167: Way More Fun Than the Actual Hugos

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:

• Letters of comment
  • Alison: Mike Scott (Facebook)
    • “How is Inventing the Renaissance an SFF-Related Work?” by Ada Palmer
  • Liz: Tammy Coxen (Bluesky 1, Bluesky 2)
  • John: Heather Rose Jones (Facebook)
• The Brand-New, Definitely-WSFS-Approved Hugo Award® Rosters!
  • Alison
    • Novel: Redefined to be 60,000+ words, awards to author and editor
    • Dramatic Presentation (Short Form): Redefined to standalone works
    • Vibes: Best thing that seems like it should be genre but isn’t
    • New Writer: Redefined as a debut in the last three years, has never won a Hugo Award (!)
    • Fan: No previous winners, no professionals (with some caveats)
    • Original Artwork: Flat art and sculpture
  • John
    • Game or Interactive Work
    • Dramatic Presentation (Television): Nominating series, no standalone episodes
    • Novella: Refined to be up to 60,000 words, awards to author and editor
    • Related Work: Redefined to render conventions and things that exclusively happen at conventions ineligible
    • Fancast: It’s perfect just the way it is
    • Fan Artist: Defined “properly”
  • Liz
    • Dramatic Presentation (Moving Picture): Redefined to exclude TV series somehow
    • Publisher
      • Neon Hemlock
      • Haikasoru
    • Series: Redefined to let series of above a number of volumes on, even under the 240,000 word count (the Nghi Vo amendment)
      • [I SAID IT AND I MEANT IT—John]
    • Short Story/Novelette: Redefined to be shorter than 15,000 words, award to author only
    • Community Benefit: Works by the community which exist to benefit the community
      • Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom
      • AO3
      • Con or Bust
    • Video Essay: Non-fiction works in video format
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Summer of Fungi” by España Sheriff
    • Alt text: An watercolour of three pink mushrooms growing on the trunk of a tree. The words “Octothorpe 167” appear at the top, and “summer of fungi” appear at the bottom. The listener is left to discern which mushroom represents which co-host.
  • Theme music: “Surf Shimmy” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)