Some critter really wanted birdfeed.

So I have previously mentioned attempts to get birds to come to my window birdfeeder...

After a couple of weeks, it started to work.

Too well.

Something came by and tore the feeder apart, more or less, as it tried to get at the food.

(I got a new feeder and moved it to a slightly different location.)

Anime Boston 2009

Boston, Memorial Day Weekend....




And at the Hynes, cosplayers and fans and curious people come out in hordes. Some kind of Anime event.

* Is it just me or are there at no less than three Alucards in that crowd

Below: People going crazy in the Artist's Alley, I guess?

Below -- Rorschach,

with a sushi plushie.

Below: L. With plushy bear slippers and hat.







Also, I threw together a goofy little minicomic of doodles based on Anime Boston 2008. I sold the minis at Hyun and Shelli's table in the Artist's Alley.

Below: Cover, sample insidepage, and backcover.

(Of course, those 3 hour lines are how I met new friends at Anime Boston....)

Later, I enjoyed a dinner together with Dirk T, Emily, Dave L., Dave L's charming significant other whose name eludes me, and two gentlemen who sold swords and props at the convention.


Below . . . . Sunset, walking home.

Portland Maine comics festival

Back from Portland Maine Comics Arts Festival! I sold and traded books, met a lot of people and had a lot of fun. The festival hall was one of the nicest indoor places to meet, with a huge glass wall facing the ocean.

Portland is an interesting misty place, from what I could see coming in. Also very cute place to walk around.

Below, photos of the festival.

(An entire row and some more of Boston comics people...)

Below: convention goer with an amusing bag.



I meant to sell some silver figurines at the festival. Mostly, I ended up showing people how to torch-fire and burnish silver-clay sculptures (it's really fun).

I may have inspired a little girl to try creating bronze sculptures. Bronze or copper clay is a much less expense material, and allows for more experimenting. She mentioned she has a kiln at her school, so she should be able to fire her sculptures. She still needs to get the special containers and materials to fire bronze or copper clay, though.



Also at the festival, I debuted a new comic:




This might look familiar.... (link)

Color has been added and a few dialogue and details tweaked -- but here is the 24 Hour Comic from last October, finally in print. I added the "Being kicked out by the police for drawing comics at 3 AM" story on the back page. (see blog entry for details.)

(That's what I was planning to put as a title on the inside back page -- "Creating KATTAN: Being Kicked Out by the Fuzz at 3 AM for Drawing Comics". But I figured it was a little too jarring of a title to read, after finishing the story.)

I'm looking for a slightly more economical way to print this color comic, since it's still expensive right now.

Minor update: Among the many people I traded books with was Marek Bennet... Here's his blog post. There's a picture which shows all the kinds of books at the festival. (And in the right hand side is "Outbound" and "Kattan"!)



Woops, I forgot to mention I was going to the Portland festival in earlier blog posts. Well, I guess I should mention: next week I'm at Anime Boston. I might have a few things for sale at a table or two, but mostly I'll be wandering around.



Also, the weather turned cold again. Kate will probably ask why I'm still suprised at this random New England weather.

Kind of windy now

Wow, the weather is really nice now. Although there was a lot of wind. As long as one is sheltered in a car, it's pretty funny to watch people's hair get whipped around and go crazy in the wind.

Oh and I guess I should mention how you can buy "Outbound" online here or at these local stores. ("Outbound" is the thingamajiggy that has my stories in it.)

"Outbound" soon be released! Cafe pics! And a salamander.

“Outbound: The Science Fiction Comics Anthology” will be published next week! It will feature my comic “Mark and the Aliens” and my prose story “How I Learned to Tolerate Vegemite”. The anthology is pretty spiffy, and you can buy a copy in local stores or online (soon).

(The anthology title should technically be expanded to “Outbound: the Science Fiction Comics as well as Prose and Fan-Letters and one Cutout Paper Model and Some Other Stuff Anthology”. Roho couldn’t gracefully fit that into the cover, though.)

Both the “About” page on the online version of “Mark” has been updated with this information. The “Vegemite” story has been re-edited, and new illustrations added.

Incidentally, I was recently asked if “Vegemite” was a true story.
“Oh, no,” I replied. “I still don’t like Vegemite. I never did learn to tolerate it.”

And since I'm rambling about promotion stuff, here's some photos from Atomic Bean Cafe of my comics pages.

Then I learned the next day that the show was ending, and everything was being taken down.

Above: your friendly Atomic Bean Cafe Baristas. (Don't mind the knife.)

And finally, photos of things I have recently seen.




High time this blog had a photo of a small salamander.