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