Evil Machines

2011 book by Terry Jones

978-1-908717-01-6

Evil Machines is a 2011 book of fantasy stories written by Monty Python's Terry Jones. The book has a cover design and illustrations by Ryan Gillard and Keira Kinsella.

Background

Evil Machines contains thirteen short stories about various devices that begin to show odd behavior. The stories generally feature a sting in the tail; for example, the UK city of Swindon is lampooned in "The Lift That Took People to Places They Didn't Want to Go". The concept for the stories came to Jones in a car. He said: "I was actually driving across London and I think I got held up by a red traffic light and suddenly the phrase, 'Evil machines', drifted across my mind and I thought, 'Well that's a good title and I could use that', so I went home and started writing the stories."^{[citation needed]}

Evil Machines was the first book published by Unbound, a crowdfunding startup.^[1] According to Unbound's co-founder John Mitchinson, Jones chose the startup because he didn't think the book could be marketed easily as either children's or adult fiction. Jones received more than 1,000 pledges for Evil Machines, with an average pledge amount of £31.20.^[2]

The book's launch took place on Friday 4 November 2011 at the Adam Street Club, London, UK. At the launch Jones indicated that "The Nice Bomb" and "The Lift That Took People to Places They Didn't Want to Go" were probably the two stories of which he was most fond.^{[citation needed]}

The stories were adapted for opera in Lisbon in 2008, with a libretto by Jones.^[3]

Stories

The Truthful Phone
The Nice Bomb
The Lift That Took People to Places They Didn't Want to Go
Motorbike Thieves
The Kidnap Car
The Vacuum Cleaner That Was Too Powerful
The Train to Anywhere
The Rocket to Hell
The Dog Maker and Other Wonders
The Day Things Started to Go Wrong
The Castle of Imagination
The End of Life
The Love Machine

Critical reception

The Guardian gave the collection a mixed review, comparing Jones' prose style to Roald Dahl's but writing that "a surprising number of the jokes fall flat, considering Jones's talent as a comedian."^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Jordison, Sam (7 December 2011). "Evil Machines by Terry Jones – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
^ Jones, Alice. "The Diary: Terry Jones; Zach Braff; Edinburgh Book Festival; Ricky Gervais". The Independent. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
^ Hatton, Barry (10 January 2008). "Ex-Monty Python star Terry Jones blends machines, opera in new show". The Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. Retrieved 1 May 2023.