The commotion is that the flying man who always comes by has returned once again.

#1581; The Longest, Most Fruitless Search

  — January 23rd, 2026

[ Tags: , , , ]       Permalink: https://wondermark.com/c/1581/

Continued from Wondermark #024
[ 💬 Comment thread on Discord ]

Buy a Print

This weekend: Readercon in Massachusetts!

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!!

Another article about writing

My co-editor Matt wrote a great article for the Machine of Death blog about how to finish a short story; how to muscle up and drag it past the finish line — great advice if you’re trying to complete a piece to submit to Machine of Death 2, in this final week, or just for writing under the gun in general.

…This post is specifically for those of you who have about half of a story and about one week to finish it. It’s for those of you who are feeling increasingly panicked as the deadline ticks ever closer. It’s for those of you who are saying to yourselves, I’m almost out of time! What the heck should I do now???

First thing first: DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP. We want to read your story. In order for that to happen, we need to have it by midnight on July 15. And we have faith in you. We know you can do this. But here are some thoughts that might help point you in the right direction. (Read more)

I’ve also started a couple of fun little contests on the Machine of Death Facebook group: try and guess when (down to the minute!) we’ll break Volume 1’s record for total submissions received, AND ALSO try and guess what the title of the record-breaking submission will be. Post your guesses here! Winners will be given prizes from the all-new MOD store on TopatoCo.

(P.S. Caption Contest #3 submissions are now closed — winners will be announced soon!)

OR, FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT

This guy has a webcomic that consists entirely of his friend Hays being killed in cartoony ways. I contributed two sketches of same at a recent convention, which have been colored and posted on the site! Here and here. But my favorite episode of the comic is definitely this one.

See you in San Francisco this weekend! I’ll also be at Readercon in Massachusetts next weekend, and then San Diego after that!

Machine of Death deadline approaches

The deadline for submitting a story to Machine of Death Volume 2 is in less than two weeks!

If you’ve already submitted something (we’ve received over 500 stories so far), thank you! We’re absolutely thrilled that you’re a part of it! If you’re still working on yours, that’s fine, but be sure to send in your submission(s) by July 15.

And if you haven’t even started yet — are you plumb out of time? I don’t think you are, necessarily. I just wrote a piece on the MoD blog about how you can spin simple stories out of absolutely any piece of inspiration:

Improvisers are taught that whatever the scene starts being about, is what it’s about. If one person says “I’m hungry,” then the second person could say “Well, of course! You haven’t eaten for days!” And the scene would be about that person being hungry. Why are they hungry? What has prevented them from eating? A diet? A stomach trauma? Torture? Do they have a tapeworm?

The point is that there are infinite reasons why that person could be hungry. There’s no reason to place bricks anywhere else, because that simple declaration, “I’m hungry,” is enough. The entire scene can be built on top of it. The character’s hunger can be explored to reveal deeper issues — problems with relationships, or self-esteem, or conflicts with other characters in the scene. Thematic elements can arise. The scene has the potential to become emotionally resonant.

All this can come from just “I’m hungry” — if you will just dig into it, and keep digging. There is never any limit to how deep you can go on even the smallest detail. (Read the rest)

Also, I’m in San Francisco this weekend! We’ll be doing the Machine of Death theater show on Saturday, and I’ll be at the Renegade Craft Fair both Saturday and Sunday. Details on both events are here.

I’ve taken to driving to San Francisco, instead of flying. It’s an easier way to transport all my goods, although it does take a while and tucker a person out. To show you a little of what the trip is like, here’s a mini-documentary I made about the drive to and from Maker Faire, back in May! Each piece is about fifteen minutes long.

Malki Goes To Maker Faire ! PART 1 on Vimeo.

Malki Goes to Maker Faire ! PART 2 of 2 Vimeo.

Next weekend: Two events in San Francisco!

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!

Wondermark Caption Contest #3!

It’s time again for a caption contest! Come up with your best suggested caption for the above image, and post it on the Wondermark Facebook page (or just click on over to read the other entries)! The author of my favorite caption will win a personalized print of the comic with his or her caption rendered CANON.

OR, if you’d prefer to keep your entries SECRET from Mark Zuckerberg and his army of mafia hitmen and farm animals, you can email your caption(s) to me: dave at wondermark dot com, subject: “Caption Contest #3”.

Enter as many times as you like! The deadline is midnight Pacific time, Wednesday July 6th.

Also check out our previous caption contests for even more laffs


Recent blog posts