John is in the hallways, Alison is at an auction, and Liz is in the archives.

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

• Thanks to Teddy Harvia for this week’s artwork!
• Letters of comment
  • Farah Mendlesohn (Facebook)
  • Kate Macdonald (email)
  • Louise Hughes (Bluesky)
  • Intergalactic Mixtape
  • We also heard from DC, Ivan Sinha, Jonathan Baddeley, Scott Edelman
• Worldcon 2026: LAcon V
  • Tammy Coxen has thoughts on the low attendance
• Worldcon 2027: Montréal, Canada
  • They have a new child policy, updated from the previous child policy
• Tyneside Games Expo
• Murderbot: The First Graphic Novel on Kickstarter
• Archive of Our Own (AO3) has gone down for 2–4 weeks
• Swim headphone corner
  • Shokz Swim Pro
  • Carbon Copy Cloner
• Picks
  • John: Hokum
    • Terror on Tyne
  • Alison: Tabletop Rescue on eBay Live
  • Liz: Cupertino
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Wingnut Logic in Orbit” by Teddy Harvia
    • Alt text: An orange-and-red space station with blue and yellow windows floating above a planet with green terrain and a blue atmosphere. Various wingnuts sit, walk, and stand on the space station in various orientations. The words “Octothorpe 172” appear at the top and the words “Wingnut Logic in Orbit” down the right-hand side. The artist’s signature is at the bottom-right.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John is at Fantasycon, Alison is wrong, and Liz is right.

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
  • Chris Garcia (email)
  • Paul Weimer (email)
  • Renay! (email)
  • Roseanna Pendlebury (Bluesky)
  • Scott Edelman (email)
  • Simon Bubb (email)
    • Dismaland & Banksy
  • We also heard from Heather Rose Jones, Kevin Anderson, Lilian Edwards, Lori Anderson, Shi Lala, and Tero Ykspetäjä.
• Fantasycon 2026: Glasgow, UK
  • British Fantasy Award winners 2026
• Worldcon 2027: Montréal, Canada
  • The WSFS Business Meeting will be virtual
  • Cory Doctorow and Linda Addison have been added as Toastmaster and Guest of Honour respectively
  • Code of Conduct and Policies
• SFFCONZ statement on CoNZealand 2
  • Their website has gone dark but the Wayback Machine sees all
• Malcolm Edwards has died
  • Malcolm Edwards on Fancyclopedia
  • We know there was only one Malcolm Edwards, but there wasn’t a good edit point to take the mistake out!
• Picks
  • John: Hope
  • Alison: Into the Woods
  • Liz: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Cross Stitch” by Roseanna Pendlebury
    • Alt text: Beautifully cross-stitched depictions of John, Alison and Liz with black, pink and purple Octothorpe T-shirts on. They have a speech bubble above them reading “Octothorpe #171”.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John, Alison and Liz are live from Octocon!

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 X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: It’s a live recording!

• The Ultimate Gene Wolfe Library on Humble Bundle
• Barry’s Tea and Lyons Tea
• Conventions
  • Octocon: 3–4 October 2026 in Cork, Ireland
  • Shake, Battle and Roll: 10–11 October 2026 in Southampton, UK
  • Tyneside Games Expo: 17–18 October 2026 in Gateshead, UK
  • PictCon 2026: 17 October in Perth, UK
  • Stabcon 2027: 8–10 January in Stockport, UK
  • Airecon 2027: 11–14 March (the last one!) in Harrogate, UK
• Picks
  • John: The Waiter by Kwan Ann Tan
    • The Emma Press
  • Alison: (is a bit short of a pick)
  • Liz: CONTROL Resonant
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Live from Octothorpe” by Liz Batty
    • Alt text: Three crocheted Octos – one purple, one green, and one red – sit against a white background. The words “Octocon 170” appear at the top and “Live from Octothorpe” appear at the bottom. (Octo is the Octocon mascot and is an octopus, so these are made from the official Octo crochet pattern.)
  • Theme music: “Surf Shimmy” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)