43.

Aw, Max...

Hahahhahaha. I knew this wasn't going to be a simple death scene.

Brilliant; will Lola live to fight another day...

You Big Tease!

Fantastic!

Damn, I knew I should have posted what I thought yesterday. Oh well.

For a moment there I thought this was a REALLY lame ending of the free trial. Until I figured out "Clang! Clang!" isn't really the sound one would expect when shooting somebody in the heart..

aggg! not only does he start trying to kill characters since i've subscribed, he shortens the length of the page to 6 words.. and repeted a 6th of the words! heck, even this sentence is longer then the current page of machine man by a factor of three!

this page made me angry.

Not only are my funds insufficient to purchase the feed, but this page seems like it was intentionally short because this feed ends today. so not only does this last page reveal nothing extraordinarily new to me, but its the last page i'll read until the book comes out >.<

fantastic work, max, i can't wait for this thing to come out in book form!

US$7? cheeper then lunch! :) also makes a good kwanza present!

Phew! Lola, lives!

That explains the stuff on page 39 about Lola's dress "...but gripped her like death under the arms, as if designed for a person with very different specs. Like maybe a chimpanzee."

I'm thinking, portable iron lung maybe?

If Carl is good enough to put 2 in the heart, why didn't he go for the head shot. Yes, I've been playing too much Counter Strike.

YO!! gStein wrote a similar sentence yesterday in comments, and now the result is that sentence?!

is the writer the reader that reads what readers write and then writes it? and why am i writing this? this is getting trippy.

(and it's a kicking great story too!)

go max!

This is awesome.

Oh Max, you silly, evil, devious bastard you.

I'm only letting this one slide because you told us that page 43 would be the end of a chapter, and this is a fitting end of a chapter.

But the idea that I have to wait until Monday for a follow-up to this sentence is nothing short of agony. When this book arrives in physical incarnation, you can be certain that a day's reading will never end at this page.

We paid our money and we got six words... Max you are a piece of work. They have a word for women who do what you do, a very bad word. But men like you have no such word to describe them. Oh wait, yes they do, they call them writers!

well... if i hadn't already paid the 6.95 or however much it was, i'd complain about this being the last free page, but honestly, i t just makes me excited for what's next
good job max

Wow. Did Fin write this for you? I feel so short-changed this morning.

This is perfect as the last free page.

Reading the book one page each day has been maddening and awesome. I'm eager for the rest.

This was all I needed to survive the weekend-break... Lola will live!!!!!!

Very nice. I didn't expect that at all!

Zard,
It's seven bucks.
If you can prove to me that you are that poor, I will buy your subscription. That goes for everyone else. I've been looking for ways to give Max more money for several years.
You have to prove it thought.
[email protected]

cheers,
Ian

I WIN AT MACHINE MAN!
what's my prize?

honestly Max, this experiment seems to be working out very well, at least from an end-user prospective.
and i like that we can discuss (and guess) what's coming

There's more to this than meets the eye. Why is Carl even shooting at Lola? Surely a team of professional security guards can whip a girl without having to shoot her. Carl knows something about her already (although he clearly didn't know that she was Ned Kelly's great-granddaughter). You'd think he'd be worried about the guy with the titanium robot legs that can jump sixty feet.

And Cassandra Cautery once called herself "a machine" - which might have something to do with that "thing" she did to D. Peters. Just who around here is NOT a cyborg? And who might be trying out one of Charlie's other pairs of legs very soon? "Jason, you're the best intern we've ever had at Better Futures and we're prepared to offer you a very attractive position - we'll even pay you while you finish your degree. First, we just need for you to sign this form authorizing some minor elective surgery..."

Alas, I must wait for the print edition to find out, since I have no truck with such deviltry as cards of credit.

yawn.

@ian you couldn't have said that yesterday morning?

@max: I knew it!

NOOOOOO WAAAAAY! I hate you Max. I also love you. I'll try to buy this when I can.

I love you. Awesome. This is a teaser if I even saw (read) one,....so I bought it. :)

love the passion and interaction of the fans here.. :) should have started posting earlier :)

£4.69 GBP? bargain, and purchased! plus i just *couldn't* wait a year or more to read the rest, should it even become available in dead-tree format.

anyway, all i thought after reading those 6 words was 'OMG, of course!'

plus of course, 'Max you b*stard, now i have to pay to see what happens!' :p

I like how everyone is assuming that Lola is a cyborg or the like, when we already know that the contours have an ability to automatically interpret mental instructions.
I'm guessing that Charlie thought "Nooooooooo..." in that split second when the gun fired (just like us readers) and the contours reacted.
Clang, clang is the sound of lead hitting titanium at high speed.
Now what are those black sausage snack fingers going to do to that poor servant of Better Future - Carl?

I like how everyone is assuming that Lola is a cyborg or the like, when we already know that the contours have an ability to automatically interpret mental instructions.
I'm guessing that Charlie thought "Nooooooooo..." in that split second when the gun fired (just like us readers) and the contours reacted.
Clang, clang is the sound of lead hitting titanium at high speed.
Now what are those black sausage snack fingers going to do to that poor servant of Better Future - Carl?

That is a good thought, though i think lola is a cyborg meself

Excellent Max!!

Hey there, I m sure none of you knows me (I hope so at least) but I m a Maxbarian fan for quite a while. Machine Man has been a great story so far, although I don't like the machine Lolo thing.

It's a shame I can't pay for it though. It's not a matter of money, but a lack of a way to send them. I lack a credit card.

So, I ll have to read this if it's printed....

Until then,
windsfury

don't need credit card.. just paypal! :)

Don't you still need a credit card for that? Otherwise how would you sent the money over?

Paypal can be linked to a bank account.

I promise, if you are that poor I will buy it for you. Just email me. the huge pile of money I sleep on will be a little less comfortable, but I will sleep better knowing that Max has money for things like DVDs and memory erasing drugs for his daughter.

M. Ian Minter

It's not a matter of money....it's a matter of.....not being in good terms with banks, lol Well, not exactly but point is, I cannot use anything bank-related to send the money...

As I said, my only way would be through mail

I need help. My girlfriend paid for the rest of the book as part of my birthday present and I'm getting the emails like clockwork (am on page 53; Lola's back story is so TRAGIC!) But when I click on the "discuss this page" link at the end, this website asks me to login- which I already am ! I can't see people's comments on the pages and make my own. I emailed Max about this a week ago and he hasn't replied yet. I hope this problem can be resolved. A big part of the experience of Machine Man is commenting on each page, otherwise what's the point of the format?

So right now I am logged in but my comment didn't get the steel screw beside my name! I'm a bit pissed off about this as it's part of what I paid for ! Max please help me! I don't know why this suddenly happened to me, everything was fine for the first couple of days I started receiving the paid feed :(

I thought Max would find this interesting http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/biidbiid/

partings are always tinged with sadness - so Max "au revoir" - I look forward to reading the book in the future [hopefully The Better Future] - thank you for the 43 emails - they were stimulating and your style has a "light touch", which has kept me interested and curious - hope your karma is fruitful and gratifying Yours Stanley XX