John Coxon

Time for a new #introduction! I'm John (he/him) 👋 Scientist by day, keen gamer, SF fan and podcaster by night. I won the Hugo Award in 2024 for cohosting the @octothorpecast.bsky.social podcast, alongside @bohemiancoast.bsky.social and @lizbatty.bsky.social. We mostly discuss conventions!

jazz hands

Episode 171 arrives! We discuss the most recent Fantasycon and some other bits and bobs including Worldcon news and the sad news of Malcolm Edwards' passing. Thanks to @chloroformtea.bsky.social for this episode's cover art. Listen here! octothorpe.podbean.com/e/171-...

TIL I fucked something up and haven't read a single email newsletter since mid-June. @renay.bsky.social I have a lot of issues of _Intergalactic Mixtape_ to catch up on…!

Does anyone know how to tell which #Fantasycon panels are recorded, and how to watch them?

The #Fantasycon map has rooms called Staffa, Shuna, Jura, Barra, E.B. The programme has "The Flame Tree Room", "Panel 2" and "Panel 3". How do those link to one another, does anyone know? (Is there a con Discord I should be asking on or a Bluesky account I should post to?)

We were live from @octocon.bsky.social, and now you can hear that episode but it's not live. Is it dead? CAN PODCASTS DIE? Who knows! Listen here: octothorpe.podbean.com/e/170-... #ScienceFiction #Podcast #Octocon

@ecfriedman.com Hello, please may I ask what lapel mic you use in your videos?

What is Rockets on Tyne, you ask? Why, it's a day of SF events taking place on 26 November as part of this year's Books on Tyne festival! Details and tickets here and in the following thread: booksontyne.co.uk

Not me looking online for cassette players 👀

funniest rom hack reasoning of all time

Pompeii is a UNESCO world heritage site not because it was remarkable in its prime, but because it survived to our era untouched: one moment, preserved for all time. But future generations won't know what OUR world was like unless we do the same. This is why we MUST bury Toronto with a volcano

@scottedelman.bsky.social Please may I ask, what microphone do you use for Eating the Fantastic?

mmygod

[rings bell] theoryslop! theoryslop! come get yer theoryslop while it's still hot!

Playing a Lord of the Rings Hack of Thirsty Sword Lesbians (i'm an entwife), and it made me make memes mid game, which is always a good sign.

Do you feel that your life has insufficient Octo-ness in it? Want to connect with other people who send a lot of Discord messages? Why not join @octocon.bsky.social, the National Irish Science Fiction Convention, and come to a live recording of Octothorpe! www.octocon.com

@casella.bsky.social Loving the third-wave coffee content in the LAcon V episode!

I'm going to be an online guest, alongside @bohemiancoast.bsky.social and @lizbatty.bsky.social, at @octocon.bsky.social and they sent me a lovely graphic to plug it!

Today’s poem is called ‘You Can’t Judge a Book’.

Friends don't let friends read @tabletopgamingnews.bsky.social – appalling behaviour.

Thinking about this exchange today

My sister-in-law is listening to the radio. "…according to John Coxon, a criminal defence attorney…" Those of you with more common names probably have this a lot, but I am 37 and it was a new and very eerie experience!

I hate puzzles in RPGs I get enough of that figuring out how European showers work

It was a blast. Thanks to all our panelists! @aahabershaw.bsky.social, @sandrarosner.bsky.social, Nikhil Prabala, @pematson.bsky.social, @johncoxon.bsky.social and @catvalente.bsky.social!

Hello new followers 👋

The internet was absolutely a mistake but this is one of like five admissible pieces of evidence that it’s good actually

Hey @1password.bsky.social I remember when you were a Mac app that respected and was part of the Mac community, that seems so long ago now 😞

Mothership Month is back this year, with one big caveat: no crowdfunding, no new releases. Instead we're investing back in the community: For starters: the Jump-9 Writers Grant will invest $9k in 3 new writers to help them each create a Mothership zine. www.failuretolerated.com/mothership-m...

I'm REALLY hoping that Nicholas Hoult had someone whisper in his ear what Rowling has been saying and went "People think I'm fine with WHAT? Tell them I'm busy." I will say, from experience, most Hollywood folk aren't as aware of this stuff as you'd believe. Many don't even go online anymore.

(Also fuck the 'TERF island' rhetoric - the majority of people over here fairly solidly don't care one way or the other, and the sad minority of bigots don't need us helping them by pretending they have more support than they do. They're a small loud group of powerful asshats, and that's *all*)

Moose is entirely right, and it's a problem. We need more people trying to engage and understand in good faith, as opposed to deliberate misreading to score points with your friends/audience/clique etc!

@anilineapps.bsky.social I was trying to type a message and Indigo kept asking for permission to paste from Safari, would not respect me tapping "do not allow". I eventually had to capitulate to finish what I was doing.

There is a thing that frustrates me, and it's when social media accounts nominally represent 2+ people, but are used by one person as a personal account. Frustrates me even more when it's an account for a male-and-female team and it's a man who's monopolising it. There are multiple examples of this!

People with nicknames like "crazy Kevin" or "wacky Dave" are always the dullest people you are ever likely to meet. I'm convinced most of them came up with the nickname themselves because they're aware of this

@aconytebooks.bsky.social The Lucius Galloway sheet on this page is slightly wrong, it doesn't have his name at the top like all the others do. Please may this be fixed?

If you ask someone today to name the builder of Hadrian's Wall, they would give you a funny look. But historical memory is odd, and right up to the 1800s we forgot who built it. Until in 1840 John Hodgson, an obscure Northumbrian clergyman, published the LONGEST footnote in history... 1/22

I will tell you what, as someone who regularly gets words muddled, I hate the lack of an edit button on Bluesky.

I have started reading *The Prestige* by Christopher Nolan. Crikey, s'good innit?

This is why the distinction between meanness and negative criticism is so important. Negative criticism is a vital and necessary component of the way we interact. Being mean, scoring points, dunking, piling on: these things are not negative criticism, they are abuse.