On Dec. 5, 2005, Internet cartoon writer Ryan North posted a comic that presented a simple idea: What if there was a machine that could tell people how they would die?
Ryan North and friends David Malki and Matthew Bernardo opened up submissions for short stories for a book they were planning on publishing, and between Jan. 15 and April 30, 2007, they accepted submissions from blog writers, college students, housewives and basically anyone who was willing to write. The only catch was that the stories had to be based around the concept of the machine of death.
On Oct. 20, 2010, after narrowing down the choices from nearly 700 submissions, “Machine of Death,” a compilation of short stories all centered around people who know how they will die, was released. On Oct. 26, this small, self-published book was the No. 1 Amazon book-seller.
Six months after the book’s release, it was announced that they would be publishing another collection, tentatively titled “Machine of Death 2.” The call for open submissions went out yet again, and this time Bernardo, Malki and North received 1,958 stories. To celebrate both the upcoming second volume of stories, as well as the one-year anniversary of the first volume’s release, some of the people involved with the book hosted a magic show and party at the Fake Gallery in Hollywood Thursday night.
Notable guests included editor and Internet comic artist Malki, as well as webcomic artist Kris Straub and cartoonist Kevin McShane (the latter two having contributed artwork to the first collection of stories). The party also featured a magic show courtesy of magician and comedian Pop Haydn.
There was also an interview conducted by Straub with Malki and North (via skype) where they announced the official title of the second collection of stories: “You Can’t Shoot the Cancer Squad: Tales of the Infallible, Inscrutable, Inevitable Machine of Death,” as well as the names of the stories currently in the collection. The entire event was live-streamed for those unable to make it in person, and the full video of the event is available on the official Machine of Death website.