Octothorpe John Coxon, Alison Scott, Liz Batty

John, Alison, and Nicholas are live from Levitation!
A transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk 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

April Fool’s Day
The rocket in all its glory!

The Hugo Awards
Hugo Award finalists
The announcement video
Thank you to everyone who nominated us!
Congratulations to the other Fancast finalists:
The Coode Street Podcast
Hugos There
Publishing Rodeo
科幻Fans布玛 (Science Fiction Fans Buma)
Worldbuilding for Masochists

The first Town Hall will be on 20 April 2024
Tickets available on Eventbrite
The stream will be available on YouTube

Three Black Halflings
Tammy Coxen
The Glasgow Gimlet
Tammy’s Tastings
Tammy’s podcast, My Tiny Bottles

Bigolas Dickolas

Gallifrey One
BSFA
Join their Discord!

Picks
John: Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (Channel 4)
Our cosplay

Alison: Eastercon catch-up
Nicholas:
The Black Archive
David Whitaker in an Exciting Adventure with Television by Simon Guerrier


Credits
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.

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

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 comment@octothorpecast.uk 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
Mike Glyer
Transcripts

Bob Morrell
Colin Murtagh
We also heard from Jonny Baddeley, Alex Holden, Farah Mendlesohn, and Ang Rosin

Deb Geisler
File 770

Eastercon
Programme
Octothorpe Live is at 13:00 on Monday!

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

GUFF
Vote here!

Doc Weir
BSFA Awards

Awards
Nebula Award finalists
Android Press Games
The Bread Must Rise

Hugo Award betting markets
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

Hugo, Girl! un-recuse

Picks
John: Airecon
Overs: The Cricket Card Game

Alison: The 2023 Eastercon souvenir book
Balatro

Liz: “No CGI is really just INVISIBLE CGI” on YouTube
Todd Vaziri on X, BlueSky, Mastodon


Credits
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.

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

John watches movies, Alison walks on the Moon, and Liz has special bonds.
Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, 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
Andy Openshaw
Chris Garcia
Zodiac Speaking

ErsatzCulture and Raj
España Sheriff
Brighton 1987

Martin Easterbrook
Tammy Coxen
Sandra Bond
Keep an eye out for Poetry Slum!
Click here to see the cover

Nicholas Jackson on Bluesky
Harry Payne on Bluesky

BSFA Awards shortlist
Hugo Awards
The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion by Chris M Barkley and Jason Sanford
Charting the Cliff: An Investigation Into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics by Camestros Felapton and Heather Rose Jones
More on Other Chinese Hugo Nominations, based on “Charting the Cliff” by Prograft
Recent updates from the MPC/WIP
Journey Planet #79

Picks
John: Monolith dir. Matt Vesely
Alison: Moonwalkers
Liz: FRIENDSHIP

Credits
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”.

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

John, Alison and Liz discuss what SF they enjoyed from 2023.
Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, 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
IDEA
Nerds of a Feather

Fan Artist
Alison Scott
España Sheriff

Fan Writer
Camestros Felapton
Paul Weimer
Sandra Bond

Fancast
Going Rogue

Game/Interactive Work
Video games
Baldur’s Gate 3
Chants of Sennaar
Dredge
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Tabletop games
Apiary
Earthborne Rangers
Moon
Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game
INELIGIBLE: Hegemony

Galactic Starcruiser
Adrian Hon’s write-up
Cass Morris’s write-up


Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)
Blue-Eyed Samurai (Netflix)
Doctor Who (BBC iPlayer, Disney+)
For All Mankind (Apple TV+)
Foundation (Apple TV+)
The Last of Us (Now)
The Mandalorian (Disney+)
Poker Face (Now)
Silo (Apple TV+)
Star Trek: Lower Decks (Paramount+)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+)
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Netflix)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)
Asteroid City (Now Cinema)
Barbie (rent or buy)
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Paramount+)
Ghosts, series 5 (BBC iPlayer)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Disney+)
The Marvels (Disney+)
Nimona (Netflix)
Polite Society (Now Cinema)
Poor Things (rent or buy)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Now Cinema)

Best Related Work
50 Years of Text Games by Aaron A Reed
Silverwolf

A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith
All These Worlds: Reviews and Essays by Niall Harrison
A Traveller in Time: The Critical Practice of Maureen Kincaid Speller, ed. Nina Allan

Best Graphic Story
Moon Knight, volume 9 by Jed MacKay, Alessandro Cappuccio, and Rachelle Rosenberg
Why Don’t You Love Me? by Paul B Rainey

Best Series
Dune by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
Elric by Michael Moorcock
Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie
The Final Architecture by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Tyrant Philosophers by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Best Short Fiction
“Spring Woods Spring” by B Pladek
“The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer
Find stories to read at Rocket Stack Rank

Best Novella
A Theory of Haunting by Sarah Monette
Walking Practice by Dolki Min
“On the English Approach to the Study of History” by E Saxey

Best Semiprozine
Giganotasaurus
Strange Horizons
wot, no https?!


Best Novel
Bridge by Lauren Beukes
The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez
Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
Hopeland by Ian McDonald
Julia by Sandra Newman
Him by Geoff Ryman
Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford
City of Last Chances and The House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
The Year in Review 2023 by Graham Sleight

Credits
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.

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

John is a year behind, Alison is opening nominations, and Liz is Elizabeth (!).
Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, 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
Chris Garcia
DC
Kevin Anderson
Mark Plummer
Martin Easterbrook
Mike Glyer
Raj
Alison’s fan art page

BSFA longlist
Fan funds
TAFF
Announcement
Ballot

EFF
GUFF

Montreal in 2027
Tel Aviv in 2027

Christopher Priest
2005 Guest of Honour speech

Hugo Awards
Trademarks
WIP announcement
Mike Dunford on Bluesky

Chris Barkley’s interview of Dave McCarty
Transcript

A possibly smoking gun
File 770 comment
Screencap of post from Chinese socials
Machine translation

Tammy Coxen argues Worldcon will die because of lack of volunteers

Picks
John: How to Find Zodiac by Jarett Kobek (Amazon)
Los Angeles Magazine article

Alison: Fantasy Map Maker
Alison’s map

Liz: North Woods by Daniel Mason (hardback, ebook, audiobook, Amazon)

Credits
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).

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

John, Alison and Liz respond to a letter of comment from Tobes.
Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, 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
Letters of comment
Alex Ingram
Bill Higgins
Chris Garcia
Colin Murtagh
Jersey Gryphon
Karen Schaffer
Raj
Tobes Valois

Hugo Awards controversy
File 770’s roundup
Some recent writing on these topics:
Abigail Nussbaum
Cora Buhlert
Genre Grapevine

Ada Palmer on censorship
Reaction from Chinese fans
A reaction from Zimozi Natsuco
Check out Ersatz Culture’s feeds for more information on Chinese reactions (Bluesky, Mastodon)

Dave McCarty
His apology
A link to his Facebook

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

Worldcon Intellectual Property statement about resignations, censures, and reprimands
Glasgow 2024’s Hugo nominations post

Picks
John: The Kitchen, dir. Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares
Alison: Dangerous Space, designed by Jason Greeno and Jason Tagmire
Liz: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (paperback, ebook, Amazon)

Credits
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.

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