Octothorpe

John is demanding, Alison joined a Discord, and Liz knows a lot about the WSFS Constitution. Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: Genocide and war (chapter 1), racism and capitalism (chapter 2), sexism (chapter 5) Letters of comment Liquid of comment from This Never Happens (Cornish branch) Jonathan Baddeley: “Tedious NPC” would make a great badge ribbon Ali Baker Dave Coxon Chris Garcia Kat Tanaka Okopnik says Nice is not bidding for 2026 Crying movies Fran Dowd: Platoon Farah Mendlesohn: Fried Green Tomatoes Ang Rosin: Dead Poets Society Alison very much appreciated this sponsor read on Podside Picnic Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction edited by Otherwise Award-winning author Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki Kindle Direct Publishing took down Ekpeki’s account shortly before having to pay him royalties File 770 reports on the eventual end of the saga This is a continuation of Jason Sanford’s discussion of financial barriers to global authors The DisCon III Site Selection fiasco Salon Futura’s write-up of DisCon III File 770’s comment thread with a lot of inside baseball Steve Cooper has set up a mailing list on groups.io to look at Electronic Site Selection Chicon 8 says: “Hugo nominations will open later in January, and will run through mid-March. All members of DisCon III and anyone who joins Chicon 8 before the 31st of January 2022 will be eligible to nominate in this year’s Hugo Awards.” Section 3.7.1 of the WSFS constitution, fact fans Awards! Nicholas Whyte answers our questions Nerds of a Feather has recused itself from the 2022 Hugo Awards Commentary and interesting history courtesy of File 770 We listened to Hugo, Girl!, a fancast in which feminists read and discuss SF The FAAn Achievement Awards 2022 The Incompleat Register 2021 “A ‘fanzine’, for our purposes, is defined as an immutable artefact, once published not subject to revision or modification. The fanzine might not exist in a physical form. A PDF, for example, is an artefact.” “[A perzine is a] fanzine which typically has few, if any, contributors other than its editor(s).” Alison has joined the Hugo Award Study Committee which is a Discord server If you’d like to join then contact the chair, Cliff Dunn Their last report was in 2018 at the San Jose Worldcon New Year’s resolutions John: Publish more fanzines and make an app Alison: Have at least one SFF book a month ready to talk about on Octothorpe. Alison’s super nerdy iPad board game challenge Liz: Read 80 books on Goodreads (maybe) Picks Alison: Sinopticon: A Celebration of Chinese Science Fiction translated and edited by Xue Christine Ni (epub, Kindle) Liz: She Who Became The Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan (epub, Kindle, hardback, paperback pre-order) John: The Expanse (Amazon Prime) Music credits Our theme music is Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod, used under a CC BY 4.0 license

John and Alison are watching cutting-edge TV, and Liz is hungry. Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: genocide (chapter 2); war and defence contracting (chapter 4) Letters of comment Farah Mendlesohn asks “but what did you think of DisCon III?” Doug Faunt asks about the opening ceremony’s Christmas music Flick asks why we didn’t mention the Xinjiang region UK House of Commons motion Tahir Hamut Izgil writing at The Atlantic We’re sorry to Ira Alexandre for mispronouncing their name in episodes 20 and 21 Hugo Awards Octothorpe was almost nominated for the Hugo Awards Octothorpe was the last fancast to be eliminated from the ballot! We were surprised and very thrilled and thank you so much for nominating us E Pluribus Hugo Helsinki’s explanation of how this works Nicholas Whyte analyses the Hugo Awards in detail Camestros Felaptron’s Hugo posts: 1, 2, 3 The Hugo Awards long list It always has delights on it and this year is no exception Best Series: Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London Best Related Work: The Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom 2021 (presumably it was actually 2020 that was nominated now that we think of it) 2022 open for your suggestions now. Get those fanzines and fan writers and fan artists and fancasts that you think are absolutely great on there! Direct link: https://bit.ly/hugoaward2022 Fanzines just below the line included Bill Bowers’ Outworlds, William Breiding’s Portable Storage and Chris Garcia’s The Drink Tank Sponsorship Shaun Duke points out that Raytheon was one of the contractors that was employed in launching the James Webb Space Telescope NASFiC File 770 reports that Winnipeg are pivoting to a 2023 NASFiC Orlando in 2026 is also pivoting to a 2023 NASFiC File 770 Official site This leaves the 2026 field Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Los Angeles, CA, USA Nice, France Brice de Nice Glasgow has launched a lovely "move 500 miles poster John can walk 804.672 kilometres Earworm A fantastic edit Play along on Strava Picks: Alison: The Expanse (Amazon Prime) OK she is a bit behind but it is a 2022 Plan Liz: Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergei Dyachenko, translated by Julia Meitov Hersey (paperback, epub, Kindle) John: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Coco (Disney+) Music credits Our theme music is Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod, used under a CC BY 4.0 license

John is sleepy, Alison is talking to Chinese fans, and Liz went to the Hugos. Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: COVID-19 (chapter 2); racism (chapter 3); foreign policy and sexism (chapter 4) Letters of comment Farah and Fran talking about masking at Novacon A big discussion about BSFA You can get by just NOT TELLING THE BSFA your address (DON’T TRY THAT WITH THE WORLDCON) Chris Garcia Site selection at DisCon III Chengdu in 2023 won File 770’s reporting on the win Chinese fans seem nice! The livestream was good, and had 106,000 viewers Lots of different Chinese university SF societies encouraging the bid; spot the flag in Gallifreyan and the monolith WSFS Business Meeting The video of the session we discuss Kevin Standlee’s LiveJournal post about it File 770’s reporting on the session There are legitimate concerns about China John found he generally agreed with these tweets from Jeannette Ng Tweet Thread #1 Thread #2 The guests are Liu Cixin, Sergei Lukyanenko and Robert J. Sawyer A File 770 commenter outlines the issues with Lukyanenko Hugo Awards If Fanzine had 53 fewer votes and Fancast had 42 fewer votes they would not have been awarded Picks John: The Psychopath Club by Sandra Bond (paperback, Kindle) Alison: Sibilant Fricative by Adam Roberts (paperback, Kindle) Liz: The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison (epub, paperback, Kindle) Picks for Christmas song Alison: Chiron Beta Prime by Jonathan Coulton John: California Christmastime by Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Oh Santa! by Mr.B the Gentleman Rhymer Liz: Bethlehem Down Alison’s playlist of Christmas songs which do not presuppose God or Santa Music credits Our theme music is It’s Christmas Time by Frank Schröter, used under the Simplified Filmmusic.io Standard License

John is afraid, Alison is in Portugal, and Liz is an absolute unit. Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: COVID-19 (chapters 1 and 2, but particularly chapter 2) Thanks to Stow Shirts for sponsoring this week's episode! Use code OCTOTHORPE for a 10% discount. No letters of comment this week, we will do them next week! Smofcon Europe COVID round-up World Fantasy Convention The person who got COVID Tweeted Novacon Alan Bellingham Tony Cullen Dave Lally Caroline Mullan Colette Reap Nicholas Whyte Worldcon site selection Deadline on 14 December for returning PDF ballots PDF ballots are available here Future Convention Q&As from Worldcon/Eurocon/Smofcon bids Join the BSFA Picks Liz: Did Alison already have Hades or can I have Hades? Roguelikes vs Roguelites John: Playing board games with friends Sushi Go Party! Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space Zombie Dice EXIT: The Game: Advent Calendar: The Mystery of the Ice Cave Alison: The Man in the High Castle (Amazon Prime) Based on the Philip K. Dick book (paperback, ebook, Kindle) Music credits Our theme music is Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod, used under a CC BY 4.0 license

John, Alison, and guest Marguerite Smith are live from Novacon 50! Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: women’s body shapes (we are very positive about all body shapes but we wanted to let y’all know we touch on it) Novacon Worldcon DisCon III Glasgow in 2024 Dublin in 2029 Picks John: Voting in the Hugo Awards because he’s insufferably smug about having done the reading Alison: Daangerous Visions: A Faanfiction Faanthology, 1939–2009 Marguerite: A book by Joseph Elliott-Coleman (and apologies that we got the surname wrong in the episode) Burning Brightly: 50 Years of Novacon How to pronounce the word “grimace” Music credits Our theme music is Rattlesnake Railroad by Brett Van Donsel, used under a CC BY 4.0 license

John might hire a camper van, Alison might wee twice before bed, and Liz might not plot enough graphs. Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: COVID-19 (chapter 4), sexism (chapter 5) We’re doing Octothorpe Live at Novacon at 1pm on Sunday! Letters of comment Carved turnip Eastercon Reclamation has a hotel Tasha Suri is their new Guest of Honour Zen Cho has sadly had to step down Eastercon in a post-coronavirus world There was a thread on the future of Eastercon venues UK Eastercon Community Group Not to be confused with the old Future of Eastercon group Eastercons may need to move beyond hotels University accommodation Camp sites such as Butlins or Pontins Electromagnetic Field (EMF) It was pointed out that this has issues with dates Easter may be cold/windy/rainy Bank holidays and warm weather are a busy time for these sites SFX Weekender already does this sort of thing so it is feasible! Some hotels have been asking for huge deposits This is probably due to increased risk and not enough Government guidance It might go away again when these change Would a central Eastercon organisation help? (Probably not) Redemption 2022 Picks Alison: Dune (outside) and Black Widow (Disney+) Liz’s comment on the Dune soundtrack John: Unfathomable and the Ludoquist Liz: The Empress of Salt and Fortune (epub, Kindle, paperback) Music credits Our theme music is Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod, used under a CC BY 4.0 license

John is critically bereft, Alison made a mistake, and Liz is carving papayas. Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: COVID-19 (chapter 4) and problematic behaviour such as racism, sexism, and abuse (chapter 6). This episode is sponsored by Stow Shirts. Use promo code OCTOTHORPE for 10% off! We’re doing Octothorpe Live at Novacon at 1pm on Sunday! Letters of comment Facebook: Ali Baker, Dave Mansfield, Ang Rosin Bridget Bradshaw Chris Garcia Papaya carving COVID policy roundup Smofcon Europe Corflu Concorde (in PR5) Theme songs Guests of Honour Disinvitations File 770 reporting on Toni Weisskopf Frank Miller disinvited from Thought Bubble Elizabeth Moon disinvited from Wiscon Reflections on Racefail N. K. Jemisin Jaymee Goh Fanlore write-up Ghosts of Honour H. G. Wells’ speech at Beccon (the 1987 Eastercon) Paul Cornell suggested the “foetus of honour” Picks John: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Disney+) Always Be My Maybe (Netflix) Dune Alison: irrelevant waffle [Alison wrote that—Ed] Liz: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (PS4) Some pretty cutscenes from Uncharted 4 Music credits Our theme music is Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod, used under a CC BY 4.0 license

John used to have a different face, Alison is going to Smofcon, and Liz is in disguise. Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: COVID-19 discussion (chapter 2) We’re doing Octothorpe Live at Novacon on 1pm at Sunday! Letters of comment COVID: Jonathan Baddeley, Ali Baker, Bill Burns, Chris Garcia, Ang Rosin Dragonmeet’s COVID policy High-school movie round-up: people on Facebook, Bridget Bradshaw, Farah Mendlesohn Buffy the Vampire Slayer Election The Faculty Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion Karen Schaffer Smofcon Europe Cheap flights by Fascinating Aida Douglas Adams content! Chris Garcia Alex Holden Everyone else Liz had these covers The BBC Big Read Dublin 2029 was announced at Octocon File 770 Ed Fortune’s Tweet Sara Felix is bidding Texas (in 2031?) The Science Fiction Encyclopedia Edited by friend of the show Dave Langford and John Clute, with Graham Sleight as managing editor and remembering the late Peter Nicholls as founding editor The new fourth edition is now self-published, having moved on from Gollancz and SF Gateway Octothorpe Live will be at Novacon How to get from Thailand to London by train Picks John: Lovecraft Country (on Now) Alison: Foundation (on Apple TV+) Women Liz: Children of Ruin (epub, Kindle, paperback) Arrival (on Netflix) Embassytown (epub, Kindle, paperback) The Embedding (epub, Kindle, paperback) Native Tongue (epub, Kindle, paperback) Music credits Our theme music is Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod, used under a CC BY 4.0 license

John is going on holiday, Alison had a cold, and Liz is sleepy. Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media. Letters of comment Bug Bradshaw Dave Coxon Fran Dowd (in the Octothorpe Facebook group) Chris Garcia Emily January Novacon has a COVID policy FantasyCon has two webpages FantasyCon 2021 on the FantasyCon 2022 website FantasyCon 2021 on the HWS events website (which has the programme with the karaoke on) Ignyte Award winners Picks John: Constelación #1 Liz: Nailed It! on Netflix Alison: Three Men in a Boat on iPlayer Blast off at Woomera by Hugh Walters Simon Plays The Witness on Cracking the Cryptic GoodNotes for iPad Music credits Our theme music is Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod, used under a CC BY 4.0 license

John is listening to podcasts, Alison is reading stories, and Liz is watching TV. Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and use #OctothorpeCast or tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: COVID-19 discussion (chapters 3 and 7) Letters of comment Chris Garcia Roman Orszanski Heathers Mark Plummer Edge of the Earth Get your DisCon III virtual membership DisCon III was unopposed Convention COVID-19 policies John forgot to mention the NHS Covid Pass last week NHS page (for England and Wales) Scotland Northern Ireland Eastercon Community Facebook group post about convention COVID-19 policies BristolCon has released a COVID-19 policy Please wear a mask if you can, no requirement for vaccines or negative tests Corflu has updated their website They will announce a policy but not until closer to the time Upcoming conventions FantasyCon FIYAHCON Octocon 2021 Picks The Case of Charles Dexter Ward The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories by H. P. Lovecraft (paperback, ebook, Kindle) The Lovecraft Investigations: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward iPlayer RSS for all good podcast apps Alison’s pick The Otherwise Award Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora (paperback, ebook, Kindle) Liz’s pick Star Trek: Lower Decks (on Amazon Prime in the UK) File 770 reports the UK has a new National Film and Sci-Fi Museum The UK’s rocketry programme The Needles Old Battery and New Battery is maintained by the National Trust Alison notes “they are super misleading – the [page] has a photo of Woomera on it." Black Arrow Replica at the Wight Aviation Museum High Down Rocket Test Site Music credits Our theme music is Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod, used under a CC BY 4.0 license