Writer's Fallout Shelter

No, I do not think you actually have to have a god lowered onto the stage by a crane to qualify as deus ex machina. That would be very difficult to do in a novel as opposed to a play.

I've never read Andromeda Strain so I cannot comment directly on that one, but I do not believe that Lord of the Flies qualifies.

To me, true deus ex machina is not really part of the story. It is implausible, incredibly contrived, must be something that could've happened at any time and if it had, the story would not have occurred, and doesn't really fit in with world the author has created. It has a throw the book across the room quality about it.

SPOILER ALERT





In Lord of the Flies, Golding has established that the boys are stranded on an island in the battle lanes. We know that there is a dead pilot on the island and that ships can be seen in the distance. The idea that a ship arrives at the exact point it does is convenient, but the war and its happenstances have always been a backdrop to the story. In fact, the boys' conflict mirrors the war in miniature. The ships' landing and the officer's treatment of the boys' conflict is more about comparison and contrast than anything else. It also doesn't really resolve anything, but just brings the climax to a conclusion. Deus ex machina tends to resolve things that could not otherwise have been resolved.