This is topic IGMS #28-- Master Madrigal's Mechanical Man, Scott Mikula in forum Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show at Hatrack River Forum.
quote:Where it started was a simple challenge to myself: take a science fiction trope and revitalize it by turning it into a fantasy story. But what to use? Computers? There are a million opportunities there. Space travel? Hmm... Robots? That struck a chord. What would be the fantasy version of a robot? Maybe a golem, an artificial creature created from clay to do the bidding of humans. No, I wanted a more literal robot. But since this was fantasy, it would not be called a robot; it would be an automaton, and instead of being powered by electricity and controlled by circuits, it would get its strength from tightly coiled springs and be full of intricate gears and levers and pneumatic tubes.