s SFF Award Comparator

Kate Macdonald (email)

Kin-Ming Looi (Facebook)

Mike Scott (Facebook)

Neil Ottenstein (Facebook)

Niall Harrison

Paul Weimer (email)

Raj (Mastodon)

The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops

European Coffee Trip

Scott Edelman (Facebook)

Broken Clock Café (Facebook, Instagram)

Tantrum Doughnuts

Pastéis Lisboa

Tammy Coxen (Bluesky and Facebook)

Meg MacDonald’s offer on Bluesky

Trish Matson (Bluesky)

We also heard from: DC, Farah Mendlesohn, Ivan Sinha, Karen Schaffer

Worldcon 2026: LAcon V in Los Angeles

It’s that special time of year again, the WSFS Business Meeting Agenda is out!

Business Meetings at LAcon V

17 July, 26 July, 1 August, 9 August, 30 August

Eating the Fantastic

Tammy Coxen wrote about TGI Fridays being American and how Alison “couldn’t be more wrong”

Eurocon 2026: Metropol Con in Berlin, Germany

Eurocon 2027: Fórum Fantástico in Lisbon, Portugal

Fantasycon/World Fantasy Con

Eurocon 2028: Bid for Croatia

Eurocon 2029: Bid for Warsaw, Poland

Eurocon 2030:

Bid for Birmingham, England

Bid for Copenhagen, Denmark

Other things Liz thinks are neat:

Eddie Clark has finished the Queersar not-an-award blog series

Picks

John: Widow’s Bay

Katie Dippold as the Babadook

Hugo, Girl!’s episode on Widow’s Bay

Alison: Portmeirion

Liz: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Credits

Cover art: “Alison the Goldfish” by Sue Mason

Alt text: A goldfish with the head of Alison wearing goggles and swim headphones. The words “Moist Ear Tunes*” appear at the top and the words “SF Fandom’s Premier Swim Headphone Podcast”, “Fun Fact: Moist Ear Tunes is a nonogram of Octothorpe 163” and “Sue Mason art appears courtesy of Plokta (thanks guys)” appear at the bottom. I know that Alison has forgotten to include the asterisk on the footnote, but since she also has the memory of a goldfish maybe it’s a delightful and multilayered joke.

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

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