Octothorpe

John is big-headed, Alison has a right of reply, and Liz explains how voting should work.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.

Letters of comment

Brian Nisbet (Facebook)

Chris Garcia (email)

Eurocon 2029: Bid for Warsaw, Poland

Constanze Hofmann (email)

ESFS

ESFS statues

Gareth Kavanagh (Facebook)

Ivaylo Alekseev (email)

Leigh Edmonds (email)

Digger by Ursula Vernon

Neil Ottenstein (Facebook)

Renay (Bluesky)

Shi Lala (Facebook)

Alison: Scott Edelman (Bluesky)

We also heard from Constanze Hofmann, Farah Mendlesohn, Ivan Sinha, Jonathan Cowie, Kev McVeigh, Lilian Edwards, and Paul Weimer

Worldcon 2026: LAcon V

The WSFS Business Meeting Agenda

WSFS Business Meeting Recaps from LAcon V

F.7 Limitation on Listed Contributors for Hugo Award Finalists

This was withdrawn by Olav Rokne at the Preliminary Business Meeting

“Role Creep in the Hugo Awards Semiprozine Category” by Tammy Coxen on File 770

“Role Creep and the Numbers Game: A Measured Response” by Kat Kourbeti on File 770

F.8 Purposeful Proportionality

[Alison told me that we should link a CGP Grey video here but then didn’t put it in the show notes, so good luck finding it, listeners—John]

History of Hugo Category Definitions by Tammy Coxen

Unofficial WSFS Business Meeting Browser by Andrew January

Locus

Locus Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year: Volume 1 on Kickstarter

Picks

John: Mothership Companion

Alison: Strange Horticulture

Liz: Moderation by Elaine Castillo

Credits

Cover art: “Stand Up and Be Counted”, found art détourned by Alison Scott

Alt text: 72 assorted LEGO minifigs in a 6x12 grid. Words above read “Octothorpe 165” and below read “WSFS Business Meeting Register: Stand up and be Counted”. The title case on the part of the sentence after the colon is, frankly, bananas, and it certainly isn’t aligned with the Octothorpe style guide.

Theme music: “Surf Shimmy” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John is not quite awake, Alison’s off to the cricket, and Liz is doing it in an unusual order.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, 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:

Letters of comment

Ali Baker Brooks (Facebook)

Chris Garcia (email)

Farah Mendlesohn (Bluesky)

Jake Casella Brookins (Bluesky)

Paul Weimer (email)

Kevin Anderson (Bluesky)

Roseanna Pendlebury (Bluesky)

GeForce NOW

We also heard from Doug Faunt, Jonathan Baddeley, Kev McVeigh, Kin-Ming Looi, Lilian Edwards, and Scott Edelman

Eurocon 2026: Metropol Con in Berlin, Germany

Thanks to James Bacon for some fantastic reporting on File 770: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4

Eurocon

Eurocon 2027: Forum Fantástico in Lisbon, Portugal (23–26 September)

Eurocon 2028: SFeraKon 50 in Zagreb, Croatia (probably the second weekend in May)

Eurocon 2029: Bids for Warsaw, Poland and Sofia, Bulgaria

Eurocon 2030: Bids for Birmingham, England and Fuiggi, Italy

Eurocon 2031: Bid for Belgrade, Serbia

Eurocon 2032: Bid for Copenhagen, Denmark

The Andreas Kuschke Prize was awarded to Constanze Hofmann

Berlin

Ehl-i Kebap

FABELEI

Wombats

Worldcon 2026: LAcon V

The WSFS Business Meeting Agenda

Picks

John: On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara Haveland (I and II) and Jennifer Russell & Sophia Hersi Smith (III)

Alison: Abstract Play

BoardGameArena

Gerrymandle

Tabletopia

Yucata

18xx.Games

Rollway Station

Liz: Cinder House by Freya Marske

Credits

Cover art: “Summer of Fun” by Alison Scott

Alt text: John and Liz are behind two large stacks of paper with text reading “WSFS Agenda… D… E… E… F… F7… more F7… secret squirrel” whilst Alison sits in the stands of Lord’s. Words above say “Octothorpe 164” and “It’s the summer of fun!”.

Theme music: “Surf Shimmy” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

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 comment@octothorpecast.uk, 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)

John wasn’t overcrowded, Alison likes it small, and Liz has never been.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, 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: Drug use, war (John’s pick)

Letters of comment

Christopher J Garcia (email)

DC (Bluesky)

Els (Bluesky)

Ivan Sinha (Facebook)

Premier Inns in Llandudno

Jonathan Harden (Bluesky)

Nicholas Whyte (email)

“Best Related Work eligibility for the Hugo Awards”

Scott Edelman (Bluesky)

Eating the Fantastic

Tommy Ferguson (email)

Trish Matson (Bluesky)

Shokz OpenSwim Pro

Alison: Raj (Mastodon)

We also heard from Ali Baker Brooks, aoanla, Jonathan Baddeley, Neil Ottenstein

Satellite 9

Ottoman Coffeehouse

Blood on the Clocktower

Bristol 1350

Codex Naturalis

Farah Mendlesohn is running a one-day event about Frances Hardinge

Worldcon 2028: Former bid for Nuremberg, Germany

Worldcon 2028: Bid for Brisbane, Australia

Paul Weimer (email)

Clouds and stuff

UK Games Expo 2026

“UK Games Expo 2026 breaks NEC attendance records as infrastructure buckles under massive crowds” at GeekNative by Andrew Girdwood

“Stupid Games, Stupid Prizes” by Tim Clare

Some discourse on Bluesky

Picks

John: Starship Salvager by Jarrom Strong

Alison: Hades II

Liz: Play Nice: The Rise, Fall and Future of Blizzard Entertainment by Jason Schreier

Game Over by David Sheff

Credits

Cover art: “Scenes of the Village” by Alison Scott

Alt text: A photograph of Portmeirion made to look like a stamp or a postcard, with words overlaid saying “Holiday greetings from Portmeirion, be seeing you…”. Above reads “Octothorpe 162” and below reads “Alison has gone on holiday again”.

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

John, Alison and Liz read the Clarke Award shortlist.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, 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: Gun control and dystopian government (The Dream Hotel), body dysmorphia (Luminous), child abuse (The Salt Oracle)

The Arthur C Clarke Award

Medium

Substack

Website

This year’s shortlist

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

Luminous by Sylvia Park

There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm

When There Are Wolves Again by EJ Swift

The Salt Oracle by Lorraine Wilson

This year’s submission list

Credits

Cover art: “Judge Coxon’s Last Stand” by Alison Scott

Alt text: John, wearing a Judge Dredd-style helmet with the Clarke Award logo on it and holding a lightsaber, dispenses judgement from behind a wall of books. The words “Octothorpe 161” appear above him, whilst words below say “Arthur C. Clarke Award 2026: Judge Coxon’s Last Stand”.

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