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Archon report!

Posted on October 14, 2025 by elizabethdonald_7o83t2

It’s been over a week, but let’s face it: life doesn’t stop for con drop.

Archon was an absolute delight, with a great vibe, good conversation, interesting panels and a rocking party, as well as terrific sales. We had a great group of Lit Underlords and minions working the booth and the party, so it was like I didn’t have to do anything except pour the drinks!

Okay, I had panels: writing as resistance, book banning, the need for diversity in our literature – you know, lightweight panels like that. (I must have been deep in activist professor mode when I filled out my form.) There were actual people in my reading and signing, which is always a nice boon to the ego. And the little geek girl in my heart was enjoying the hell out of the cosplay and the car show.

So here’s a few photos – I was too busy to get many – and a zillion thanks to all the good folks who joined us for the big party! On to next year!

Who you gonna call? (Yes, that’s the Blues Brothers off to the side.)

You know we got trouble when both the Mystery Machine and the DeLorean Time Machine are needed.

 

No matter how many times I see one of these, it’s always awesome.

 

Yes, that’s the time circuits on the dashboard, and a banana peel hanging out of Mr. Fusion by the hoverboard. Great Scott!

 

Zoinks!

 

Minions! And an Underlord – Mary Koppenhofer is part of Branson’s General Store, which does hand-carved leatherwork (and those nifty leather face masks we sell like crazy). The minions did major work this year, including a pre-Archon inventory sort and reboxing that was immensely helpful for our system. Many thanks go to the minions, especially Cole Carsen who led the inventory project!

 

New from Branson’s: eyepatches! Yorick never looked so dashing. (Yes, he’s missing two teeth thanks to a freak windstorm in Dupo, Illinois.)

 

Bowing to me in the hallway for some reason I’m not entirely clear…

 

Bustin’ makes me feel good…

 

To tell you the truth, I’m not sure who was cosplaying who… (but the one on the left is Underlord Sela Carsen.)

 

I think this one won best in show.

 

Hail hail the gang’s all here! Photo taken by our good friend Keith DeCandido, who was Toastmaster for the convention (and yet did not bring toast…) Some of our authors were present but not pictured, including Kathy S. Brown and Michales Joy. Jim is kneeling next to me despite his bad knees, and I don’t know what snarky joke Keith just told but I started cracking up. We look pretty alive for the last hour of the con, don’t we?

If you’re curious, my T-shirt reads, “What a terrible era in which idiots govern the blind.” It’s Shakespeare. Why, did you have some other meaning in mind? And it may be a terrible era, but with fiends like these, I think we just might get through it.

Category: conventions

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