Archon 32

This year was the thirty-second St. Louis Science Fiction Convention. It is named Archon in honor of the St. Louis Arch.

Before getting to the convention, I must pause to review some nomenclature. SF fans (there is a minor disagreement about whether it should be SF [ess eff] or Sci Fi) have a few words of their own. Prime examples are con for convention and fen as the plural of fan. Non SF readers are called mundanes.




The convention is now held the first weekend of October. For a long time, it was held in July. The heat of a St. Louis summer made some of the costumes torture to wear. Costuming is an important part of a con. The weather in October is chancy at best, but this year was delightfully cool, allowing fen to wear an imposing array of the costumer's art.

Science fiction is a genre with many sub-genres. Some of these, like horror, are found in different parts of the book store. Others like fantasy, space opera, hard science fiction, alternate history, cyberpunk, steampunk and military SF are lumped in with the other parts of science fiction. It mostly depends on the management of the store or chain. But all of these can be taken under the mantle of SF.



Science fiction is not something new. Although Jules Verne is the father of modern SF, it goes back at least to the 17th century. During that time, Savien Cyrano de Bergerac (yes, the guy the play was written about) published his "Comic Story of the Countries of the Moon and Sun." If you're not familiar with the play, read it. There are some of the most romantic scenes ever written therein. The films based on the play are very well done and fairly faithful to the original by Rostand. However, there have been claims that science fiction goes all the way back to biblical times. When I was growing up, I read several articles that claimed that the "great wheel" seen by Ezekiel.

Fandom (another SF word) consists of a huge variety of people. There are science fiction clubs and authors all over the Americas, Europe and the Far East. In fact, each year, a world science fiction convention is held. More abut that in the parties section. While many fen are scientists and engineers, a multitude of other folk love the genre or part of it. There are teenagers, literature students, artists, clerks, accountants and policemen that I have met at cons. Fandom is also one of the most accepting, tolerant populations I have met. Almost any foible is acceptable at a con.

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The gentleman in this photo, by the way is running his computer from a solar cell.

The most common question I hear about science fiction conventions (cons is so much easier, but a little repetitive) is "What do you do there?" The answer to that is quite a bit. During the day, there are panel discussions ranging from weapons of the medieval warrior to surgery in space. Experts in writing and publishing talk about both writing and getting what you write published. Artists will talk about how they got into SF art or how they draw imaginary creatures. Astronomers can give lectures on how to make up realistic imaginary worlds or biologists might talk about what sort of aliens might exist. I even managed to give a few panels about my life with big cats.



In the evening, there is more programming, usually there is a continuous science fiction film show and the parties. Parties are an integral part of the con experience. Reasons for hosting parties can vary from the desire to get together with friends and others to a bid for a world science fiction convention (worldcon) location. You see, worldcons are held in a different city every year. There have been a number of repeat visits, to Los Angeles and to Denver, for examples. But the con itself moves each year. Attendees of the worldcon two years before vote on the location and the winner hosts the worldcon two years hence. Believe me, two years are the minimum required to organize a successful worldcon. It is usually the biggest SF con held in the year, hosting memberships from 3,000 to 10,000 in recent years. The parties are to convince fen that a particular locale is ideal for a worldcon. Since some delightful people love to throw parties, there are also fake worldcon bid parties for places like the moon or Mars.

The parties usually serve food typical of their areas and some serve beverages native to their areas. Especially notable among these was the successful Scotland bid party. Glasgow won hands down that year.

Last, but not least, many people ask about the "Trekkies". They are with us, along with fans of Dr. Who and other TV series. But Star Trek was the seminal science fiction television show and brought the medium to the attention of more people than anything until Harry Potter (there are Harry Potter fans too.)




Try Googling "Science Fiction Convention" and attend one in your area.