Archon 42
Archon is the long-running science fiction convention in the St. Louis area. Over the years it has adapted to the changing times by adding more media and gaming tracks to its programming, such that it has been able to thrive and even grow as many old-school science fiction conventions are shrinking and even closing their doors for good.
This year Archon was held over the weekend of October 12-14, 2018 at the Gateway Convention Center and the Doubletree Hotel in Collinsville, Illinois, which is one of the metro east suburbs of St. Louis. You can still see the Gateway Arch from the bluff line, looking across the Mississippi River.
This year we were doing Archon as the second weekend of a double-header, after Icon in Cedar Rapids. Because it didn't make sense for us to drive all the way back to Indianapolis, only to turn around and come back the next day, we'd stayed Tuesday and Wednesday at my dad's place in the Bloomington-Normal area.
On Thursday we put our personal belongings back in the van and headed down to Collinsville. We actually made pretty good time, even with an extended stop in Litchfield to shop at Walmart and then eat in their parking lot rather than on the road.
This year we'd been able to get a room with a jetted tub at the Day's Inn. We'd hoped that it might help my husband's legs, since that hotel doesn't have a hot tub. However, that room was on the second floor, so we had to deal with going up and down an elevator, but the room was nice enough overall that it did make up for the hassle.
Then we went over to the convention center to pick up our badges. While we were waiting, I was reading a book and suddenly got a whole scene for one of my novels. I had to franticly search for some suitable paper in my purse, but I got it scribbled out on a little scrap of what looked like list paper.
When we got back to the room, we took turns using the jetted tub. Then I tried to do some work on images with GIMP. I was able to crop out a decent publicity photo from one of the pictures my brother had taken of me at Twin Lakes Park, but when I moved to trying to fix a cover, the whole program went haywire. Apparently I need to download an updated version, something I'd prefer to do at home, on a network I trust. So I gave up and we turned in for the evening.
On Friday we got up early and ate the hotel's complimentary breakfast. Then we headed over to the convention center to get ready to load in. I got a bunch of merchandise out, trying to gain access to our cart, but my husband secured a flatbed cart first. I used it to carry everything in. I had a little hassle when I took some of our mats in, discovered that we didn't need them because there were enough of the convention's mats, and then had someone think we were trying to make off with the convention's mats.
Because of the rain and the lack of help, we were way behind on setting up. Usually Archon is one of the cons where we set up with time to spare, but this year we were scrambling to get ready when the doors opened. It probably didn't help that we were also covering an additional table, agenting for a friend who discovered he needed to attend a family get-together in New Hampshire that weekend, after he'd already bought his tables for the convention.
However, we did get some decent sales once we got to a reasonably settled point. We even were able to go over to the art show and get some food at the artists' reception. This year they were doing a cash bar, so even the pop cost money, but the food was still decent.
After the reception, we headed back to our hotel and had supper. Then I did a little writing before we turned in for the night.
On Saturday we got up early for the hotel's complimentary breakfast. Then we headed over to the convention center to get our tables open for business. We put up signs and replenished our displays from back stock. I also started tightening the secondary paperbacks to see how many we'd sold, and took some boxes out to the van.
Then we settled in to sell. I was at the books and t-shirts, and was happily surprised to get several large book purchases. As a result, I got two trays of back stock empty, and part of a third. This was one of the most substantial book sales events we'd had in ages, even if it wasn't quite like the old days when we'd empty four or five trays of paperbacks at Archon.
After the dealers' room closed for the evening, we headed back to our room to get supper. Then I did some work on my writing while my husband played games. Although Archon has a fair number of parties, they usually aren't really to our taste, being too late for someone who needs to do business the next day, and really more focused on alcohol than either of us are comfortable with.
On Sunday we got up early to eat breakfast, then gathered our things and get them out to the van so we could check out. Because all our local helpers were commuting from their homes, we didn't have to wake anybody up or make sure they had all their possessions out, which did simplify matters.
Then we went to the convention center and got our tables open in hope of a strong finish. We also had some time to walk around and look at the various other vendors' tables. There were several that had remained empty throughout the weekend. In one case a long-time dealer had passed away suddenly, and it was too soon to disturb the family with questions of how to dispose of his tables, so they were left to stand empty. However, I never did hear why the other dealer did not claim their tables.
Then the doors opened and we started selling in earnest. We were pretty busy the whole time, although a lot of the merchandise was the stuff we were agenting for a friend. However, I did get several substantial book orders, which probably helped pull our back stock down further.
After lunch I started packing the fairies, since we'd seen little or no interest in them. However, we were still getting book sales, so I'd periodically have to stop and mark stuff off the booklist, then dig out second copies or overflow to keep our front stock looking nice. Because I never had time to consolidate from the beginning, I had no idea how much we had emptied, only that we had some substantial gaps.
Finally the dealers' room closed and it was time to start hauling stuff out. I took the first load of books out while everyone was still packing, but after that I had them just haul stuff out and pile it up beside the van, where I could sort through it. As a result, we were able to get on the road surprisingly early.
The trip was tiring, but we arrived safely at my dad's place. I carried stuff in and fixed supper. Then I went through our ledger and added things up, discovering that we were going to be writing a Very Large Check to our friend, and our own sales were rather thin. I don't know if taking care of his sales meant we scanted our own, or if sales actually were down, but we figured we could give it at least one more year.
On Monday we carried our personal belongings back out and said good-bye to Dad. Then we hit the road home. The drive wasn't that hard, but it was very tiring. By the time we stopped at the Brownsburg branch of our bank to make the deposit, I was fighting off drowsiness.
We went straight to the free community meal before going home. I was still very glad to pull into the driveway and shut down. I carried in our personal belongings, then did some bookwork.
Copyright 2019 by Leigh Kimmel
Permission is granted for reproduction in fanzines and other non-profit fannish publications.
For permission to quote or reprint in other venues, contact Leigh Kimmel
Last updated June 21, 2019.