Octothorpe

134: In the Framework of Linear Time

Octothorpe

Show Notes

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 [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: 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

Locus

2025 fundraiser Revenue is flat and costs are up 21%

Clarke Award

The shortlist has been announced

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

Picks

John: The Mark by Frìða Ìsberg 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)

More from Octothorpe

Oct 22, 2026

John is at Fantasycon, Alison is wrong, and Liz is right. 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 Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: None

Oct 8, 2026

John, Alison and Liz are live from Octocon! 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: It’s a live recording!

Sep 24, 2026

John parties, Alison queues, and Liz betrays. 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 Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode:

Sep 10, 2026

John is tired, Alison is listening to music, and Liz is catsitting. 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 Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: Clowns (Chapter 1), Hugo Award statistics (Chapter 3)

Aug 27, 2026

John, Alison, and Liz fix the Hugo Awards once and for all. 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 Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode:

See all episodes →