Status
Checked out
Due 5-05-2022
Call number
Series
Publication
Bearstache Books (2010), Edition: 1st, 464 pages
Description
MACHINE OF DEATH tells thirty-four different stories about people who know how they will die. Prepare to have your tears jerked, your spine tingled, your funny bone tickled, your mind blown, your pulse quickened, or your heart warmed. Or better yet, simply prepare to be surprised. Because even when people do have perfect knowledge of the future, there's no telling exactly how things will turn out.
User reviews
LibraryThing member rivkat
Available as a download too, this hefty volume features dozens of stories based on the premise that there exists a machine, infallible but capricious in how it communicates, that can tell people how they will die. “Old age,” for example, sounds good but might involve an elderly person suffering
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a stroke as she drives and hitting the twenty-year-old victim. The premise is good enough that it can sustain a number of variations, though the stories naturally vary in quality. Some of them focus on twists, while others take seriously what it would be like to know you were going to die of cancer. How would insurers, employers, voters react? (The story about the politician whose card says “exhaustion from sex with a minor” doesn’t quite do the job, unfortunately.) Good quote: Chris Cox, Vegetables: “He took the blood test, and it told him Pavement would be his demise. He never considered that falling off the roof is more probable than the ground swallowing him, but this is none of my business, and something I would be interested in witnessing.” I also liked the story by David Malki about the infomercial producer trying to sell the machines. Heavily but not entirely Western focused; not entirely internally consistent either, if you care, which I didn’t. Show Less
LibraryThing member wwwwolf
This collection of short stories tries to answer one pretty fascinating question: How would the world change if we knew *how* we died, but didn't know anything else about the circumstances? For some people, it could change everything. For some people, it could practically not change anything at
Granted, not all of these stories are masterpieces, but I have to say that this is a really fantastic collection of stories, and for some reason, it's strangely uplifting. Strangely for a book that is ostensibly about death, it really makes you appreciate life more. Also, some of the stories are just hilarious in their own way, before managing to make you think more. They're also a great example of the fact that you can make amazingly different and varied stories from a single, simple premise. They're also *great* examples of how you can make fantastic science fiction stories out of relatively modest origins.
Also, it's available free of charge, so don't dawdle!
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all, because it'd just substitute one kind of uncertainty with another. (For example, if you find out that "xylophones" will be your downfall, you'll no doubt live the rest of your life in a rather peculiar state of mind.) For some it could bring peace, for others new forms of anxiety. For some it could hasten their deaths, for some it could make it later. But one thing is certain: The world would be subtly different... and strangely similar, when you really think of it.Granted, not all of these stories are masterpieces, but I have to say that this is a really fantastic collection of stories, and for some reason, it's strangely uplifting. Strangely for a book that is ostensibly about death, it really makes you appreciate life more. Also, some of the stories are just hilarious in their own way, before managing to make you think more. They're also a great example of the fact that you can make amazingly different and varied stories from a single, simple premise. They're also *great* examples of how you can make fantastic science fiction stories out of relatively modest origins.
Also, it's available free of charge, so don't dawdle!
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LibraryThing member bragan
There is a machine that, given a sample of your blood, will return a piece of paper with a word, or a few words, printed on it, telling you what you're going to die of. Not when. Not where. Only how. The predictions are often ambiguous or even downright cryptic. Sometimes they're self-fulfilling.
Each of the short stories in this collection takes that as its central premise, and takes off from there to explore the idea's social, personal or philosophical implications... or simply to have fun with it. Individually, I don't think any of these pieces is especially brilliant. Probably very few of them would stand on their own particularly well outside this anthology. But the premise is so morbidly wonderful, and the way the various authors explore it from different angles so fascinating, that I found the book as a whole completely compelling, in a nifty more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts kind of way.
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But they're always, always right.Each of the short stories in this collection takes that as its central premise, and takes off from there to explore the idea's social, personal or philosophical implications... or simply to have fun with it. Individually, I don't think any of these pieces is especially brilliant. Probably very few of them would stand on their own particularly well outside this anthology. But the premise is so morbidly wonderful, and the way the various authors explore it from different angles so fascinating, that I found the book as a whole completely compelling, in a nifty more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts kind of way.
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LibraryThing member reading_fox
Interesting premise that's slightly too long for the concept. The idea for the book grew out of a webcomic blog post - what would be the consequences of knowing the cause (but not the date) of your death? This is a collection of sort and very short stories sent in by webcomic authors along that
They are very varied! both in time and outlook. Some focus on the very introduction of the machine, the initial disbelief, attempts to cheat it, or prove it wrong, others are set much further down the time line after it is well established, old hat, almost forgotten, or deeply enmeshed in society - occasionally jarring notes are caused by assumption of new technologies and societies juxtaposed with more contemporary stories. I think my favourites are the earlier stories, although the very first in the book is set in a well established society and a wonderful contrast between the practicality of a school girl - which cliche can I join - versus her parent's joy at the unusual reading. Many of the stories pick up on the occasional unusual reading and what it frequently doesn't mean.
However at 350 pages, there are a lot of stories, and the idea doesn't change much between them, after a while it becomes dull, with little new sparks to enliven them. I don't think the later stories in the book are actually any less well written than the earliest ones, but the novelty has faded by then and they are no longer as exciting.
Worth reading and dipping into for a thought about the frailty of Oracles in whatever legend they appear.
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theme. The other key point is that the machines' information is cryptically short, usually only one word - cancer, old age, heart attack, bullet, car crash, but occasionally totally ambiguous, and frequently ironic. All the stories look at how a person and their immediate acquaintances respond to the readout they get.They are very varied! both in time and outlook. Some focus on the very introduction of the machine, the initial disbelief, attempts to cheat it, or prove it wrong, others are set much further down the time line after it is well established, old hat, almost forgotten, or deeply enmeshed in society - occasionally jarring notes are caused by assumption of new technologies and societies juxtaposed with more contemporary stories. I think my favourites are the earlier stories, although the very first in the book is set in a well established society and a wonderful contrast between the practicality of a school girl - which cliche can I join - versus her parent's joy at the unusual reading. Many of the stories pick up on the occasional unusual reading and what it frequently doesn't mean.
However at 350 pages, there are a lot of stories, and the idea doesn't change much between them, after a while it becomes dull, with little new sparks to enliven them. I don't think the later stories in the book are actually any less well written than the earliest ones, but the novelty has faded by then and they are no longer as exciting.
Worth reading and dipping into for a thought about the frailty of Oracles in whatever legend they appear.
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LibraryThing member halkeye
This (like most other short story books) took forever for me to finish. I kept reading one story and then waiting for my transit ride to finish. But that's me.
I really enjoyed it though. I loved all the different view points. Was excited to see the various recognizable names after certain
My only real complaint was after about half way through, the stories started to end way more open ended. I really started to get frustrated at the lack of real conclusions.
But would recommend to others.
I really enjoyed it though. I loved all the different view points. Was excited to see the various recognizable names after certain
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stories.My only real complaint was after about half way through, the stories started to end way more open ended. I really started to get frustrated at the lack of real conclusions.
But would recommend to others.
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LibraryThing member keristars
As a collection pulled together about a single theme from authors with wildly divergent styles, the stories in Machine of Death are surprisingly monotonous, despite the difference in theme or narrative.
It took me about five months to read the book. After I got more or less two thirds of the way
After the five month gap, most of the stories blur together in my mind, but a few stand out. Ryan North's was the most unique and interesting of the bunch, in that it was about the creation of the machine and in script form. Whereas most of the stories took place after the Machine was established and had a fairly serious tone, North's was entirely about the process of creating the machine and was much more humorous.
Gord Sellar's "Improperly Prepared Blowfish" was another one I enjoyed. It takes place in a Yakuza office and thus has a gangster-story feel to it, which helps it be different from the rest, but it also doesn't linger too long on contemplations about what it means to know how one will die. Likewise, "Cocaine and Painkillers" by David Malki !, where the plot is partly about the character discovering what the machine does.
Many of the stories relish in the wordplay present in the Machine's predictions and use them for plot twists. "Exhaustion From Having Sex with a Minor" by Yahtzee Croshaw is probably the most memorable of those that do this, with a good dose of absurdity and social satire in the mix.
Of the stories that generally play the prompt straight, my favorites are "Love Ad Nauseum" by Sherri Jacobson, "Nothing" by Pelotard, and "Aneurysm" by Alexander Danner. The first is a very short story told through newspaper advertisements, the second is a reflection on what it means to live forever, and the third is a fairly humorous piece about a bickering couple who love each other nonetheless.
For the most part, though, the 34 stories in the book are about fatalism, existentialism, and the whimsies of fate itself. The characters are different, the settings are different, maybe the writing styles are different, but the themes make them run together in my mind. Unfortunately, many of them have the same types of characters, making the glob even worse. But, I suppose, there's something intriguing about writing of teenagers, with all their youth and vivacity, as they learn of how they will die. (Not that all the stories are about teenagers, but enough are about young people that it feels to me like most of them are. Or else soldiers, or else weary adults in crap jobs who just want something exciting to happen.)
Now that I've finished the book, I'm going to remove it from my harddrive and probably not think much more on it. The few memorable stories that really did something interesting with the premise of the Machine of Death aren't enough to save the book as a whole, for me, though I acknowledge that if the entire book were about that kind of story with only a few musings on fate, I might feel the same way but with the story types swapped. I suppose that the book is worth reading for fans of the authors, or if you like this kind of story, but mostly it's not something I'll recommend wholeheartedly to just anyone. And if I do, it'll definitely be with a recommendation to space out the reading, to not read it in one go.
It took me about five months to read the book. After I got more or less two thirds of the way
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through, I couldn't bear to read another story and so held off on finishing it for several months. I finally finished it mostly because I was avoiding another book I wasn't really enjoying, and I wanted to finally delete the PDF file from my computer (which I didn't want to do until I'd read it all).After the five month gap, most of the stories blur together in my mind, but a few stand out. Ryan North's was the most unique and interesting of the bunch, in that it was about the creation of the machine and in script form. Whereas most of the stories took place after the Machine was established and had a fairly serious tone, North's was entirely about the process of creating the machine and was much more humorous.
Gord Sellar's "Improperly Prepared Blowfish" was another one I enjoyed. It takes place in a Yakuza office and thus has a gangster-story feel to it, which helps it be different from the rest, but it also doesn't linger too long on contemplations about what it means to know how one will die. Likewise, "Cocaine and Painkillers" by David Malki !, where the plot is partly about the character discovering what the machine does.
Many of the stories relish in the wordplay present in the Machine's predictions and use them for plot twists. "Exhaustion From Having Sex with a Minor" by Yahtzee Croshaw is probably the most memorable of those that do this, with a good dose of absurdity and social satire in the mix.
Of the stories that generally play the prompt straight, my favorites are "Love Ad Nauseum" by Sherri Jacobson, "Nothing" by Pelotard, and "Aneurysm" by Alexander Danner. The first is a very short story told through newspaper advertisements, the second is a reflection on what it means to live forever, and the third is a fairly humorous piece about a bickering couple who love each other nonetheless.
For the most part, though, the 34 stories in the book are about fatalism, existentialism, and the whimsies of fate itself. The characters are different, the settings are different, maybe the writing styles are different, but the themes make them run together in my mind. Unfortunately, many of them have the same types of characters, making the glob even worse. But, I suppose, there's something intriguing about writing of teenagers, with all their youth and vivacity, as they learn of how they will die. (Not that all the stories are about teenagers, but enough are about young people that it feels to me like most of them are. Or else soldiers, or else weary adults in crap jobs who just want something exciting to happen.)
Now that I've finished the book, I'm going to remove it from my harddrive and probably not think much more on it. The few memorable stories that really did something interesting with the premise of the Machine of Death aren't enough to save the book as a whole, for me, though I acknowledge that if the entire book were about that kind of story with only a few musings on fate, I might feel the same way but with the story types swapped. I suppose that the book is worth reading for fans of the authors, or if you like this kind of story, but mostly it's not something I'll recommend wholeheartedly to just anyone. And if I do, it'll definitely be with a recommendation to space out the reading, to not read it in one go.
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LibraryThing member matthew254
Machine of Death is a collection of short stories with a deceptively simple concept. A machine knows how you're going to die. It prints it out on a small piece of paper with a few vague words. It might read "POOL" which could sound like drowning in a swimming pool, so the person avoids swimming his
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whole life only to die by being beat to death with a pool cue. Or "BURIED ALIVE" might make someone fear cemeteries only to be crushed by a mosh pot of rock fans at an overcrowded concert. It's unavoidable. That's the concept that thirty something authors took and ran with. The best submissions were picked and published. It's one of my favorite books. My personal favorite? "ALMOND". It happens to be available for download free of charge as a pdf. Show Less
LibraryThing member shabacus
It is impossible to review this collection without reviewing the concept behind it. Spawned by a web comic that posed the question, what if a machine could infallibly tell us how we're going to die, this collection of reader-submitted short stories is a development of that theme. Only the theme
As one might expect from a collection of this sort, the quality is rather uneven, but it varies only between good and superb. From initial stories that explore the theme in a straightforward manner, through middle stories that focus on specific consequences, to final stories that underline the concept with bold strokes, the pacing is spot on.
I avidly await the announced sequel, as this is a world, or rather series of worlds, that bears further exploration.
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unifies the stories, which are not set in the same speculative universe, but rather a whole continuum of such places, unified by the common theme.As one might expect from a collection of this sort, the quality is rather uneven, but it varies only between good and superb. From initial stories that explore the theme in a straightforward manner, through middle stories that focus on specific consequences, to final stories that underline the concept with bold strokes, the pacing is spot on.
I avidly await the announced sequel, as this is a world, or rather series of worlds, that bears further exploration.
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LibraryThing member Diabolical_DrZ
Some great stories here and some just OK. Many with intriguing illustrations. Amazingly little repetition considering everyone was working from the same limited premise.
LibraryThing member grizzly.anderson
After seeing teasers for this book on David Malki!'s web comic for quite a while, I finally picked up a copy when the "disposable" paperback edition came out (cheaper binding and less color, I guess). How can you not be intrigued by the premise of a machine that will tell you exactly how you will
So when I finally broke down and bought it, I was very pleasantly surprised. Like any short story collection, it has some strong stories and some weak ones, but on the whole I'd say more strong than weak. My biggest fear was that 34 stories on the same topic would get too repetitive. Given the premise that the machine is (1) always right and (2) the answer never changes, the stories inevitably have some aspect of fatalism and predestination about them. But they are less about fate than just about people with one fixed, and yet totally ambiguous aspect of their life. And each individual story is still quite unique. The collection is also well organized, leading off with one of the strongest stories, and varying the approach and style so that you don't get burned out reading similar variations in a row.
Two of my favorites are "Flaming Marshmallow" handling the teen angst aspect perfectly, and "Almond" told from the perspective of a keeper/operator of a Machine of Death, which becomes almost a collection of mini-stories itself.
So give it a try, don't be afraid of the self-publishing stigma. If you have friends who still don't how Alanis Morrisette got "ironic" completely wrong, give them a copy of this book. Best of all, depending on where you buy it from, it may come with your own death card included. I, apparently, am going to die of "Tigers".
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die, but like all prophesies, tell you in a not terribly helpful way, and what that world would be like is an interesting one? How can you not be entertained by the whole back story of the book itself? A throw-away gag in a web comic becomes a self-sustaining idea with stories and perfmances; self-published because no publisher would touch it; pissing Glenn Beck off by beating out his own book on Amazon; free digital edition; a sequel. But I was always a little leery of a bunch of authors I mostly knew nothing about.So when I finally broke down and bought it, I was very pleasantly surprised. Like any short story collection, it has some strong stories and some weak ones, but on the whole I'd say more strong than weak. My biggest fear was that 34 stories on the same topic would get too repetitive. Given the premise that the machine is (1) always right and (2) the answer never changes, the stories inevitably have some aspect of fatalism and predestination about them. But they are less about fate than just about people with one fixed, and yet totally ambiguous aspect of their life. And each individual story is still quite unique. The collection is also well organized, leading off with one of the strongest stories, and varying the approach and style so that you don't get burned out reading similar variations in a row.
Two of my favorites are "Flaming Marshmallow" handling the teen angst aspect perfectly, and "Almond" told from the perspective of a keeper/operator of a Machine of Death, which becomes almost a collection of mini-stories itself.
So give it a try, don't be afraid of the self-publishing stigma. If you have friends who still don't how Alanis Morrisette got "ironic" completely wrong, give them a copy of this book. Best of all, depending on where you buy it from, it may come with your own death card included. I, apparently, am going to die of "Tigers".
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LibraryThing member waxlight
This book is under a creative commons license, so I was able to obtain and read a digital copy. I will be getting a physical copy very shortly. I love this book - the premise is simple; a machine that, with a small blood sample, will tell the person how they die.
However, that information comes
I love how the short stories are completely different. From serious - humorous, plausable - unlikely, Free Will - Predestination, it covers the gamut of events that may happen when everyone in the world (and their governments) have access to the manner in which an individual will die.
However, that information comes
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about in unexpected, ironic and unexpected ways (simple example? Man gets 'JOY' on his piece of paper. Man is happy. Man gets hit and killed by a car - whose drivers name is Joy.I love how the short stories are completely different. From serious - humorous, plausable - unlikely, Free Will - Predestination, it covers the gamut of events that may happen when everyone in the world (and their governments) have access to the manner in which an individual will die.
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LibraryThing member SmithSJ01
I liked the story lengths in this collection; a nice size to read in a chunk. The concept is a fascinating idea and I liked the approach each author made with their story. In a collection it is often to difficult to love every single story and this was the case in this one for me; there were one or
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two I didn't enjoy as much as the others and one I ended up skipping through completely. Although they are separate stories I did feel like they linked well as there always seemed to be references made that I'd picked up before in someone else's story. I'd imagine in a physical book as opposed to the kindle that the illustrations would be excellent but even in the kindle they were good. All in all it is a book I'm pleased I came across. Show Less
LibraryThing member rmagahiz
I agree with many of the other reviews here about the interesting diversity of the stories collected here, but also wanted to mention the artwork accompanying each story drawn by some of the most gifted webcomic talents around. Once I accepted the premise behind the machine, reading these stories
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made me almost feel as if I were in the world where such machines were everywhere, and I wasn't sure whether I'd like things better this way or not. Show Less
LibraryThing member jen.e.moore
A very uneven collection, and unfortunately the premise - "here is a concept, we turned the Internet loose to write stories about it" - does tend to generate a lot of sameiness. I was thoroughly weary of "ironic" misinterpretations by the end. There were a few standouts, though - I liked "Cocaine
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and Painkillers" a lot, and "Not Waving but Drowning." Show Less
LibraryThing member Sarah_Buckley
I honestly couldn't stop reading this book. It is a collection of stories all with the premise that there is a machine invented that can tell you how you die. It is never specific - it often just says something like seagulls or balloons- but it always comes true.
I felt this was an intriguing
I felt this was an intriguing
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concept for a collection of short stories. How would you react if you knew how you would die? Some go mad, some get super paranoid, some start really living life. Every story in here is unique and interesting, and I was never bored. Show Less
LibraryThing member themjrawr
What a fun concept for a collection of short stories (disclaimer: I occasionally have odd ideas of fun). What if there exists a machine that can tell you how you will die? And what if that machine is available to everyone? What will that do to both the individuals, and the societies they exist in?
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And, how will it feel when it seems like the machine has a warped sense of humor that seems to take joy in taunting you with that information? Some people will find it morbid, to be sure, but I enjoyed the different ideas each author had about how this would play out. There was the occasional disjointedness between stories, such that I wish they would have developed the history of the machine a bit more thoroughly so the stories played nice with each other a bit better. But once I got past the occasional contradiction most stores were very engaging and enjoyable, though not always satisfying (but sometimes, unsatisfying is ok, it makes you think about it a bit harder). Sidenote: I was quite happy when I discovered that one of the stories was written by Randall Munroe, author of xkcd, and it certainly has shades of what you'd expect from him based on some of the more philosophical comics he's written. Show Less
LibraryThing member endolith
Basically one of the Dinosaur Comics mentioned the idea of a book in which all the stories are about a machine that predicts how people are going to die. So a bunch of other cartoonists and writers wrote such stories, and then they put them into a book.
The stories are pretty good. There are a lot
I'm not very good at writing book reviews.
The stories are pretty good. There are a lot
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of twist endings, and a few meta-twist endings?I'm not very good at writing book reviews.
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LibraryThing member burritapal
I think it's meant to be a YA book.
LibraryThing member thioviolight
Quite an interesting collection of stories about a machine that can foretell how a person will die. Some stories are better than the others but I generally liked the book and will definitely check out the second collection.
LibraryThing member dcunning11235
Really, this deserves a 4.5; I was torn between giving it a 5 and a 4 and only opted for the 4 because a 5 really should be, "I would retrieve this from a burning building." A comment which I realize is unintentionally apropos...
Awards
Green Mountain Book Award (Nominee — 2013)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2010-10-13
Physical description
9 inches
ISBN
0982167121 / 9780982167120