Goulburn Steampunk and Victoriana Fair

Goulburn, NSW, Australia.

I published Champagne Charlie and the Amazing Gladys almost two years ago. My big marketing plan was to sell it at fairs and conventions, but (gestures wildly). Looks like I’m finally going to have a chance to set up a stall at the Goulburn Steampunk and Victoriana Festival. Yay, me!

I’ve never actually been before, though I’ve always wanted to. It’s in the pretty little NSW town of Goulburn, where they have a splendidly preserved Victorian era waterworks, complete with steam pumps that still run. Every year they have a Steampunk festival, centred on the waterworks. I was all set to go last year, but it was postponed – so finally going in March! Tickets here.

Really looking forward to the event. There will be a costume competition, invention competitions and all sorts of fun events. Granted, I’ll only see the ones that are close to my stall, but I can live with that. It’s been a rough couple of years, and this is an outdoors event (which is important because, hey, pandemic hasn’t gone away) that will give people a chance to have a little fun and maybe reconnect with people they haven’t seen in a while. And that hopefully will be a plus.

Anyway, I will be there in my full Steampunk regalia, trying to sell Champagne Charlie and the Amazing Gladys. If you’ve bought a copy already, I’m also selling the Hauntings anthology from Specul8 Publishing, in which you can find my Victorian ghost story “Through His Teeth.”

To readers of this newsletter who are overseas, you might find this info unhelpful, so let me entertain you with something interesting thing about Goulburn. It’s home of a giant concrete Merino sheep. It’s a weird local Australian custom to build enormous things as tourist attractions. The Big Merino isn’t my favourite – the Big Banana at Coff’s Harbour ticks that box.

Don’t worry about the Big Potato at Robertson, though. It’s pants.