The Stars & Skulls Crafty Craft Fair (in Holyoke, MA Dec. 2) was fun, and I sold a decent amount of comics. Nice people fed me weird chocolates, and other nice people fed me soup. I saw three mohawks, two of which appear below (the little kid wandered off too quickly). Here are some sketches from that day, for those of you who weren’t there:

I don’t have a camera, but I’ve finally starting sketching from life somewhat regularly, so here are some drawings from the New Stars release party at Comic Boom. We have: pastries Dan Barlow brought (sent by Phayvanh Luekhamhan), Marek Bennett making music, the Sputnik pinata, and Comic Boom owner Corey Milotte doing important work.

Presenting some unofficial PHOTOS from the event!

Here, Colin & Megan deal with a big crowd around the display table…

And here, the chief architects of the Trees and Hills Sputnik Project reveal their handiwork to the press. The elegant basketball-sized device boasts a gleaming aluminum coating, and a core of unknown composition, possibly enriched candy.

Thanks to Keene’s own COMIC BOOM for hosting the event!

Moving on from the release party (though photos & sketches should appear at some point), Trees & Hills will have a table at the Stars & Skulls Crafty Craft Fair Saturday, December 1 from 10am-5pm at the American Legion Hall, 162 Russell St., Hadley, MA. Anne Thalheimer and (I think) E.J. Barnes will also have tables.

I’ve just received word of a new quarterly quarter-size anthology called Candy Or Medicine, edited by Josh Blair - not produced in our region, but looking for submissions. Deadline for the next issue is December 10; submission guidelines are here, and you can order Volume One here.

In other news, if you feel you have space for a photocopier, check out the free ones in this NH Craigslist listing, or email me (colintedford at gmail dot com) about the one I rashly got on Freecycle that’s too big for my tiny living space. Makes me wish we had a Trees & Hills studio!