The gorgeous people at the Steampunk Writers and Artists Guild have invited me to host their next #steampunkchat on Twitter. These are weekly one hour chats held on Friday at 9pm (New York time). Everyone includes the hashtag #steampunkchat on their tweets and that keeps the discussion (semi) organised. As host this week, I’ll be the one herding clockwork cats 😉

[For Australian and New Zealand readers, and you are who I’m trying to lassoo, the time conversion means the chat is on 5 May (Saturday) at 11am Sydney time and 9am Perth time.]

I would love (which is code for “I am begging, pleading and grovelling”) for a great turnout of Australian and New Zealand steampunk enthusiasts. I’ll prompt discussion with questions like:

What is steampunk in the Antipodes? themes? motifs? issues?
What do you think of when you hear “Antipodes”? kangaroos?
What got you interested in steampunk?
What would you like to see in Antipodean steampunk?
As Antipodean steampunkers, where do you find your inspiration?
Are the Antipodes more than a dumping ground for troublesome fellows?

I know communicating in 140 characters isn’t easy, but you’re steampunkers. You can do it!

At the end of the hour, there’ll be five minutes for a self-promo tweet from everyone (please hold off on self-promo till then or as a newbie host, I’ll become fumble fingered with stress).

These #steampunkchats are a lot of fun. You can read transcripts of them here. If you have any questions beforehand, please leave a comment on this post — or tweet me @Jenny_Schwartz.

And while I’m thinking about Twitter … I’ve started a public list of Australian and New Zealand steampunkers on Twitter. If you’d like to be on it, just tweet #Ozsteampunk and I’ll add you.

A fervent thank you for reading this far — and I hope to see you Saturday! 🙂

[For everyone who is not an Aussie or Kiwi … do not think that let’s you out! The Antipodes are for everyone and the chat won’t be any fun without you … I’m thinking if things get slow we could have a discussion on Antipodean and steampunk slang 🙂 ]