John has shortlisted, Alison has worked in large organisations, and Liz has done a spot-the-difference.

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: LLMs

• Letters of comment
  • Chris Garcia
  • Clarrie Maguire
  • Colette Reap
  • Roseanna Pendlebury
    • Her Death of Stalin review
  • Tobes Valois
  • We also heard from Ali Baker Brooks, Ang Rosin, Brian Nisbet, Caroline Mullan, DC, Doug Faunt, Ed Morland, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Farah Mendlesohn, Gareth Kavanagh, Ivan Sinha, Jonathan Baddeley, Jonathan Cowie, Kin-Ming Looi, Lilian Edwards, Meg MacDonald, Neil Ottenstein, Phil Dyson, Raj, Sandra Bond, Shi Lala, Tammy Coxen, Tony Keen, TrishEM, ‪Zoë O’Connell‬
• Corflu
  • FAAn Award Winners
• Ada Palmer runs a class called “The Italian Renaissance: Dante, Machiavelli, and the Wars of Popes and Kings,” better known by students as “pope class” or “pope LARP”
  • Archive.is
• Chris Barkley has sued Dave McCarty
  • Shot
  • Chaser
• Worldcon 2025: Seattle
  • “Statement from the Worldcon Chair”
  • “Apology and Response From Chair”
  • “May 6th Statement From Chair and Program Division Head”
  • Resignation statement from WSFS division
• Locus
  • 2025 fundraiser
  • Revenue is flat and costs are up 21%
• Picks
  • John: The Mark
  • Alison: Sinners
  • Liz: Blue Prince
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Sample FAAn Award” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: A photograph of a yellow square on a mantlepiece. On the yellow square is black text and a red shape with yellow text. The text reads “Corflu 42. 2025 FAAn Awards. Best Immutable Object: Octothorpe”. Text overlaid on the photograph reads ‘Octothorpe 134. “Don’t believe everything you read on ChatGPT.”’
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John, Alison, and Liz are live from the Belfast Eastercon!

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!

• Eastercon 2026: Iridescence in Birmingham
  • Guests of Honour
    • R J Barker
    • Karen Lord
    • Emma Newman
    • John Wilson and Serena Culfeather
  • Prices
    • Adult: £80
    • Low income: £50
    • Child/teen: £20
    • Supporting: £40
• Eastercon 2027: Unconfined in Glasgow
  • Guests of Honour
    • P Djeli Clark
    • L R Lam
    • Mark Meenan
    • Tamsyn Muir
  • Prices
    • Adult £85
    • Discounted adult: £60
    • Young person: £20
    • Child: £5
    • No supporting rate has yet been announced
• Eastercon 2028: BSFA v Marcus Streets
• Eastercon 2029 and 2030: Rumours abound
• Picks
  • John: Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster
  • Alison: Er. Steak? Spending too much? Unclear
  • Liz: Karaoke and ThinkBox Belfast
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Octothorpe at Reconnect” by Andrew Hogg
    • Alt text: John, Alison and Liz are sat behind a table at Reconnect doing a live podcast. The words “Octothorpe 133” appear at the bottom.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John is working, Alison is plugging and Liz is ghosting.

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

Content warnings this episode: Capitalism, death (Chapter 8: Picks)

• Please remember that we have recused from consideration for the 2025 Hugo Awards
• Letters of comment
  • Ali Baker Brooks (Facebook)
  • Ang Rosin (Facebook)
  • Christopher J Garcia
  • Dave Langford
    • Please do report issues in transcripts and we will fix them!
  • DC (skeet, requires sign-in)
  • Farah Mendlesohn (Facebook)
    • “Know your rail rights” from the Office of Rail and Road
  • Ivan Sinha (Facebook)
  • Pat McMurray (Facebook)
  • Shi Lala (Facebook)
  • Simon Bubb
• BSFA
  • If you attended please let us know what happened!
• Awards
  • Hugo Award nominations close the day after this podcast drops (14 March 2025)
  • Locus Award nominations are open until 15 April 2025
• Oxford–Bloomsbury Fantasy Summer School
  • Free to apply with limited in-person spaces
  • Or, wait for the streaming link! (FAQ)
• GUFF: The Incomplete Chronicles
• Liz previously described a Pepper’s Ghost at Tokyo Disneyland
  • “Disney’s Best Illusion Explained” by Zach Wally
• Picks
  • John: Shroud by Gravity Well Brewing
    • Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
    • “Sins of the Children” by Adrian Tchaikovsky in Asterisk
  • Alison: Mickey 17
  • Liz: Hacks (Amazon Prime)
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Handwriting Analysis Special”
    • Alt text: The words “Octothorpe 130: Handwriting Analysis Special” appear three times in the three hosts’ handwriting.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John thought of something, Alison is educational, and Liz reads contracts.

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

Content warnings this episode: Money (chapter 3)

• Please remember that we have recused from consideration for the 2025 Hugo Awards
• Letters of comment
  • Chris Garcia
  • DC
    • On Blind Chance (skeet, requires sign-in)
    • On picking books (skeet, requires sign-in)
  • Doug Faunt
  • Farah Mendlesohn (Facebook)
• Eastercon 2025: Reconnect in Belfast
  • Cancelling non-refundable hotel rooms does not net one a refund
    • We get ourselves into knots trying to work out what’s happened here and we’re not sure
    • Alison taught John and Liz about complaining about cancellations
      • Cancelling goods or services
      • Make a court claim for money
• Worldcon 2025: Seattle
  • Virtual Business Meeting details
    • Lumi Global
    • The meetings are all at 09:00–12:30 (PDT/UTC-7) on 4, 13, 19, 25 July
  • Hugo nominations are open
    • How to nominate
• Picks
  • John: Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: The Official Black Spire Outpost Cookbook by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Marc Sumerak
  • Alison: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
  • Liz: Nova by Samuel Delany
    • John Nielsen-Hall’s article, “Running up that Hill: or Life with the Brunners” appears in Prolapse #7
      • Prolapse
      • Motorway Dreams, a collection of Nielsen-Hall’s writing which includes the article
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Thailand Positioning Service” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: Words read “Octothorpe 129: Can you pin Thailand on the map?” above a black-and-white world map. The backs of John, Alison and Liz’s heads are shown. John is thinking “Yup!”, Liz is thinking “100%”, and Alison is holding Thailand and thinking “???”.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John picks too soon, Alison is fully paid-up, and Liz found the comment.

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: COVID (chapter 7)

• Letters of comment
  • Andreas Davour (toot)
  • Bridget Bradshaw (skeet)
  • Chris Garcia
  • David Bamford (skeet)
  • DC (skeet, requires sign-in)
    • Przypadek/Blind Chance
  • Farah Mendlesohn (Facebook)
  • Karen Schaffer
  • Meg MacDonald (Facebook)
  • Raj (toot)
    • Short story: “Bond, Bond, and James Bond” by Eric Molinsky
    • Novelette: “Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie (from her new collection, Lake of Souls)
    • Novella: Last Stop by Django Wexler
  • Tammy Coxen (skeet)
• Eastercon 2025: Reconnect in Belfast
  • John has been asked to head up the Discord
  • Bursaries
    • Deadline is noon on 16 February
    • Email finance@easterconbelfast.org with as much or as little detail as you like
• Eastercon 2026: Iridescence, a bid for Birmingham
• BSFA
  • BSFA Award Longlist
    • Octothorpe 122 has been nominated, thank you very much!
  • Review policy rumours
    • Steven French’s comment on Camestros Felapton’s blog
  • New chair: Stewart Hotson
• Picks
  • John: Severance S2
  • Alison: The Brutalist
  • Liz: Lady Eve’s Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Live From Minidisc” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: A blue Sony MiniDisc Walkman shows, on its LCD screen, “Now playing: Octothorpe_128”.
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

John is incoherent, Alison is excited, and Liz is romantic.

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: None

• Letters of comment
  • Abigail Nussbaum
  • Ali Baker Brooks
  • Andy Openshaw
  • Chris Garcia
  • Claire Brialey
  • David Salter
  • Ed Morland
  • Farah Mendlesohn
  • Irwin Hirsh
  • Jonny Baddeley
  • Neil Ottenstein
  • Roseanna Pendlebury
  • We also heard from:
    • Fiona Moore, Ivan Sinha
• Readers’ recommendations
  • Best Novel
    • Private Rites by Julia Armfield
    • I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S Beagle
    • Metal from Heaven by August Clarke
    • In Universes by Emet North
    • The West Passage by Jared Pechaček
    • Three Eight One by Aliya Whiteley
    • Someone You Can Build a Nest in By John Wiswell
  • Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)
    • Deadpool and Wolverine
    • Tim Travers & the Time Travelers Paradox
  • Best Game or Interactive Work:
    • Tactical Breach Wizards
  • Best Fancast
    • Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones by Emily Tesh and Rebecca Fraimow
      • Lady Eve’s Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow
  • Astounding Award
    • The End of Nobility by Michael Green
• Briardene Books
  • Preorders for Colourfields by Paul Kincaid are now open!
• Eastercon 2025: Reconnect in Belfast
• Picks
  • John: Sliding Doors
  • Alison: Three Men in Orbit by Sandra Bond
  • Liz: Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Availability Flowchart” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: A flowchart entitled “How to meet John, Alison and/or Liz at Eastercon”. The boxes culminate in “console yourself with Octothorpe 127”, and the various options are listed below, but the original file is here in case that’s more helpful to the partially sighted.
    • How to meet John, Alison and/or Liz at Eastercon
    • Are you going to Reconnect?
    • Of course!/Not sure
    • Oh go on it will be a laugh
    • Oh all right then/No…
    • Are they in the bar?
    • Yes!
    • I can’t see them
    • Are you quite sure? Check again
    • Oh wait… there they are
    • No sign
    • Is there another bar?
    • Yes!
    • Nope
    • Are they on programme?
    • Yes!
    • No
    • Wait till the moderator asks for questions
    • But it’s Octothorpe Live!
    • Is your joke very funny?
    • Obviously!
    • Excellent! Good to know.
    • COME AND SAY HELLO
    • until then…
    • Are they asleep or on the loo?
    • No, they look chill
    • Er, yes?
    • Oh, that’s a shame
    • Console yourself with Octothorpe 127
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)