Machine of Death
Encyclopedia
Machine of Death is a 2010 collection of science fiction
short stories edited by Ryan North
, Matthew Bennardo, and David Malki.
All of the stories center around a device which, when provided with a blood sample, can identify the way a person will die. The machine relays this information by printing a short word or phrase, which serves as the title of each story, on a small card. The machine is never wrong, but often vague or cryptic.
The premise was inspired by an episode of Ryan North's Dinosaur Comics
. The three editors solicited submissions, many of them from novice and unpublished or unknown writers, in early 2007. After failing to find a publisher willing to accept an anthology containing material by so many unknown authors, the editors self-published the book in late 2010.
Shortly after the book's publication, the editors announced "MOD-Day", encouraging buyers to purchase the book en masse on October 26 in an effort to reach #1 on the bestseller list on Amazon.com
. The effort was successful. Malki described the feat as the literary equivalent to winning the Super Bowl
. October 26 was also the release date of Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth, and Treasure
by conservative Fox News commentator Glenn Beck
. When Beck's book failed to reach #1 on that date, he complained that the anthology was part of a liberal "culture of death".
In November 2010, the editors released the anthology under a Creative Commons
Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 license
. Readings of stories from Machine of Death are currently being released in podcast
form on the book's website. They collected submissions for a second volume from May thru July 2011.
Additional artist contributors whose illustrations are not tied to specific stories include Katie Sekelsky and Mitch Clem
.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
short stories edited by Ryan North
Ryan North
Ryan M. North is a Canadian writer, computer programmer, and occasional songwriter who is the creator and author of Dinosaur Comics, and co-creator of Whispered Apologies and Happy Dog the Happy Dog....
, Matthew Bennardo, and David Malki.
All of the stories center around a device which, when provided with a blood sample, can identify the way a person will die. The machine relays this information by printing a short word or phrase, which serves as the title of each story, on a small card. The machine is never wrong, but often vague or cryptic.
The premise was inspired by an episode of Ryan North's Dinosaur Comics
Dinosaur Comics
Dinosaur Comics is a constrained webcomic by Canadian writer Ryan North. It is also known as "Qwantz", after the site's domain name, "qwantz.com". The first comic was posted on 1 February 2003, though there were earlier prototypes. Dinosaur Comics has also been printed in two collections and in a...
. The three editors solicited submissions, many of them from novice and unpublished or unknown writers, in early 2007. After failing to find a publisher willing to accept an anthology containing material by so many unknown authors, the editors self-published the book in late 2010.
Shortly after the book's publication, the editors announced "MOD-Day", encouraging buyers to purchase the book en masse on October 26 in an effort to reach #1 on the bestseller list on Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
. The effort was successful. Malki described the feat as the literary equivalent to winning the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
. October 26 was also the release date of Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth, and Treasure
Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth, and Treasure
Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth, and Treasure is a book by Glenn Beck released in October 2010.-Background:...
by conservative Fox News commentator Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck
Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...
. When Beck's book failed to reach #1 on that date, he complained that the anthology was part of a liberal "culture of death".
In November 2010, the editors released the anthology under a Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 license
Creative Commons licenses
Creative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works. The licenses differ by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution. They were initially released on December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S...
. Readings of stories from Machine of Death are currently being released in podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
form on the book's website. They collected submissions for a second volume from May thru July 2011.
Stories
- "Flaming Marshmallow" written by Camille Alexa • illustrated by Shannon WheelerShannon WheelerShannon Wheeler is an American cartoonist best known for creating the satirical superhero Too Much Coffee Man, and as a cartoonist for The New Yorker.-Career:...
- "Fudge" by Kit Yona • Vera BrosgolVera BrosgolVera Brosgol is a cartoonist and a graduate in Classical Animation of Sheridan College in Canada. She lives in Portland, Oregon and works for Laika Entertainment House where she does storyboards and concept art for their animation productions...
- "Torn Apart and Devoured by Lions" by Jeffrey C. Wells • Christopher HastingsChristopher HastingsChristopher Hastings is a 27 year old comic artist and creator best known for The Adventures of Dr. McNinja.-Biography:Chris attended the School of Visual Arts in New York, and it was while there in 2004 that he created the character of Dr. McNinja. His webcomic has become one of the most popular...
- "Despair" by K. M. Lawrence • Dean TrippeDean TrippeDean Trippe is a United States-based comic book artist and illustrator. Trippe graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a B.F.A...
- "Suicide" by David Michael Wharton • Brian McLachlan
- "Almond" by John Chernega • Paul Horn
- "Starvation" by M. Bennardo • Karl KerschlKarl KerschlKarl Kerschl is a Canadian comic book artist, best known for his work on DC Comics books, including Adventures of Superman, Majestic, All-Flash and Teen Titans: Year One.-Early life:Kerschl was born in Toronto and raised in Niagara Falls...
- "Cancer" by Camron Miller • Les McClaineLes McClaineLeslie "Les" McClaine was born September 30, 1977 in Ventura, California to Andrew and Lynn McClaine. He grew up in the historic town of Lexington, Massachusetts, where he worked in the public library. After graduating from high school, Les attended the Savannah College of Art and Design, where...
- "Firing Squad" by J Jack Unrau • Brandon Bolt
- "Vegetables" by Chris Cox • Kevin McShane
- "Piano" by Rafa Franco • Kean SooKean SooKean Soo is the creator of the children's comic character Jellaby. Born in England, but raised in Hong Kong, Soo is currently residing in Canada and was formally trained as an engineer....
- "HIVHIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
Infection From Machine of Death Needle" by Brian Quinlan • KC Green - "Exploded" by Tom Francis • Jesse ReklawJesse ReklawJesse Reklaw is an American cartoonist and painter, author of the syndicated dream-based comic strip Slow Wave.-Biography:...
- "Not Waving But DrowningNot Waving but Drowning"Not Waving but Drowning" is a poem by British poet Stevie Smith published in 1957 as part of a collection of the same title. The work, the most famous of Smith's poems, describes a man whose distressed thrashing in the sea causes onlookers to believe that he is waving to them...
" by Erin McKeanErin McKeanErin McKean is an American lexicographer. Erin is a founder and the CEO of the online dictionary Wordnik. She was previously the Principal Editor of The New Oxford American Dictionary, second edition....
• Carly Monardo - "Improperly Prepared BlowfishBlowfishThe blowfish, or Tetraodontidae, is a fish in the Tetraodontidae family.Blowfish may also refer to:* The Blowfish, a satirical newspaper at Brandeis University* Blowfish , encryption algorithm...
" by Gord Sellar • Jeffrey BrownJeffrey BrownJeffrey Brown is a comic book writer and artist born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.-Biography:After growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a 25-year-old Jeffrey Brown moved to Chicago in 2000 to pursue an MFA at the School of the Art Institute. By the time he finished his studies, he had abandoned... - "Love Ad Nauseum" by Sherri Jacobsen • Kate BeatonKate BeatonKate Beaton is a Canadian webcomic artist. Originally from Mabou, Cape Breton, she has a degree in history and anthropology from Mount Allison University. She began drawing comics for the university newspaper, the Argosy, during her third and fourth years at school. Previously she worked in the...
- "Murder and Suicide, Respectively" by Ryan North • Aaron Diaz
- "Cancer" by David Malki • Danielle Corsetto
- "Aneurysm" by Alexander Danner • Dorothy GambrellDorothy GambrellDorothy Gambrell is a cartoonist who writes and draws the online comic strip Cat and Girl in addition to the blog very small array. Her work has appeared in the literary journal Backwards City Review, and the Anton Chekhov anthology The Other Chekhov....
- "Exhaustion From Having Sex With a MinorStatutory rapeThe phrase statutory rape is a term used in some legal jurisdictions to describe sexual activities where one participant is below the age required to legally consent to the behavior...
" by Ben "Yahtzee" CroshawBen CroshawBenjamin Richard "Yahtzee" Croshaw is an English comedic writer, video game journalist and author of adventure games created using Adventure Game Studio software. He writes articles for Australia's Hyper magazine, a major games publication...
• Cameron StewartCameron StewartCameron Stewart is an Eisner Award and Shuster Award-winning and Eagle Award and Harvey Award-nominated Canadian comic book artist who has worked for DC, Marvel, and Dark Horse Comics.-Biography:... - "After Many Years, Stops Breathing, While Asleep, With Smile On Face" by William Grallo • Scott C.Scott Campbell (artist)Scott Campbell is an Production Designer for Double Fine Productions and illustrator living in New York, New York.-Biography:...
- "Killed by Daniel" by Julia Wainwright • Marcus Thiele
- "Friendly Fire" by Douglas J. Lane • Kelly Tindall
- "Nothing" by Pelotard • John AllisonJohn Allison (artist)John Allison is the writer and artist of the webcomics Bobbins , Scary Go Round and Bad Machinery . John described Scary Go Round as "a comic that I've been making since 2002. It started off as a comic about barmaids Tessa and Rachel, then it became more about Shelley Winters and her bizarre...
- "Cocaine and Painkillers" by David Malki • Jess Fink
- "Loss of Blood" by Jeff Stautz • Kris Straub
- "Prison Knife Fight" by Shaenon K. GarrityShaenon K. GarrityShaenon K. Garrity is a webcomics writer and artist, best known as the creator of Narbonic. She is one of the most prominent cartoonists in the Modern Tales network of commercial webcomic sites, and became the site's editor on August 1, 2006...
• Roger LangridgeRoger LangridgeRoger Langridge is a New Zealand-born comics writer/artist/letterer, currently living in Britain.-Biography:Langridge originally came to public prominence most notably with the Judge Dredd Megazine series The Straitjacket Fits , a surreal, hallucinatory, convention-bending strip set in an insane... - "While Trying to Save Another" by Daliso Chaponda • Dylan Meconis
- "Miscarriage" by James L. Sutter • Rene Engström
- "Shot by Sniper" by Bartholomew von Klick • John Keogh
- "Heat Death of the UniverseHeat death of the universeThe heat death of the universe is a suggested ultimate fate of the universe, in which the universe has diminished to a state of no thermodynamic free energy and therefore can no longer sustain motion or life. Heat death does not imply any particular absolute temperature; it only requires that...
" by James Foreman • Ramón Pérez - "Drowning" by C. E. Guimont • Adam Koford
- "?" by Randall MunroeRandall MunroeRandall Patrick Munroe is an American webcomic author and former NASA roboticist as well as a programmer, best known as the creator of the webcomic xkcd...
• Kazu KibuishiKazu KibuishiKazu Kibuishi is an American graphic novel author and illustrator. He is best known for being the creator and editor of the comic anthology Flight and for creating the webcomic Copper. He is also the author and illustrator of the ongoing Amulet series... - "CassandraCassandraIn Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy...
" by T. J. Radcliffe • Matt HaleyMatt HaleyMatt Haley is an American film director, art director and book illustrator artist. Currently he is the art-director of Morgan Spurlock's "Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope" feature documentary, which recently debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival...
Additional artist contributors whose illustrations are not tied to specific stories include Katie Sekelsky and Mitch Clem
Mitch Clem
Mitch Andrew Clem is an American cartoonist best known for his web comics Nothing Nice To Say, San Antonio Rock City, and My Stupid Life.- Early life:...
.