Octothorpe

John is a thief, Alison plays games, and Liz is bullied.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], 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
  
  
  
  • Andreas Davour
  
  
  • Bella Garcia
  
  
  • Constanze Hoffman
  
  
  • Farah Mendlesohn
  
  
  • Jonathan Cowie
  
  
  • June Young
  
  
  • Mike Scott
  
  
  • Neil Ottenstein
  
  
  • Raj
  
  
  • Tammy Coxen
  
  
  • Zoe O’Connell
  
  
  • We also heard from Bridget Bradshaw, Colin Harris, Meg MacDonald, and Shi Lala
  
  
  
  


• Fan funds
  
  
  
  • The 2025 TAFF race has begun
    
    
    
    • Zi Graves, Mikołaj Kowalewski, Jan Vaněk jr.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • CUFF comes to an end
  
  
  
  


• Fowler Award


• Hugo Awards
  
  
  
  • 2025 spreadsheet of doom
  
  
  • Novels
    
    
    
    • T**he Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
    
    
    • The Sentence by Gautam Bhatia
    
    
    • The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
    
    
    • The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
    
    
    • Jumpnauts by Hao Jingfang
    
    
    • The Siege of Burning Grass by Premee Mohamed
    
    
    • Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
    
    
    • House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky
    
    
    • Absolution by Jeff Vandermeer
    
    
    • We Are All Ghosts in the Forest by Lorraine Wilson
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Novellas
    
    
    
    • A Mourning Coat by Alex Jeffers
    
    
    • North Continent Ribbon by Ursula Whitcher
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Short Stories
    
    
    
    • Grottmata by Thomas Ha
    
    
    • Five Views of the Planet Tartarus by Rachael K Jones
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Related Works
    
    
    
    • Track Changes: Selected Reviews **by Abigail Nussbaum
    
    
    • Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the A**lt-Right by Jordan S. Carroll
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Series
    
    
    
    • The Horus Heresy
    
    
    • The Southern Reach
    
    
    • The Tyrant Philosophers
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Graphic Stories
    
    
    
    • Warp Your Own Way by Ryan North and Chris Fenoglio
      
      
      
      • Abigail Nussbaum’s review at Strange Horizons
      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Dramatic Presentations
    
    
    
    • All of Us Strangers
    
    
    • Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
    
    
    • I Saw the TV Glow
    
    
    • Late Night with the Devil
    
    
    • My Old Ass
    
    
    • A Quiet Place: Day One
    
    
    • The Substance
    
    
    • Timestalker
    
    
    • Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
    
    
    • The Wild Robot
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Games
    
    
    
    • Tabletop
      
      
      
      • Arcs
      
      
      • City of Six Moons
      
      
      • Mothership
      
      
      • Undaunted 2200: Callisto
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Video
      
      
      
      • Animal Well
      
      
      • Caves of Qud
      
      
      • Dragon Age: The Veilguard
      
      
      • The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdo**m
      
      
      • Slice and Dice 3.0
      
      
      • Star Wars: Outlaws
      
      
      • Tale of the Golden Idol
      
      
      • UFO50
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Other
      
      
      
      • Bridge Command
      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Poems
    
    
    
    • Sandra Bond
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Fan categories
    
    
    
    • Artists
      
      
      
      • Alison Scott
      
      
      • España Sheriff
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Podcasts
      
      
      
      • Fanac Fan History Zooms
      
      
      • Going Rogue
      
      
      • Hugo, Girl!
      
      
      • A Meal of Thorns
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Writers
      
      
      
      • Camestros Felapton
      
      
      • Ersatz Culture
      
      
      • Roseanna Pendlebury
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Fanzines
      
      
      
      • Ancillary Review of Books
      
      
      • Banana Wings
      
      
      • Ornithopter
      
      
      • Unofficial Hugo Book Club
      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Debut authors
    
    
    
    • Moniquill Blackgoose
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • [Alison did not write any of her selections into the show notes and I was sorely tempted not to go through and write them all down for her but I did it for you, listener. I did it for you—John]
  
  
  
  


• Picks [isn’t this a whole episode of picks?—Liz]
  
  
  
  • John: Earthborne Rangers
  
  
  • Alison: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
  
  
  • Liz: Horizon Zero Dawn
  
  
  • Sorry Mark
  
  
  
  


• Credits
  
  
  
  • Cover art: “Waffle of comment” by Bella Garcia
    
    
    
    • Alt text: A picture of a Belgian waffle that looks like an octothorpe, on a white background, with the words “Octothorpe 126” above and “now with added waffle” below.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)