164: WSFS and ESFS and All Sorts of SFSes

John is not quite awake, Alison’s off to the cricket, and Liz is doing it in an unusual order.

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 Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode:

• Letters of comment
  • Ali Baker Brooks (Facebook)
  • Chris Garcia (email)
  • Farah Mendlesohn (Bluesky)
  • Jake Casella Brookins (Bluesky)
  • Paul Weimer (email)
  • Kevin Anderson (Bluesky)
  • Roseanna Pendlebury (Bluesky)
    • GeForce NOW
  • We also heard from Doug Faunt, Jonathan Baddeley, Kev McVeigh, Kin-Ming Looi, Lilian Edwards, and Scott Edelman
• Eurocon 2026: Metropol Con in Berlin, Germany
  • Thanks to James Bacon for some fantastic reporting on File 770: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4
  • Eurocon
    • Eurocon 2027: Forum Fantástico in Lisbon, Portugal (23–26 September)
    • Eurocon 2028: SFeraKon 50 in Zagreb, Croatia (probably the second weekend in May)
    • Eurocon 2029: Bids for Warsaw, Poland and Sofia, Bulgaria
    • Eurocon 2030: Bids for Birmingham, England and Fuiggi, Italy
    • Eurocon 2031: Bid for Belgrade, Serbia
    • Eurocon 2032: Bid for Copenhagen, Denmark
    • The Andreas Kuschke Prize was awarded to Constanze Hofmann
  • Berlin
    • Ehl-i Kebap
    • FABELEI
• Wombats
• Worldcon 2026: LAcon V
  • The WSFS Business Meeting Agenda
• Picks
  • John: On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara Haveland (I and II) and Jennifer Russell & Sophia Hersi Smith (III)
  • Alison: Abstract Play
    • BoardGameArena
    • Gerrymandle
    • Tabletopia
    • Yucata
    • 18xx.Games
      • Rollway Station
  • Liz: Cinder House by Freya Marske
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Summer of Fun” by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: John and Liz are behind two large stacks of paper with text reading “WSFS Agenda… D… E… E… F… F7… more F7… secret squirrel” whilst Alison sits in the stands of Lord’s. Words above say “Octothorpe 164” and “It’s the summer of fun!”.
  • Theme music: “Surf Shimmy” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)