''Machine of Death'' is a 2010 collection of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...
short stories edited by
Ryan North
Ryan North (born October 20, 1980) is a Canadian writer and computer programmer.
He is the creator and author of ''Dinosaur Comics'', and has written for the comic series of ''Adventure Time'' and Marvel Comics' '' The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl''. ...
,
Matthew Bennardo, and
David Malki
''Wondermark'' is a webcomic created by David Malki which was syndicated to '' Flak Magazine'' and appeared in ''The Onion'' print edition from 2006 to 2008. It features 19th-century illustrations that have been recontextualized to create humorous ...
.
[ The stories featured in ''Machine of Death'' were submitted by various writers since early 2007 and all focus on a device which can accurately predict the manner in which the user will eventually die. The book became a #1 ]bestseller
A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, coo ...
on Amazon.com shortly after its initial publication, and was later released online under a free license
A free license or open license is a license which allows others to reuse another creator’s work as they wish. Without a special license, these uses are normally prohibited by copyright, patent or commercial license. Most free licenses are wo ...
.
Premise
All of the stories featured in ''Machine of Death'' 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.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 February 1, 2003, although there were earlier prototypes. ''Di ...
''.
Release
The three editors solicited submissions, many of them from novice and unpublished or unknown writers, in early 2007.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.[ October 26 was also the release date of '' Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth, and Treasure'' by ]conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...
commentator Glenn Beck
Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
. When Beck's book failed to reach #1 on that date, he complained that the anthology was part of a liberal "culture of death".Creative Commons
Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has releas ...
Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 license.podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
form on the book's website. They collected submissions for a second volume from May through July 2011.
Stories
* "Flaming Marshmallow" written by Camille Alexa Camille may refer to:
Fictional entities
* a Power Rangers Jungle Fury character
* Camille Wallaby, a character in Alfred Hedgehog
* a character from ''League of Legends'' video game voiced by Emily O'Brien
Films
*''Camille (1912 film)'', a s ...
• illustrated by Shannon Wheeler
* "Fudge" by Kit Yona
Kit may refer to:
Places
* Kitt, Indiana, US, formerly Kit
* Kit, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province
* Kit Hill, Cornwall, England
People
* Kit (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Kit (surname)
Animals
* Young animals ...
• Vera Brosgol
Vera Brosgol, also known as the Verabee (born August 2, 1984, in Moscow), is an Eisner Award and Harvey Award winning cartoonist and a graduate in Classical Animation of Sheridan College in Canada. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon. She wor ...
* "Torn Apart and Devoured by Lions" by Jeffrey C. Wells • Christopher Hastings
* "Despair" by K. M. Lawrence • Dean Trippe
Mayday "Dean" 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. in Sequential Art in 2003.Sandall, Simon"Comics artist Dean Trippe recommends some books" ...
* "Suicide" by David Michael Wharton
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
• Brian McLachlan
Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world.
It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meani ...
* "Almond" by John Chernega • Paul Horn
* "Starvation" by M. Bennardo • Karl Kerschl
* "Cancer" by Camron Miller • Les McClaine
* "Firing Squad" by J Jack Unrau • Brandon Bolt
* "Vegetables" by Chris Cox • Kevin McShane
* "Piano" by Rafa Franco • Kean Soo
Kean Soo is the Canadian creator of the children's comic character Jellaby. Born in Romford, England, but raised in Hong Kong, Soo is currently residing in Canada and was formally trained as an engineer.
Webcomics
Soo drew comics on-and-off in ...
* "HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...
Infection From Machine of Death Needle" by Brian Quinlan • KC Green
''Gunshow'' is a 2008 webcomic created by KC Green. The webcomic is gag-a-day, having little overarching story and covering a large variation of topics with strong tonal shifts. ''Gunshow'' is well known for spawning the "This is fine" internet me ...
* "Exploded" by Tom Francis • Jesse Reklaw
Jesse Reklaw (born 1971) is an American cartoonist and painter, author of the syndicated dream-based comic strip '' Slow Wave''.
Biography
Reklaw was born in Berkeley, California and grew up in Sacramento, studied at UC Santa Cruz, and complete ...
* " Not Waving But Drowning" by Erin McKean • Carly Monardo
* "Improperly Prepared Blowfish" by Gord Sellar Gord may refer to
*Gord (archaeology), medieval Slavic settlement
* Gord (given name), people and characters with the given name
* Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), a stomach disorder
* Ken Gord (born 1949), Canadian film and television pr ...
• Jeffrey Brown
* "Love Ad Nauseum" by Sherri Jacobsen Sherri may refer to:
*Sherri (name)
* ''Sherri'' (2009 TV series), an American sitcom starring Sherri Shepherd
* ''Sherri'' (talk show), a syndicated daytime show hosted by Sherri Shepherd that premiered in 2022
See also
* Shari (disambiguation)
* ...
• Kate Beaton
* "Murder and Suicide, Respectively" by Ryan North • Aaron Diaz
* "Cancer" by David Malki • Danielle Corsetto
* "Aneurysm" by Alexander Danner • Dorothy Gambrell
* "Exhaustion From Having Sex With a Minor" by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw
Benjamin Richard "Yahtzee" Croshaw (born 24 May 1983) is a British comedic writer, author, video game journalist, humorist, podcaster, and video game developer. He is best known for his video game review series '' Zero Punctuation'', which he pr ...
• Cameron Stewart
* "After Many Years, Stops Breathing, While Asleep, With Smile On Face" by William Grallo
William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conqu ...
• Scott C.
* "Killed by Daniel" by Julia Wainwright • Marcus Thiele Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to:
* Marcus (name), a masculine given name
* Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name
Places
* Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44
* Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl ...
* "Friendly Fire" by Douglas J. Lane
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
*Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
* Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...
• Kelly Tindall
* "Nothing" by Pelotard • John Allison
* "Cocaine and Painkillers" by David Malki • Jess Fink
* "Loss of Blood" by Jeff Stautz
Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form ( hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey.
Music
* DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes ...
• Kris Straub
* "Prison Knife Fight" by Shaenon K. Garrity • Roger Langridge
* "While Trying to Save Another" by Daliso Chaponda • Dylan Meconis
* "Miscarriage" by James L. Sutter
James L. Sutter (born March 1984) is an American game designer, author, and musician, best known for co-creating the ''Pathfinder Roleplaying Game'' and the ''Starfinder Roleplaying Game'', serving as Starfinder's original Creative Director.
Ca ...
• Rene Engström
* "Shot by Sniper" by Bartholomew von Klick • John Keogh
* "Heat Death of the Universe
The heat death of the universe (also known as the Big Chill or Big Freeze) is a hypothesis on the ultimate fate of the universe, which suggests the universe will evolve to a state of no thermodynamic free energy, and will therefore be unab ...
" by James Foreman • Ramón K. Pérez Ramón or Ramon may refer to:
People Given name
*Ramon (footballer, born 1998), Brazilian footballer
*Ramón (footballer, born 1990), Brazilian footballer
*Ramón (singer), Spanish singer who represented Spain in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest
* ...
* "Drowning" by C. E. Guimont • Adam Koford
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as ...
* "?" by Randall Munroe • Kazu Kibuishi
Kazuhiro "Kazu" Kibuishi (born April 8, 1978) is a Japanese-born 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 ...
* "Cassandra
Cassandra or Kassandra (; Ancient Greek: Κασσάνδρα, , also , and sometimes referred to as Alexandra) in Greek mythology was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter true prophecies but never to be believe ...
" by T. J. Radcliffe
T is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet. (For the same letterform in the Cyrillic and Greek alphabets, see Te and Tau respectively).
T may also refer to:
Codes and units
* T, Tera- as in one trillion
* T, the symbol for "True" in ...
• Matt Haley
Additional artist contributors whose illustrations are not tied to specific stories include Katie Sekelsky and Mitch Clem.
References
External links
*
{{Randall Munroe
2010 anthologies
Science fiction anthologies
2010s science fiction works