Octothorpe

By John Coxon, Alison Scott, Liz Batty

A podcast about science fiction and SF fandom from John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty.... more

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FAQs about Octothorpe:

How many episodes does Octothorpe have?

The podcast currently has 133 episodes available.

Octothorpe episodes:

December 22, 202273: A Magic Cave Full of Games
John is going to Sweden, Alison is going to Australia, and Liz isn’t moving back to Europe.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast (on wandering.shop) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: Capitalism (chapter 1)
Letters of comment
Phil Dyson
Chris Garcia
There Has Always Been Locus
Perrianne Lurie
Mike Scott
Duncan MacGregor
Raj on Twitter
Graphs!
European Fan Fund (EFF)
European Fan Fund rules
European Fan Fund announcement
TAFF race in 2023 now open - GUFF stuff
Smofcon goes to Providence, Rhode Island (not Sweden)
But Eurocon is in Sweden
We are on Mastodon:
Octothorpe
John
Alison
Liz
Picks
John: Star Wars: The High Republic
Alison: Dragonmeet
Beans dice
Liz: It by Stephen King (Amazon, paperback, epub, audiobook)
Credits
Cover art: Visions of St Octothorpe
Alt text: Three rodents stand under a mantlepiece covered in holly above a roaring fire. John’s stocking has dice and is orange; Alison’s has moose and is green; Liz has molecules and is blue. Rodent John is holding a B2-EMO coffee mug and wearing entirely Gregg’s-themed Christmas wear. Alison has her knitting, and is wearing red, orange and green Christmas wear. Liz is crocheting and is decked out in tasteful indigo. Each of the rodents is having a thoroughly lovely Christmas and wishes you the same!
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
46min
December 08, 202272: I’m Not a Fan in the Way John Is
John isn’t gambling, Alison isn’t reading, and Liz doesn’t care.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: Capitalism (chapter 3)
Letters of comment
DC
Mark Plummer
Karen Schaffer
Curt Phillips
Christopher J Garcia
Hugo, Girl!
Duncan MacGregor
Beneath Ceaseless Skies recuses from the Hugo Awards
Locus is crowd funding
Picks:
John: Andor (Disney+)
Alison: Andor (Disney+)
Liz: Andor (Disney+)
With a 70s-style intro sequence
Credits
Cover art: Ictithirpe by Alison Scott
Alt text: The text “# Octothorpe” written in fonts that make it look like the Andor logo, and “Seventy Two” written in the Star Wars logo, in a golden colour on black.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
55min
November 24, 202271: Just Nearly Froze to Death
John is on the Holodeck, Alison is in the past, and Liz is at school.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: COVID-19 (chapter 5)
Letters of comment
Chris Garcia
Jonny Baddeley
Farah Mendlesohn
Peter Sullivan
Raj
Locus fundraiser
Novacon
Satellite 8
Picks:
John: Star Wars Trek: The Next Generation
Alison: Genre Fiction: The Roaring Years by Peter Nicholls
Liz: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik
Credits
Cover art: Cat Detectives by Alison Scott
Alt text: John, Alison, and Liz are depicted as cats wearing the clothing of noir detectives by a door marked “Octothorpe Detective Agency”.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
42min
November 10, 202270: Oh
John is logging in, Alison is getting emails, and Liz is collecting Pokémon.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: War in Ukraine (chapter 5)
Letters of comment
Chris Garcia
Esther MacCallum-Stewart
Mark Plummer
Nicholas Whyte
Karen Schaffer
Peter Sullivan
Raj
Arthur C Clarke Award winners
First Nations Travel Fund
World Fantasy Con will be in Birmingham in 2025
Chengdu Worldcon
Picks:
John: Moon Knight vol. 9 (Marvel Unlimited) and Werewolf By Night (Disney+)
Alison: Swimming in the North Sea
Liz: Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin
Credits
Cover art: 2024 NASFiC bid by Alison Scott
Alt text: A drawing of a Canadian Consulate, adorned with Scottish and Canadian flags, and a banner which says “Edinburgh NASFiC 2024: Presupports $60 inc. free T-shirt”. A mountie is in front of the building, which is in the Greco-Roman style. OCTOTHORPE 70 is written at the top, on a light purple sky above the building.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
45min
October 27, 202269: Hugo Thunderdome
John is Chris Garcia, Alison is Chris Garcia, and Liz is Chris Garcia.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: None
Hugo statistics by Nicholas Whyte and Kat Jones
E Pluribus Hugo
It was up for reratification at Chicon 8
Nicholas Whyte wrote about EPH in 2015
Credits
Cover art: What If…? by Alison Scott
Alt text: Three figures with long brown hair and brown bears are central in the image. They look eerily like Chris Garcia. The left Chris Garcia is wearing John’s glasses and a Flintstones shirt with his arms folded; the central Chris Garcia is wearing Alison’s glasses and a black shirt with his (her?) arms outstretched and fingers doing horns; and the right Chris Garcia is wearing a stripy blue-and-white top and appears to be doing a wrestling move in a downward fashion. The left Chris Garcia has a speech bubble saying “WELCOME TO THE VERY 69TH EPISODE OF OCTOTHORPE. I’M CHRIS GARCIA”. The central Chris Garcia has a speech bubble saying “I’M CHRIS GARCIA”. The right Chris Garcia has a speech bubble saying “AND I’M CHRIS GARCIA. IN THIS EPISODE I REVEAL MY MULTITASKING TIPS”. The text “What if… all three of us were Chris Garcia? appears in a typeface reminiscent of classic Tintin covers in the top-centre of the artwork. The top-left corner has “Octothorpe 69 Nov 2022” written in the style of a comic cover; the top-right corner has “Rejected by the Comics Code Authority”. In the bottom-right hand corner the words “You can catch Chris Garcia every month in Journey Planet and the Drink Tank” appear. A barcode in the bottom-left hand corner is actually cunningly-disguised text that reads (ROT13 to avoid spoilers) “Lbh ner Puevf Tnepvn naq V pynvz zl svir cbhaqf”. The background is two shades of purple.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
52min
October 13, 202268: It Made John Laugh
John is clever, Alison has lost her composure, and Liz is confused by WSFS.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: None
Letters of comment
Kev McVeigh (on Octothorpe 63)
Burntcoat by Sarah Hall (epub, hardback, audiobook, Amazon)
Congratulations to Raj for catching up!
[Do not listen from the beginning – John]
[It is also okay to skip episodes – Alison]
Mark Plummer
Chris Garcia
Farah Mendlesohn
British Fantasy Society Awards
Maureen Kincaid Speller
Tribute on Strange Horizons
Glasgow 2024
Join here!
WSFS Memberships
These have confused some people
WSFS Memberships let you vote in the Hugo Awards and in Site Selection
But not in the WSFS Business Meeting
Cheryl Morgan at Salon Futura
Picks:
John: A Vertical Empire: History of the British Rocketry Programme by CN Hill (ebook, paperback, Amazon)
Alison: Wandavision (Disney+)
Liz: Return to Monkey Island (Steam, Nintendo Switch)
Credits
Cover art: Glasgow by Sara Felix with kind permission of Glasgow 2024
Alt text: The Glasgow 2024 logo with black line drawings of John, Alison and Liz on three planets. Alison has a tiara. In place of the words “Glasgow 2024” are the words “Octothorpe 68”. The logo is on a background in Octothorpe’s purple.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
53min
September 29, 202267: Straight Back to Star Wars
John has hairspray, Alison has a tiara, and Liz has a necklace.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: Falling out of boats (chapter 8)
Letters of comment
Chris Garcia
Facebook, Twitter, assorted other mentions
Conventions
Chicon 8
Dragon Con
Pemmi-con
Gen Con
Chicago
Morse Museum of American Art (not in Chicago)
Chicago Architecture Foundation Center River Cruise aboard Chicago’s First Lady
Art Institute of Chicago
Hugo Award statistics
Picks:
Alison: Phantom Peak
Liz: The Founders trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett
Foundryside (epub, paperback, Amazon)
Shorefall (epub, paperback, Amazon)
Locklands (epub, paperback, Amazon)
John: Galaxy’s Edge
Credits
Cover art: “Alison Phones It In” by Alison Scott
Alt text: A commemorative plate with a blue rim which says “Octothorpe 67” and “Number #2 in an obviously infinite series” on it. Within that there is another commemorative plate with a purple rim edged in gold, and gold writing which says “Octothorpe 64” and the names of the hosts on that rim. In the centre, three figures; John on the left, giving a thumbs up in a yellow Star Trek uniform with ocular implants like Rutherford’s in Lower Decks; Alison in the centre wearing a red Star Trek uniform; and Liz on the right wearing a blue Star Trek uniform with blue-green skin and pointy ears. We each have a single command pip. In the top-right corner there is text reading “UNIQUE COMMEMORATIVE PLATE OF A COMMEMORATIVE PLATE”.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
1h 12min
September 15, 202266: Thank You, Steven
John is in the fanzine lounge, Alison is under a bison hat, and Liz is good, thank you.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: None
We talked to the following people!
Fia Karlsson, TAFF delegate
Lynelle Howell, Facilities Division Head for CoNZealand
Chuck Serface, Hugo Award finalist for Journey Planet
Ric Bretschneider, co-host of Fanboy Planet
Perry Middlemiss, past Worldcon chair and co-host of Two Chairs Talking
James Bacon, past Worldcon chair and Hugo Award finalist for Journey Planet
Credits
Cover art: “Hugo Reception”
Alt text: A purple square with “OCTOTHORPE 66” written at the bottom and inset, a photograph of John, Alison, and Liz. John is wearing a grey suit with a Hugo Award finalist pin and a matching purple tie and mask; Alison is wearing a black mask, a burgundy dress, a tiara by Sara Felix, and has glitter on her temple; and Liz is wearing a green dress and matching mask, a necklace by Vanessa Applegate, and a yellow shrug. They are against a backdrop which has alternating Hugo Award logos and Chicon 8 logos.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
38min
September 01, 202265: Action Castle 2
John is a computer; Alison and Liz are talking to him very slowly.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Buy the Parsely Games PDF
Alison had an ear worm
Credits
Cover art: “Maps” by Alison Scott and Liz Batty
Alt text: Two hand drawn maps of the world described by the game, in handwriting, one on an iPad and one on paper. They are atop a purple square which says “Octothorpe 65”.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
41min
August 18, 202264: Best Commemorative Plate
John is crying, Alison is lounging, and Liz is crocheting.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: climate change, death, abuse (chapter 3)
Letters of comment
Ang Rosin
Caroline Mullan
Mark Plummer
Galactic Journey
Kev Smith’s TAFF report
John’s TAFF report
Bill Higgins
Chris Garcia
Raj
Hotel eggs
Our Hugo Award ballots
The Brialey Competence Threshold
The list of finalists (we’re not going to write them all out here!)
Worldcon schedules
The following are us on the Chicon 8 guide: John, Alison, Liz
Wait for a second for the data to come in to replace the “this user is not found” page rather than deciding it didn’t work before immediately closing the tab (see also: Alison)
Worldcon miscellany
File 770 reports on proper electronic site selection
Vote through Chicon 8’s Registration subsite
We all voted and thought it was very easy!
Alison escapes from collating WOOF
Kampcon 2028 bids for a Ugandan Worldcon
Picks
John: Nope (in cinemas) and “Family Cooking” by Anamaria Curtis (Uncanny)
Alison: “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny)
Liz: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Disney+)
Star Wars games
I could do links to Steam, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch games with Star Wars in, but I feel like you can probably just do that yourselves, listeners. I know, the service here is terrible
Credits
Cover art: “Commemorative Plate” by Alison Scott
Alt text: A commemorative plate with a purple rim edged in gold, and gold writing which says “Octothorpe 64” and the names of the hosts on that rim. In the centre, three figures; John on the left, giving a thumbs up in a yellow Star Trek uniform with ocular implants like Rutherford’s in Lower Decks; Alison in the centre wearing a red Star Trek uniform; and Liz on the right wearing a blue Star Trek uniform with blue-green skin and pointy ears. We each have a single command pip.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
45min

FAQs about Octothorpe:

How many episodes does Octothorpe have?

The podcast currently has 133 episodes available.

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