John, Alison, and Nicholas are live from Levitation!

A transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] 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

• The rocket in all its glory!

• Hugo Award finalists

• The Coode Street Podcast

• Tickets available on Eventbrite

• The Glasgow Gimlet

• Join their Discord!

• John: Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (Channel 4)

• Our cosplay

• The Black Archive

• 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.

John used to be an undergraduate, Alison has been keeping a list, and can Liz be a stunt Liz?

A transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Death (Deb Geisler, chapter 3) and gambling (Hugo Awards, chapter 7; Alison’s pick, chapter 8).

• Letters of comment

• Chris Garcia

• Transcripts

• File 770

• Programme

• Octothorpe Live is at 13:00 on Monday!

• Please come help, post in the Discord if you’d like to volunteer!

• Vote here!

• Nebula Award finalists

• Android Press Games

• Liz has decided not to put her referral link here because the people who run the website might be a bit too Silicon Valley-y

• John: Airecon

• Overs: The Cricket Card Game

• Balatro

• Todd Vaziri on X, BlueSky, Mastodon

• Cover art: “Podcasting Is Magic” by Alison Scott

• Alt text: Three ponies in the style of My Little Pony adorn the cover. The left-hand one is orange, and has a six-sided die as a cutie mark. The central one is teal, and has a rainbow Apple logo for a cutie mark. The right-hand one is blue, and has a Hugo Award for a cutie mark. They look like they are having a nice time. The words “My Little Octothorpe 106” appear at the top, and the words “Podcasting Is Magic” appear at the bottom.

John watches movies, Alison walks on the Moon, and Liz has special bonds.

Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], check out our subtitles/transcripts, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Censorship, in the form of more Hugo Award controversy

• Letters of comment

• Ang Rosin

• Zodiac Speaking

• Brighton 1987

• Keep an eye out for Poetry Slum!

• The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion by Chris M Barkley and Jason Sanford

• John: Monolith dir. Matt Vesely

• Cover art: Liz’s Bedtime Reading by Alison Scott

• Alt text: A famous photograph of Margaret Hamilton standing beside printed outputs of the code that took the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon, overlaid with the words “Octothorpe 105” and “Liz has finished reading the latest Hugo Award exposés”.

John, Alison and Liz discuss what SF they enjoyed from 2023.

Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], check out our subtitles/transcripts, 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

• Fanzine

• The Ancillary Review of Books

• Alison Scott

• Camestros Felapton

• Going Rogue

• Video games

• Baldur’s Gate 3

• Apiary

• Adrian Hon’s write-up

• Blue-Eyed Samurai (Netflix)

• Asteroid City (Now Cinema)

• 50 Years of Text Games by Aaron A Reed

• Silverwolf

• Moon Knight, volume 9 by Jed MacKay, Alessandro Cappuccio, and Rachelle Rosenberg

• Dune by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson

• “Spring Woods Spring” by B Pladek

• A Theory of Haunting by Sarah Monette

• Giganotasaurus

• wot, no https?!

• Bridge by Lauren Beukes

• 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.

John is a year behind, Alison is opening nominations, and Liz is Elizabeth (!).

Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], check out our subtitles/transcripts, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Israel/Palestine war (Montreal in 2027 segment), serial killers (John’s pick)

• Letters of comment

• Ali Baker Brooks

• TAFF

• Announcement

• Tel Aviv in 2027

• 2005 Guest of Honour speech

• Trademarks

• WIP announcement

• Transcript

• File 770 comment

• John: How to Find Zodiac by Jarett Kobek (Amazon)

• Los Angeles Magazine article

• Alison’s map

• Cover art: “Hugo Regalia Shop” by Alison Scott

• Alt text: The words “Octothorpe 103 Hugo Regalia Shop” appear above a selection of costumes. There are small depictions of a clown, a pirate, a panda and a banana above full-length depictions of a member of the Catholic church (with Hugos on their mitre and crosier), a gangster (labelled “boss”, holding a Hugo), Zaphod Beeblebrox (holding three Hugos) and Jesus (with a crown of thorns but made with Hugos).

John, Alison and Liz respond to a letter of comment from Tobes.

Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], check out our subtitles/transcripts, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X, Mastodon or Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Chinese censorship (discussion of the Hugo Awards), Jim Crow Florida (Liz’s pick), general socioeconomic inequality (John’s pick)

• Glasgow 2024’s hotel bookings are open

• Alex Ingram

• File 770’s roundup

• Abigail Nussbaum

• A reaction from Zimozi Natsuco

• His apology

• It’s not Lenin, it’s a Western term originating in the 1940s and 1950s

• John: The Kitchen, dir. Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares

• Cover art: “Scooby Gang” by Alison Scott

• Alt text: Scooby, Velma and Daphne unmask the panda from last week’s cover art, and the person wearing the panda suit looks a lot like Dave McCarty. They say “It was old Mister McCarty all along!” and he says “And I would have gotten away with it too if it hadn’t been for you meddling Hugo finalists!” He is tied up with rope. The words “Octothorpe! 102” appear at the top of the image.

John is self-promoting, Alison ”doesn’t have COVID”, and Liz is distracting.

Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], check out our subtitles/transcripts, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: large power and age differentials in sexual relationships (John’s pick)

• Letters of comment

• Chris Garcia

• Adam Roberts on romantasy

• Triple Time!, the 34th filk convention (2–4 February 2024, Buxton)

• Three Black Halflings

• John: Poor Things

• Exhibition of costumes at the Barbican

• Relevant Penny Arcade

• Cover art: “Glasgow Hotel Board Game” by Alison Scott

• Alt text: A board reminiscent of a well-known board game about property trading. There are three purple properties (Campanile, Village, Moxy), each of which has one hotel. There are two teal properties (Crowne Plaza, Marriott), a replacement for “In Jail” called “In WSFS”, a Statue square featuring a man on horseback with a traffic cone on his head, and a square called Telephone Kiosk with a depiction of a police box. In the middle of the board, the words “Octothorpe Episode 101”. Each property has asterisks for the rent and the words “Rates coming very soon but not quite soon enough for this cover” appear at the bottom.

John, Alison and Liz receive a telegram.

Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], check out our subtitles/transcripts, 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

• Chris Garcia

• Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey’s run

• Warren Ellis’ predatory behaviour

• Article at the time of the original story

• Want an invite to the Discord? Hit John up! - Glasgow 2024 announces Tanya DePass as special guest

• John: The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jiminez [paperback, Amazon]

• Late-breaking news of a new paperback from Jo Fletcher Books

• John:

• EXIT: The Game: Advent Calendar: The Silent Storm

• Schotten Totten

• FryxGames’ CEO posted transphobia and racism

• Cover art: “Telegram from the Queen” by Alison Scott with telegram by Claire Brialey

• Alt text: A telegram lies with a golden thread bookmark on a plush purple surface. It has two pieces of Weetabix above text which reads “I am so pleased to know that you are celebrating your one hundredth episode in January 2024. I send my congratulations and best wishes to you on such a special occasion. Claire R (of Croydon).” The words “Octothorpe 100” are at the top in golden lettering.

John doesn’t study herpetology, Alison knows lots of words, and Liz goes first.

Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], check out our subtitles/transcripts, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Games, SMOFs

• If I Ran the Zoo… Con

• PDF version

• 3401 Pre-Supporting Memberships by Leslie Turek

• 2201 The “Relationship” by Priscilla Olson, Mark Olson

• Modest food

• 701 The Lady and the Snake by Mark Olson, Leslie Turek

• Cover art: “Game of Privies” by Alison Scott

• Alt text: John, Alison and Liz are on a large privy holding drinks with a snake wrapped around the privy. Speech bubbles surround them: “Have you seen my emotional support python?” “The perfect spot for the old pharts photo”, “It’s another ‘what if…’ episode”, and “Oi! There’s a queue here mate”. A banner with “Punctuation Worldcon 2030” appears at the top and the words “Octothorpe 99” appear at the bottom.

Points at the end of each phase:

John thinks it’s grandfathered in, Alison doesn’t think it’s SF, and Sandra is Liz.

Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], check out our subtitles/transcripts, 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

• Chris Garcia

• Where to buy Moon (USA, UK)

• The full text of Mark Plummer’s and Leigh Edmonds’ previous locs

• TAFF

• Free ebooks

• With news of the upcoming TAFF race

• #13 is forthcoming

• The Psychopath Club

• John: A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith (hardback, epub, Amazon)

• Cover art: “Stunt Lizard” by Alison Scott

• Alt text: The heads of John and Alison regard a lizard version of Sandra Bond who is doing stunts (on fire, skateboarding) while wearing her signature hat. The words “Octothorpe 98” appear at the top.