104: Groundbreaking and Great
John, Alison and Liz discuss what SF they enjoyed from 2023. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, check out our subtitles/transcripts, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: None Fanzine The Ancillary Review of Books IDEA Nerds of a Feather Fan Artist Alison Scott España Sheriff Fan Writer Camestros Felapton Paul Weimer Sandra Bond Fancast Going Rogue Game/Interactive Work Video games Baldur’s Gate 3 Chants of Sennaar Dredge The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Tabletop games Apiary Earthborne Rangers Moon Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game INELIGIBLE: Hegemony Galactic Starcruiser Adrian Hon’s write-up Cass Morris’s write-up Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) Blue-Eyed Samurai (Netflix) Doctor Who (BBC iPlayer, Disney+) For All Mankind (Apple TV+) Foundation (Apple TV+) The Last of Us (Now) The Mandalorian (Disney+) Poker Face (Now) Silo (Apple TV+) Star Trek: Lower Decks (Paramount+) Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+) The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Netflix) Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) Asteroid City (Now Cinema) Barbie (rent or buy) Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Paramount+) Ghosts, series 5 (BBC iPlayer) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Disney+) The Marvels (Disney+) Nimona (Netflix) Polite Society (Now Cinema) Poor Things (rent or buy) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Now Cinema) Best Related Work 50 Years of Text Games by Aaron A Reed Silverwolf A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith All These Worlds: Reviews and Essays by Niall Harrison A Traveller in Time: The Critical Practice of Maureen Kincaid Speller, ed. Nina Allan Best Graphic Story Moon Knight, volume 9 by Jed MacKay, Alessandro Cappuccio, and Rachelle Rosenberg Why Don’t You Love Me? by Paul B Rainey Best Series Dune by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson Elric by Michael Moorcock Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie The Final Architecture by Adrian Tchaikovsky The Tyrant Philosophers by Adrian Tchaikovsky Best Short Fiction “Spring Woods Spring” by B Pladek “The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer Find stories to read at Rocket Stack Rank Best Novella A Theory of Haunting by Sarah Monette Walking Practice by Dolki Min “On the English Approach to the Study of History” by E Saxey Best Semiprozine Giganotasaurus Strange Horizons wot, no https?! Best Novel Bridge by Lauren Beukes The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera The Reformatory by Tananarive Due Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway Orbital by Samantha Harvey In Ascension by Martin MacInnes Hopeland by Ian McDonald Julia by Sandra Newman Him by Geoff Ryman Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford City of Last Chances and The House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh The Year in Review 2023 by Graham Sleight Credits Cover art: “Favourite Reading Positions” by Sue Mason Alt text: John is in the bottom-left, sitting in a chair, wearing a blue shirt and purple trousers, holding a can, and reading an ebook. Alison is in the upper-middle, lying down upside down, wearing a purple shirt and stripy trousers, and reading an ebook. Liz is in the bottom-right, wearing a pink shirt with green trousers, holding a mug of a hot beverage, and reading a physical book. They are surrounded by floating beer bottles, books, the Moon, a mug with a moose on it, and two cats. The word “Octothorpe” appears in scattered letters around the artwork, against a pinky-purple background. Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)