Fantasy Heroes Rarely Go on Strike

Ben Burgis is the author of more than a dozen fantasy and science fiction stories. In "Smokestacks Like the Arms of Gods," workers at a magical factory lay down their tools to fight for better working conditions. "The title comes from Bruce Springsteen's song'Youngstown,' where there's a line in there about'smokestacks rising up like the arms of God,'" Burgis says in Episode 510 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. "The story is essentially a fantasy world remix of something roughly along the lines of the big sit-down strikes that built the CIO unions in the 1930s." The story draws on Burgis' family history.