"The Last Machine" was another one of my short stories that resulted from the combination of a current societal trend and an archetypal story that could be told in a dramatic new way. The trend that inspired it came from an article that I'd read about farmers who were beginning to shun the use of machines on their farms, and were instead going back to using animals - like oxen - for their farm work. This resistance, and paranoia towards machines was an interesting thread - it was almost as if they regarded machines as monsters. What if I took that idea and combined it with one of the greatest archetypal "monster" stories of all time - Frankenstein?
Here is the synopsis:
In the future... suspicious humans have turned against the robots designed to help them, and a movement erupts that aims to eradicate all intelligent machines. This means trouble for Josie-Jo when members of a nearby village become convinced that the solitary farm girl is harbouring one of the sought-after machines. When the "Reformation Committee" descends onto her farmstead to root out their prey, Josie-Jo must test the limits of how far she'd go to protect her only companion, "The Last Machine".
"The Last Machine" is currently submitted for publication - wish me luck!