Author: John Coxon

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Fanac Octothorpe

Octothorpe 135: Very Slightly Soggier

A blueprint of an almond croissant with “Octothorpe 135” written at the top and “almond croissant engineering” at the bottom.
Art by Alison Scott.

Alison describes her perfect almond croissant.

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Fanac Octothorpe

Octothorpe 134: In the Framework of Linear Time

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.”’
Art by Alison Scott.

John has shortlisted, Alison has worked in large organisations, and Liz has done a spot-the-difference.

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Fanac Octothorpe

Octothorpe 133: I Understand That Alison Has Never Been Pope

John, Alison and Liz are sat behind a table at Reconnect doing a live podcast. The words “Octothorpe 133” appear at the bottom.
Photograph by Andrew Hogg

John, Alison, and Liz are live from the Belfast Eastercon!

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Fanac Octothorpe

Octothorpe 132: Almost Everything Is Not Mac

A black background. Text in purple reads “*Octothorpe* 132” while text MADE OF FIRE says “Scorching hot takes on the Hugo finalists”.
Art by Alison Scott.

John, Alison and Liz discuss this year’s Hugo Awards finalists.

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Fanac Octothorpe

131: We’re Performance Before We’re Interest

A birthday cake with six layers, from purple to a dark orange, and then a red 5 and five red candles on top, with fireworks overhead. The words “Octothorpe 131” are at the top.
Art by Alison Scott.

John is moderating, Alison is auctioning, and Liz is lecturing.

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Fanac Octothorpe

Octothorpe 130: I Am Scalison Ott

The words “Octothorpe 130: Handwriting Analysis Special” appear three times in the three hosts’ handwriting.
Art by the Octothorpe hosts.

John is working, Alison is plugging and Liz is ghosting.

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Fanac Octothorpe

Octothorpe 129: Deep in Annex A

Words read “Octothorpe 129: Can you pin Thailand on the map?” above a black-and-white world map. The backs of John, Alison and Liz’s heads are shown. John is thinking “Yup!”, Liz is thinking “100%”, and Alison is holding Thailand and thinking “???”.
Art by Alison Scott

John thought of something, Alison is educational, and Liz reads contracts.

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Fanac Octothorpe

Octothorpe 128: A Minidisc Player Will Do You No Good

A blue Sony MiniDisc Walkman shows, on its LCD screen, “Now playing: Octothorpe_128”.
Art by Alison Scott

John picks too soon, Alison is fully paid-up, and Liz found the comment.

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Fanac Octothorpe

Octothorpe 127: Hello Buoys

A flowchart entitled “How to meet John, Alison and/or Liz at Eastercon”. The boxes culminate in “console yourself with Octothorpe 127”, and the various options are listed below, but the original file is linked in the show notes in case that’s more helpful to the partially sighted. How to meet John, Alison and/or Liz at Eastercon Are you going to Reconnect? Of course!/Not sure Oh go on it will be a laugh Oh all right then/No... Are they in the bar? Yes! I can't see them Are you quite sure? Check again Oh wait... there they are No sign Is there another bar? Yes! Nope Are they on programme? Yes! No Wait till the moderator asks for questions But it's Octothorpe Live! Is your joke very funny? Obviously! Excellent! Good to know. COME AND SAY HELLO until then... Are they asleep or on the loo? No, they look chill Er, yes? Oh, that's a shame Console yourself with Octothorpe 127
Art by Alison Scott

John is incoherent, Alison is excited, and Liz is romantic.

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Fanac Octothorpe

Octothorpe 126: I’ve Read Some Novels

A picture of a Belgian waffle that looks like an octothorpe, on a white background, with the words “Octothorpe 126” above and “now with added waffle” below.
Photograph by Bella Garcia.

John is a thief, Alison plays games, and Liz is bullied.