John is worried, Alison volunteers, and Liz is warm. An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, 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: None Letters of comment Chris Hurley (email) Dave O’Neill (Bluesky, DM) Ivan Sinha (Facebook) Jesi Lipp (email, Facebook) John Hertz (typewritten letter with pasted image from File 770 scanned by Fedex and sent by email) Mike Glyer (email) Neil Ottenstein (Facebook) Nicholas Whyte (email) Nuala (Bluesky) Paul Weimer (Bluesky) Rory Hennell James (Bluesky) Tammy Coxen and Jesi Lipp (Bluesky) We also heard from Doug Faunt and Farah Mendlesohn Worldcon 2025: Seattle Business Meeting Jesi Lipp posted some excellent infographics on JOF Jesi also posted a small table on our Facebook of attendances back to 2014 and John made them into a graph NASFiC is gone The USA has a national con now and it’s Dragon Con, so why compete? We will return to this question… The end of fan-run conventions in the USA NASFiC is gone, leaving Dragon Con as the de facto national convention The Westercon by-laws have been repealed Wiscon has not got enough volunteers to run an in-person convention Gallifrey One is coming to an end, Showmasters Events are running a commercial replacement GeekGirlCon and Penguicon are struggling Arisia, Baycon, Boskone, Loscon have all shrunk (anecdotally) The end of fan-run conventions more widely? New Zealand: Fan-run conventions have been struggling since CoNZealand Finland: SMOF News recently reported that Finncon is not running due to lack of volunteers More widely to do with volunteering? Maybe more true in the UK? Picks John: The Tyrant Philosophers by Adrian Tchaikovsky Alison: Control Room B at Battersea Power Station (and Battersea Power Station Station) Liz: Woodworking by Emily St. James Credits Cover art: “Mildly Wes” by Alison Scott Alt text: A photograph of a cocktail bar at Battersea Power Station. The words “Control Room B” are above the cocktail bar, and the words “Octothorpe 141” overlaid in similar style. Theme music: “Surf Shimmy” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)