The Works (Queen album) 19 November 1984, and promotional copies were indeed pressed ("QUEEN 5") and sent out (b/w "Keep Passing the Open Windows"), but the band opted for a Christmas single ("Thank God It's Christmas"). The fifth track on "The Works", "Machines (Or 'Back to Humans')", came about as an idea by Taylor, and May collaborated with him and finished it. Producer Reinhold Mack programmed the synth-"demolition" using a Fairlight CMI II Sampler, and the song is sung as a duet between a double-tracked Mercury (singing in harmony with himself), and a robotic Taylor (using a Roland VP330 Vocoder). The instrumental remix of
The Heart of What Was Lost leader, Duke Isgrimnur, leads his army in pursuit, determined to destroy the Norns and their ancient Queen Utuk'ku once and for all. The book is told from three points of view: Duke Isgrimnur of Rimmersgard; a Norn leader, Viyeki; and Porto, a Perdruinese mercenary. Jason Heller, a book reviewer for NPR, reviewed the book, stating the novel balances "warmth with grimness, and gentle bits of humor with violence and vengeance. Williams has tapped back into the dynamic that made "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" so absorbing." Aiden Moher at Barnes & Noble's fantasy blog called "The Heart of What Was Lost"