Octothorpe

By John Coxon, Alison Scott, Liz Batty

A Hugo Award-winning 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 152 episodes available.

Octothorpe episodes:

April 27, 202382: Metatextual Dinosaurs
John, Alison and Liz talk about their Hugo Award nominations.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Twitter or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: None
Letters of comment will be coming next week!
Giant Hugo spreadsheet
Fancast
Hugo, Girl!
Fan Artist
Iain J Clark
España Sheriff
Sue Mason
Alison Scott
Sara Felix
Dramatic Presentation (Long Form): - The TV shows are in Episode 77’s show notes - Don’t Worry Darling - The Astral Pole - Everything Everywhere All at Once - The podcast Liz mentioned - Men - Nope - Prey - Turning Red - Google - Vesper - Horizon Forbidden West
Short stories:
John:
“Requiem for a Dollface” by Margaret Dunlap
“Transference” by Vivian Shaw
“Family Cooking” by Anamaria Curtis
“Lily, the Immortal” by Kylie Lee Baker
Liz:
“Critical Mass” by Peter Watts
“Rabbit Test” by Samantha Mills
“The CRISPR Cookbook” by MKRNYILGLD
Novelettes:
John:
“Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home” by CL Clark
“If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You” by John Chu
“Two Hands, Wrapped in Gold” by SB Divya
Liz:
The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix Harrow
What the Dead Know by Nghi Vo
Novella:
John: “Radcliffe Hall” by Miyuki Jane Pinckard
Liz:
Undercover by Tamsyn Muir
The Two Doctors Gorski by Isaac Fellman (ebook, Amazon)
Stars & Stripes FOREVER!
Earwigo
Credits
Cover art: “Octothorpe, Octothorpe, Octothorpe” by Alison Scott from an idea by Sandra Bond
Alt text: Three red pandas hold “Octothorpe” football scarves with “here we go”, “earwig o” and “be kind to your web-footed friends” as lyrics floating above. Text above that says “82: HUGO NOMINATION RECOMMENDATION SPECIAL”.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
59min
April 13, 202381: It Wasn’t an Interjection From the Room, It Was My Face
Alison, Liz, John and Alison are live from Conversation!
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Twitter or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: COVID
Eastercon 2025: Reconnect
Funcon 1
Picks:
John: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Alison: Plague
Liz: Nocebo (Netflix)
Credits
Cover art: “Conversation” by Sue Mason
Alt text: The dragon and robot from Conversation’s logo, either side of a shield depicting two rockets with a moose head above it and a sleeping black cat below it. Text reads “Octothorpe 81: Live from Eastercon”.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
38min
March 30, 202380: Four Constituent Blobs
John is jetlagged, Alison is working, and Liz is under pressure.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Twitter or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: Eating octopus (chapter 1), N*zism (chapter 8)
Letters of comment
Mark Plummer
Nicholas Whyte
Ian Hillman
They Called Us Enemy (Forbidden Planet, Amazon)
Gwen Frazer
Briardene Books
Karen Schaffer
Chengdu is a shower
Their website is back!
Picks:
John: Digger by Ursula Vernon (read online, Kickstarter)
Alison: The Eastercon programme (not quite yet online, keep an eye on their website)
Liz: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (hardback, epub, audiobook, Amazon)
Joe Manganiello’s D&D campaign
Eastercon
Programme coming soon
Discord now available!
Corflu Craic
Credits
Cover art: “Intelligent Spider Aliens” by Sue Mason
Alt text: Spiders looking like John, Alison and Liz hang from the top of the art on webs, with “O80” written on their abdomens.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
45min
March 16, 202379: You Get to Be a Little Cat
John wants new gloves, Alison is foreshadowing, and Liz scrolls past spiders.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Twitter or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: Spiders (chapter 6)
Letters of comment
Raj
Bridget Bradshaw
Chris Garcia
Bigbug (Netflix)
OSS 117 (Amazon)
Brice de Nice (Hoopla)
Lori Anderson
Curt Phillips
Chengdu is a shower (but not as bad as the BBC)
They have opened Hugo nominations
Conversions for Chinese language nominees: “A factor of 1.6 will be used when converting from English words to Chinese characters. As such the fiction category breakpoints will be: 1) Short Story: fewer than 7,500 English words or 12,000 Chinese characters. 2) Novelette: between 7,500/12,000 and 17,500 English words or 28,000 Chinese characters. 3) Novella: between 17,500/28,000 and 40,000 English words or 64,000 Chinese characters. 4) Novel: greater than 40,000 English words or 64,000 Chinese characters.”
Nebula nominees are out
Strange Horizons argues erroneously that Our Flag Means Death is fantasy, actually
BSFA nominees are also out
Everything Everywhere All at Once prop auction(s)
Everything Everywhere All at Once shop
Picks:
John: Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (ebook, paperback, Amazon)
Force Majeure Outer Dark Trilogy Part 2 Episode 1 - “In Space, No-One Can Smell Your Frog”
The Dark Room by John Robertson
Alison: Allegiance by George Takei
Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (ebook, paperback, Amazon)
Liz: Los Espookys **(HBO, Now TV)
Credits
Cover art: ”MidJourney Into Space” by Alison Scott
Alt text: Three adorable little rockets with faces corresponding to John, Alison and Liz above the text “Octothorpe 79”.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
“Announcement” from Orange Free Sounds (CC BY-NC 4.0)
...more
38min
March 02, 202378: Sqrrl Grrl
John is chuckling, Alison is conversing, and Liz is critical.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Twitter or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: Immigration (chapter 2), COVID (chapter 3)
Letters of comment
Ang Rosin
Dave Coxon
Raj
Chris Garcia
Fempire by Honora Talbot
Lost Beyond the Stars by Kayla Arend
Bean Feasa by Daniel Butler
AlieNation by Ray Raghavan
I XXXX My Sex Doll by Fay Beck
Chengdu is a shower
PR1
The USA says “reconsider travel”, which is level 3 of a 4-level alert, partly due to COVID which may change before October. They have level 4 alerts which are “do not travel”
Conversation COVID policy
Liz thinks Boskone has a nice, straightforward policy
Picks:
John: Living with Ghosts by Kari Sperring (only available in the US: ebook, Amazon)
Alison: Spider-Man: Far From Home (Disney+)
Liz: The Owl Job
Credits
Cover art: Sqrrl Grrl by Alison Scott
Alt text: John and Liz are squirrels with acorns and Liz is Squirrel Girl, sitting in a tree under the words “Octothorpe 78”.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
46min
February 17, 202377: Slightly Less Troglodyte-y Than You
John has trauma, Alison has poetry and Liz hasn’t got Paramount+.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Twitter or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: None
Letters of comment
Raj on Mastodon
Hugo, Girl! on Twitter
Whisper.cpp
Chris Garcia
Chengdu is a shower
Dave McCarty on Hugos
Since we recorded, people are reporting seeing emails about Hugo voting – they seem to be landing in spam folders. John posted more info on Mastodon.
Hugo handicapping
The Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom
Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form
John
The Expanse: “Babylon’s Ashes”
Severance: “Defiant Jazz”
Star Trek: Strange New World: “Spock Amok”
Moon Knight: “Asylum”
The Boys: “Herogasm”
Alison
Severance: “The Way We Are”
Ghosts: “It’s Behind You”
Mythic Quest: “Across the Universe”
Harry Josephine Giles’ performance of Deep Wheel Orcadia at the Edinburgh Book Festival
Severance: “whatever other episodes, they’re all great”
Liz
Andor: “One Way Out”
Star Trek: Lower Decks: “Hear All, Trust Nothing”
What We Do In the Shadows: “Go Flip Yourself”
For All Mankind: “Stranger in a Strange Land”
Stranger Things: “Chapter Four: Dear Billy”
Picks:
John: The Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist
The official website for the award doesn’t have historic shortlists on it (why) so have a Wikipedia article instead
Liz: Strange Horizons’ 2023 criticism special
Alison: More print and play games
In lieu of a list of games, you can browse Alison’s post history on the BoardGameGeek forums to get an idea for what she’s playing
Credits
Cover art: “Denizens” by Alison Scott
Alt text: In black and red, three fantasy creatures resembling John, Alison and Liz.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
52min
February 02, 202376: Does It Matter What We Think?
John is watching movies, Alison is making games, and Liz isn’t picky.
Please email your letters of comment to [email protected] and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Twitter or on The Wandering Shop) when you post about the show on social media.
Content warnings this episode: China (chapter 2), death of a parent (chapter 4)
Letters of comment
Claire Brialey
Tammy Coxen
Chris Garcia
Journey Planet on Chinese Science Fiction and Space
Irwin Hirsh
Chengdu is a shower
Tip of the hat to File 770 for some sterling reporting on this
Chengdu Worldcon changes dates, site
Mockups appear to show buildings permanently branded with Worldcon/WSFS marks
Images of the proposed Chengdu Science Fiction Museum
Chinese fans are not best pleased
It’s no longer in the summer so students will be in school and not able to go, and the students are the ones who brought the con to China
But, Chengdu can take credit card payments now
Fiona Moore confirms
GUFF
Alison announced in Octothorpe 73 that she was going to go after the coronation
But there’s now an Australian Natcon (Conflux, 29 September to 2 October) with which Alison is aiming to intersect
Picks:
John: Prey (Disney+) and Invasion of the Body-Snatchers (1956, MGM)
Alison: Print and play games
[Alison went out for the day and did not give me links to the games, listeners! I’ll try to fill this in before next episode – John]
Credits
Cover art: Groundhog Day by España Sheriff
Alt text: Three groundhogs in the general shapes of John, Alison and Liz regard their shadow, in the shape of an octothorpe, beneath the text “Octothorpe 76”.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
49min
January 19, 202375: Optimus Prime But for Books
John wants to play, Alison has met lots of authors, and Liz is a womble.
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 3), China (chapter 4)
Letters of comment
Sandra Bond
Lilian Edwards
Chris “The Legend” Garcia
Duncan MacGregor
Dave Mansfield
Curt Phillips
Kevin Standlee
Raj on Twitter
Magazines
The Locus fundraiser is well over target
Amazon are stopping doing Kindle Periodical magazine subscriptions
Interesting numbers on subscribers/supporters from Michael Damien Thomas
Chengdu is a shower:
Chengdu are finally taking non-Chinese memberships
A mere 22 days before the deadline for Hugos
Chengdu have not yet produced PR1
There is another petition against Sergei Lukyanenko
Liz is going to do the runalongwomble TBR challenge
Picks:
John: The Moonday Letters by Emmi Itäranta (paperback, epub, audiobook)
Alison: Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchison (paperback, epub, audiobook)
Please recommend me (and everyone else) one fantastic 2022 book to read
Recommend me one science fiction or fantasy thing from 2022 that you’ve particularly enjoyed that is not a novel
Strange Horizons’ 2022 in Review
Liz: A Game of Birds and Wolves by Simon Parkin (paperback, epub, audiobook)
Aftershow:
If I Ran the Zoo…Con (NESFA Press, The Book Patch)
Credits
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
54min
January 05, 202374: Great Cthulhu
John and Alison read a poem by Sandra Bond.
Credits
Cover art: The Great Cthulhu and John Coxon by Alison Scott
Alt text: Liz and Alison (dressed in their Sunday best) take John (dressed in Star Wars cosplay but with short trousers) to see Cthulhu, depicted in a cage at the zoo.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
...more
4min
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

FAQs about Octothorpe:

How many episodes does Octothorpe have?

The podcast currently has 152 episodes available.

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