''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 imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

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 on

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econo ...

shortly after its initial publication, and was later released online under a free license.

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. The premise was inspired by a cartoon from Ryan North's ''

Dinosaur Comics ''Dinosaur Comics'' is a constrained comics, 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 ...

''.

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The three editors solicited submissions, many of them from novice and unpublished or unknown writers, in early 2007.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. 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

. The effort was successful. Malki described the feat as the literary equivalent of winning the Super Bowl. 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 owne ...

commentator Glenn Beck. When Beck's book failed to reach #1 on that date, he complained that the anthology was part of a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

"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 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 choosin ...

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 • illustrated by

Shannon Wheeler Shannon Wheeler is an American cartoonist, best known as a cartoonist for ''The New Yorker'' and for creating the satirical superhero Too Much Coffee Man. Early life Shannon Wheeler grew up in Berkeley, California, brought up by his mother. His ...

* "Fudge" by Kit Yona •

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 w ...

* "Torn Apart and Devoured by Lions" by Jeffrey C. Wells •

Christopher Hastings Christopher Hastings (age ) is an American comic writer and artist. He is known for his webcomic '' The Adventures of Dr. McNinja'' as well as writing for ''Unbelievable Gwenpool'' and the ''Adventure Time'' comics. Biography Hastings attended ...

* "Despair" by K. M. Lawrence • Dean Trippe * "Suicide" by David Michael Wharton • Brian McLachlan * "Almond" by John Chernega • Paul Horn * "Starvation" by M. Bennardo •

Karl Kerschl Karl Kerschl is a Canadian comic book artist, best known for his work on DC Comics books, including '' Adventures of Superman'', '' Majestic'', ''All-Flash'', '' Teen Titans: Year One'' and ''Gotham Academy''. Early life Kerschl was born in Tor ...

* "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 immune ...

Infection From Machine of Death Needle" by Brian Quinlan • KC Green * "Exploded" by Tom Francis • Jesse Reklaw * "

Not Waving But Drowning "Not Waving but Drowning" is a poem by the British poet Stevie Smith. It was published in 1957, as part of a collection of the same title.Sternlicht, Sanford V.''Stevie Smith''. Twayne Publishers (1990) p. 63. The most famous of Smith's poems,Ho ...

" by

Erin McKean Erin McKean (born 1971) is an American lexicographer. Early life and education McKean was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a BA/MA in Linguistics. As an undergraduate, she worked in a junior ...

• Carly Monardo * "Improperly Prepared

Blowfish Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfis ...

" by Gord Sellar • Jeffrey Brown * "Love Ad Nauseum" by Sherri Jacobsen •

Kate Beaton Kathryn Moira Beaton (born 8 September 1983) is a Canadian comics artist best known as the creator of the comic strip ''Hark! A Vagrant'', which ran from 2007 to 2018. Her other major works include the children's books '' The Princess and the Po ...

* "Murder and Suicide, Respectively" by Ryan North • Aaron Diaz * "Cancer" by David Malki •

Danielle Corsetto ''Girls With Slingshots'' is a completed webcomic series by Danielle Corsetto that premiered on September 29, 2004. The series follows several friends as they deal with life events like unemployment, marriage, and their sexuality. Corsetto self-pu ...

* "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 pro ...

•

Cameron Stewart Cameron Stewart (born 1975) is a Canadian comic book creator. He first came to prominence when he collaborated as an illustrator with writer Grant Morrison, and he went on to illustrate ''Catwoman'' and co-write '' Batgirl''. He won Eisner and ...

* "After Many Years, Stops Breathing, While Asleep, With Smile On Face" by William Grallo • Scott C. * "Killed by Daniel" by Julia Wainwright • Marcus Thiele * "Friendly Fire" by Douglas J. Lane • Kelly Tindall * "Nothing" by Pelotard • John Allison * "Cocaine and Painkillers" by David Malki • Jess Fink * "Loss of Blood" by Jeff Stautz •

Kris Straub The kris, or ''keris'' in the Indonesian language, is an asymmetrical dagger with distinctive blade-patterning achieved through alternating laminations of iron and nickelous iron (''pamor''). Of Javanese origin, the kris is famous for its dist ...

* "Prison Knife Fight" by

Shaenon K. Garrity Shaenon K. Garrity is a webcomic creator and science-fiction author best known for her webcomics ''Narbonic'' and '' Skin Horse''. She collaborated with various artists to write webcomics for the Modern Tales-family of webcomic subscription serv ...

•

Roger Langridge Roger Langridge (born 14 February 1967) is a New Zealand comics writer, artist and letterer, currently living in Britain. Biography Langridge originally came to public prominence most notably with the ''Judge Dredd Megazine'' series ''The Stra ...

* "While Trying to Save Another" by

Daliso Chaponda Daliso Chaponda (born 29 November 1979) is a Zambian-born Malawian stand-up comedian living in England. In 2017, he became a finalist in the variety show ''Britain's Got Talent'', finishing third overall. In 2018 he launched a BBC Radio 4 series ' ...

•

Dylan Meconis Dylan may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Bob Dylan (born 1941), American singer and songwriter ** Dylan (1973 album), ''Dylan'' (1973 album), a 1973 album by Bob Dylan ** Dylan (2007 album), ''Dylan'' (2007 album), a 2007 compilation album by ...

* "Miscarriage" by James L. Sutter • 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 un ...

" by James Foreman • Ramón K. Pérez * "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 Randall Patrick Munroe (born October 17, 1984) is an American cartoonist, author, and engineer best known as the creator of the webcomic ''xkcd''. Munroe has worked full-time on the comic since late 2006. In addition to publishing a book of th ...

•

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 al ...

* "

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 belie ...

" by T. J. Radcliffe •

Matt Haley Matt Haley (born June 10, 1970) is an American film director, art director and book illustrator artist. He was the art director of Morgan Spurlock's ''Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope'' feature documentary, which debuted at the 2010 Toronto Inte ...

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