If you’re attending the World Fantasy Con in San Diego this weekend, keep an eye out in your gift bag for our Machine of Death Volume 2 Sampler booklet! It contains two stories from the upcoming sequel. (We’ll be announcing the full lineup for MOD2 next week.) You can also pick up sampler booklets next weekend at the Minneapolis Indie Expo — I won’t be there, but my co-editor Matt will be, along with MOD contributor Katie Sekelsky. More info about these fine events at the Machine of Death blog.

I’ll be at World Fantasy this weekend, but I won’t have a table. I will, however, be signing books on Friday night, and I have a panel on Sunday:

10AM: Intellectual Property Rights vs. the Free Web

Does information really want to be free? Do the people who say that still think so once they’ve been published? Generational differences in attitudes toward information and its effects.

Justin Ackroyd, David Chanoch, Jeff Conner, Ashley Grayson (M), David Malki !

Come hear us discuss all the attitudes toward information and its effects.

Here’s a rundown of some other upcoming appearances as well, all in the Los Angeles area:

NOVEMBER 7 (8 PM). My new improv team, “Battlesocks,” will be performing at M.i.’s Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica! It’ll be our first salvo in a month-long improv tournament, so depending on how we do there’ll likely be other performances throughout the month as well. Free admission! Cheap drinks! Probably some laffs! Come cheer us on!

NOVEMBER 17 (8 PM). I’m throwing a magic and variety show in Hollywood to celebrate a year of Machine of Death, and I’m putting all my hilarious friends on stage! Free admission! MOD2 news and giveaways! Here’s more about the Super-Stupendous Machine of Death Magic & Variety Show. Save that date!

DECEMBER 10-11. At the Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Market at the L.A. State Park, I’ll have a full complement of holiday cards and pleasant goods.

BONUS VIDEO: Here is rapper MC Mr. Napkins. I first learned about him when he performed an amazing set at M.i.’s Westside Comedy Theater. This song is called “The Aggressive Bee.”

The time I saw him, he did a song about vegetables that blew my mind.

This weekend I’ll be returning to Bethesda, Maryland for the annual Small Press Expo! I’m on a panel too:

Constraint Based Cartooning : Saturday 5:00 pm
A blank canvas and an infinite palette can be liberating—and intimidating. Most work ultimately ends up operating according to a set of self-generated rules which govern its scope. Bill Kartalopoulos will talk to David Malki ! (Wondermark), Brian Ralph (Daybreak), Karl Stevens (The Lodger) and Daniel Spottswood (Disquietville) about producing comics which operate more explicitly according to a governing set of aesthetic, stylistic and formal principles.

SPX was one of the first shows I ever considered attending, back in the early 2000s when I would buy their annual anthologies at my local comic book shop. I’ve now been going since 2006, and ever since I discovered that North Bethesda is just a short train ride from the Library of Congress, I’ve made a habit of building an extra day into my trip. Saturday and Sunday I’ll be at the show, and then Monday I’ll be in DC researching some strange Victorian children’s books for a future “True Stuff from Old Books” installment.

SPEAKING OF WHICH: Earlier this summer, I was honored to be invited to Google Boston to speak as part of their excellent “Authors@Google” series (which can be viewed for free on YouTube). This version of “True Stuff from Old Books” runs about an hour long and is full of some of my favorite finds from Victorian-era magazines and newspapers. Enjoy!

As you can see, “True Stuff from Old Books” is full of hilarity and wonder, and throughout all the strangeness, it uniquely illuminates the modern human condition through a sepia-tinted lens of the past. If you’re part of an organization that might be interested in hearing me speak, please drop me a line! I’m constantly adding new weird old tidbits as I stumble across them, so the talk has yet to be the same twice.

In a few weeks I’ll be attending my very first World Science Fiction Convention — this year it’s in Reno, Nevada, and called Renovation! I’m excited to be on a number of panels (including one discussing humor with Dr. Demento!) and I’ll also have a table with Wondermark and Machine of Death books.

UPDATE: Thanks, I’m all set now!

Would you like to attend Renovation for free? I’m looking for one person to help me out at the table. I’ve learned from experience that manning a table by myself for days is a very difficult thing to do. My MOD co-editor Matt will be hanging out with me, but even still I’d rather have someone who I can count on to be a dedicated assistant.

If you live in Reno and would like a free attending membership to Renovation, in addition to having your meals covered all week long, in exchange for helping out at the table — please email me at dave at wondermark dot com. Thanks!

I was very kindly invited to the Readercon literary conference in Burlington, Massachusetts, and I’ll be there tomorrow and through the weekend! If you’re interested in genre literature, these folks really now how to put together a compelling program — just look at all the cool panels and presentations.

I’ll be involved in these in particular:

Friday, 12:00 PM : Writing Within Constraints. Scott Edelman, Elaine Isaak, Michael Aondo-verr Kombol, John Langan, David Malki ! (leader), Madeleine Robins. Whether it’s writing on a theme for an anthology, writing on assignment or commission, or simply imposing rules to jump-start your creativity, writing within constraints can be an incredible way to defeat “the tyranny of the blank page.” We discuss the rewards and challenges of starting with someone else’s idea.

Friday, 5:00 PM : Kaffeeklatsch with David Malki !, Delia Sherman.

Friday, 7:00 PM : True Stuff from Old Books. David Malki ! of Wondermark presents a slide show of fascinating, forgotten articles unearthed from Victorian-era newspapers and magazines. A man breathes fire! A steam-powered flying machine attempts its first flight! Inventors and adventurers dream big, and often die! And human nature remains unchanged through the ages.

Saturday, 11:00 AM : Autographs (and sketches!) with David Malki !, Barry B. Longyear.

Saturday, 2:00 PM : Tin Foil Hat Open Mike. Rose Fox (moderator), K.A. Laity, Shira Lipkin, David Malki !, Charles Platt, Eric M. Van, Harold Torger Vedeler. Bring your wildest and wackiest ideas to this open mike session. Each speaker gets five minutes, ruthlessly enforced, to try to convince the audience of an unprovable (and ideally undisprovable) theory related to speculative fiction. The viewers are free to applaud or heckle as they see fit. No handouts, no visual aids, no multimedia, no Q&As, no spitballs, and please, no politics or religion.

Sunday, 11:00 AM : Reconsidering Anthologies. Mike Allen, Leah Bobet, David Boop, Robert Killheffer, David Malki ! (leader). Anthologies are incredibly popular for writers to submit to and proudly display their work in — but who reads them? Why don’t they sell well? Is there some reason they occupy the same cultural mind-space as foreign films: culturally relevant, but rarely bothered with? David Malki !, editor of last year’s bestselling anthology Machine of Death, leads a discussion group about this outcast art form.

Sunday, 2:30 PM : Reading. David Malki ! reads from the parody Victorian novel series Dispatches from Wondermark Manor.

I believe memberships are still available at the door if you’re in the Boston area and would like to attend! I’m looking forward to it!!

Two big events coming up next weekend! I’ll be at the Renegade Craft Fair on July 9 & 10, which is held at the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion and is totally free to attend!

Come say hello, pick up a book or some greeting cards, or a sketch, or even just a handshake. I’m determined to have at least one new thing since my trip to Maker Faire just a few weeks ago, so I’ll be bringing new little pocket-sized Tinkerer’s Guide booklets!

ALSO: This is cool. I am super-excited about this:

Machine of Death is pleased to partner with the Un-Scripted Theater Company of San Francisco for a special one-night-only Machine of Death stage performance.

The Un-Scripted Company has a new improv showcase called “Act One, Scene Two.” Each night, the actors perform the first scene of an unfinished play — a script that has been previously written, but not completed. Then, the actors will improvise the entire rest of the play.

It’s a different play each night, and on July 9, they’ll be performing a piece from Machine of Death: “Murder and Suicide, Respectively” by your friend and mine Ryan North. Ryan will even be present on Skype for fun chats after the show!

Tickets are $20 ($10 for students & seniors), all of which goes to the theater. It’s a fairly intimate venue, so if you’re interested in attending, you should pick up your tickets in advance! This is a one-night-only performance that will never be repeated. (And if you like it, check out the other plays on other nights! Different Act One, Scene Two shows will be running every weekend through August.)

Also I will have a Machine of Death there at our show, giving out free death predictions. But that’s just a bonus.

ADDENDUM: Are you a Bay-Area-based photographer and/or videographer? I am looking to capture extremely high-quality photos and/or video of the show. If this is something that you do professionally, please email me with your rates.

Tickets for the show are on sale now!

Update to this weekend’s Calgary plans — I’ve just confirmed that on Sunday afternoon, I’ll be hosting a game of Machine of Death Draw & Guess, which is a Pictionary-type game played with audience volunteers! We did it in Toronto as well, and had a whale of a time.

There’s no pun there; we just had a really great time! Here’s video of the Toronto event so you can see for yourself.

This weekend, Ryan North and I will be playing the game with Kate Beaton, Christopher Hastings, Dave Kellett and Kris Straub! Come join us on Sunday at 2:00 PM!

Just a reminder that I’ll be in Ann Arbor this Wednesday, June 1, presenting a slideshow of True Stuff From Old Books! I had a fun time at the World Steam Expo in Dearborn over the weekend — pictures of that coming soon. In the meantime, I’m preparing for the Ann Arbor talk and I hope to see you there!

Wednesday June 1, 2011: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm — Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
343 South Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor, MI

More info on the Ann Arbor District Library website.

Thanks to everyone who said hello at Maker Faire last weekend! It was a whirlwind trip, but what fun it was. Here are some sketches I did for folks at the show!

(Confidential to the Annie E.Z. and Nancy C.D. who got books from me at Maker Faire: Would you email me please?)

Next weekend — I’m in Dearborn, Michigan for the World Steam Expo! It will be my first time ever visiting Michigan, and I’m very excited to meet Eminem. He will be at the airport, right?

The show runs Friday through Monday at the Henry Ford Museum, which I’ve heard is quite the place. I mean the Hyatt! Which I’m sure is nice too. I’ll be doing a special “Making of Wondermark” panel on Sunday afternoon, but if that wasn’t enough, there is also a ton of other steampunky programming, including a “Mad Science Fair.” Oh and I also designed the programs for the show!

Then, on Wednesday, June 1, I’ll be presenting my “True Stuff from Old Books” lecture at the Ann Arbor District Library! I believe it is free to attend. I further believe that it will be amazing? I’ll be signing books and stuff afterward as well.

Finally — I’ll have a little time to kill in Ann Arbor and environs during the trip. Any recommendations of things to check out while I’m in town? Leave a comment or send me an email!

TCAF was great! It was super busy (as you can see above) — another reason why it is one of my favorite shows ever. Here are a couple of sketches I did for folks!

My sketches are very self-aware.

We also played a game of Machine of Death Draw & Guess in Toronto! This was mega fun. We have some great pictures, as well as full video, of that event over on the MOD blog.

Also in that same blog post, I talk about the Machine of Death Official Seal Embosser that I’ve started bringing to shows. If you’d like to get your copy of MOD not just signed, but sealed against tampering, come see me at any appearance this year. See some pictures of it in action!

Next on the docket is this coming weekend — Maker Faire, in San Mateo!

Here is a picture of me taken at last year’s Maker Faire (by Flickr user notthatjeffy).

I think it makes me look like a crazy man who makes comics in a canoe adrift on a lake. AM I? Come to Maker Faire and find out for yourself!

P.S. I’ll have these brand-new items at the show! shhhhhh

It’s been two nights since the Machine of Death Half-Birthday Party and Talent Show and I’m still super excited about it! Thanks so much to everyone who came out to see us in Hollywood, it was an absolute blast. I’ll be talking more about it soon, and in the coming days and weeks we’ll be posting videos of the acts up on machineofdeath.net.

This weekend, I’ll be with Smilin’ Dave Kellett at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, which is a huge, absolutely free event held on the USC campus. (Note — in years past it’s been at UCLA! This year it’s at USC, for the first time.) It’s super-cool because you can just walk in and browse all the tents and booths, or check out their schedule for author talks and panel discussions.

Dave and I will be at Booth 871, which (if you know the USC campus) is directly in front of the Doheny Library on Childs Way. The library is the one with the pin in the graphic below:

If you don’t know the USC campus, it won’t matter what I say anyway. So just follow your nose! Sniff out the pleasing musk of my pheromones. Not in a gross way though. OR, if you INSIST, you can consult maps of the show here.

See you there!