126: I’ve Read Some Novels

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 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
  • 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)