St. Louis Science Fiction, Ltd., hosts of Archon, St. Louis' premier SF/Fantasy convention, is hosting the 2007 North American Science Fiction Convention (9th NASFIC) since the Worldcon has been awarded to a non-North American site (Yokohama, Japan). Last year, we received news that one of fandom's most beloved personalities, Wilson "Bob" Tucker, had passed away. In order to honor all the great times that fans all over the world had with Bob and to commemorate the enthusiasm he brought to the SF community, the 2007 NASFIC has been named "TuckerCon". Bob will always be remembered for his tradition of "smoothing" and for his attitude of never meeting a stranger and always meeting new friends. He will be missed dearly.

In order to allow out-of-town families to attend before the Fall school sessions begin, the convention has been rescheduled for a four-day weekend two months earlier than usual -- 2-5 August instead of the usual first weekend in October. This places the St. Louis area convention a month before the Yokohama Worldcon. Next year Archon will return to it's usual first weekend in October.

The convention opens at noon Thursday and closes 5pm Sunday. There are 6-10 tracks of simultaneous programming to choose from. Some of the popular choices for this year are the masquerades, around-the -clock gaming, video rooms, dances, Friday night dinner theater with Guests of Honor speeches and award ceremonies, pool party, all night filking, art show, charity auction, banquet, dealers room, a dedicated track of children's programming (not a baby-sitting service), and a podcast workshop.

The convention has one of the best art shows in the Midwest and one of the best masquerades anywhere in the country. For the more academically minded, there's a call for papers to be presented this year as part of the academic programming track. The workshops and contests include the Third Annual Amateur Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing Contest, the Anime Music Video Contest, and Screen Writing workshop.

Gaming runs its own extensive programming; events this year will include Collectible Card Game Tournaments, sanctioned RPGA, Call of Cthulhu, AD&D, and other miniature-based games. There will also be scheduled game demonstrations and introductory game scenarios.

As a first for Archon, there is going to be a Filk track of programming complete with seminars, panels, theme filks, and the usual concerts. In addition to the Filk Guests of Honor Barry and Sally Childs-Helton, Mary Crowell, Tom Smith, Luke Ski, Gary Ehrlich, and Gary Hanak will also be there adding to the rich experience.

For additional information about Archon 31/TuckerCon/9th NASFIC Science Fiction/Fantasy and Gaming convention, please visit their website www.archonstl.org. It runs from 2-5 August at the Gateway Center in Collinsville, Illinois.