Goodreads asked Doc Coleman:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Doc Coleman When Scott Roche invited me to be part of the Way of the Gun Anthology, and told me about the setting, I was intrigued by the idea of the Followers of the Clockworker, a philosophical sect that views God as an engineer and sees the universe as a great machine. I kept tinkering with the idea, and the more I did, the more I saw that philosophy crossing the line into a religious dogma. Given the old west setting, this sparked ideas of old-time tent revivals, which in the Followers of the Clockworker version are "Wind-ups".

I also found myself thinking about what it is like to be a sect of builders and engineers in a world with so much violence and chaos, especially on the frontier when survival was a daily question.

The last piece was when Scott described them as pacifists. At that point I knew that I'd have to create a situation where a Follower would have to pick up a gun. Naturally, he'd have to put his own spin on it. I mean, a Follower of the Clockworker just can't resist the chance to add an improvement or two.

I really like the story, although I think I could have done a longer treatment of the story and shown more of the transformation that Alex went through. I may do more stories in the Way of the Gun Universe if there is enough interest.

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