165: E Ese Efe Ese

John is big-headed, Alison has a right of reply, and Liz explains how voting should work.

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.

• Letters of comment
  • Brian Nisbet (Facebook)
  • Chris Garcia (email)
    • Eurocon 2029: Bid for Warsaw, Poland
  • Constanze Hofmann (email)
    • ESFS
    • ESFS statues
  • Gareth Kavanagh (Facebook)
  • Ivaylo Alekseev (email)
  • Leigh Edmonds (email)
    • Digger by Ursula Vernon
  • Neil Ottenstein (Facebook)
  • Renay (Bluesky)
  • Shi Lala (Facebook)
  • Alison: Scott Edelman (Bluesky)
  • We also heard from Constanze Hofmann, Farah Mendlesohn, Ivan Sinha, Jonathan Cowie, Kev McVeigh, Lilian Edwards, and Paul Weimer
• Worldcon 2026: LAcon V
  • The WSFS Business Meeting Agenda
  • WSFS Business Meeting Recaps from LAcon V
  • F.7 Limitation on Listed Contributors for Hugo Award Finalists
    • This was withdrawn by Olav Rokne at the Preliminary Business Meeting
    • “Role Creep in the Hugo Awards Semiprozine Category” by Tammy Coxen on File 770
    • “Role Creep and the Numbers Game: A Measured Response” by Kat Kourbeti on File 770
  • F.8 Purposeful Proportionality
    • [Alison told me that we should link a CGP Grey video here but then didn’t put it in the show notes, so good luck finding it, listeners—John]
  • History of Hugo Category Definitions by Tammy Coxen
  • Unofficial WSFS Business Meeting Browser by Andrew January
• Locus
  • Locus Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year: Volume 1 on Kickstarter
• Picks
  • John: Mothership Companion
  • Alison: Strange Horticulture
  • Liz: Moderation by Elaine Castillo
• Credits
  • Cover art: “Stand Up and Be Counted”, found art détourned by Alison Scott
    • Alt text: 72 assorted LEGO minifigs in a 6x12 grid. Words above read “Octothorpe 165” and below read “WSFS Business Meeting Register: Stand up and be Counted”. The title case on the part of the sentence after the colon is, frankly, bananas, and it certainly isn’t aligned with the Octothorpe style guide.
  • Theme music: “Surf Shimmy” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)