Evil Machines

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|date=May 2023}}

Evil Machines was the first book published by Unbound, a crowdfunding startup. 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.{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Alice |title=The Diary: Terry Jones; Zach Braff; Edinburgh Book Festival; Ricky Gervais |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-diary-terry-jones-zach-braff-edinburgh-book-festival-ricky-gervais-2318103.html |access-date=1 May 2023 |agency=The Independent}}

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|date=May 2023}}

The stories were adapted for opera in Lisbon in 2008, with a libretto by Jones.{{cite news |last1=Hatton |first1=Barry |title=Ex-Monty Python star Terry Jones blends machines, opera in new show |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2008/jan/10/ex-monty-python-star-terry-jones-blends-machines/ |access-date=1 May 2023 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=The Spokesman-Review |date=10 January 2008}}

• 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

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."{{cite news |last1=Jordison |first1=Sam |title=Evil Machines by Terry Jones – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/07/evil-machines-terry-jones-review |access-date=1 May 2023 |agency=The Guardian |date=7 December 2011}}

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Category:2011 children's books

Category:Children's short story collections

Category:British short story collections

Category:Books by Terry Jones

Category:2011 short story collections

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