Authored by "Carolyn" Trivia Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. As a kid, you may have read the Hardy Boys series of books, or if you were female, the Nancy Drew Mysteries. What was the pseudonym of the "author" of those Nancy Drew detective-style books?

Answer: Carolyn Keene

There never WAS such an author as Carolyn Keene. "She" was a composite of several 'ghost writers' who initially made a whopping $125.00 per book AND were required to give up any rights to their work!

The "Dana Girls" series, along with "River Heights" books were all inventions of this bank of writers, some of whom were male.

The first writer to "become" Carolyn Keene was Mildred Wirt Benson, followed by Harriet Adams, James Duncan Lawrence, Walter Karig, Nancy Axelrad, Priscilla Doll, Charles Strong and others.

2. What type of award did Alabama author, Carolyn Haines, receive in 2010?

Answer: The Harper Lee Award

Carolyn Haines wrote a non-fiction book "My Mother's Witness: The Peggy Morgan Story,", along with several fiction books, including her Sarah Booth Delaney - Mississippi Delta series.

Her non-fiction account of "My Mother's Witness: The Peggy Morgan Story," relays the story of a woman who testified against the white supremacist who murdered civil rights worker Medgar Evers.

Although born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, as of 2010, she was still teaching the graduate and undergraduate fiction writing classes at the University of South Alabama in Mobile.

She has written over 50 books in her own name as well as under the pen names of Caroline Burnes and Lizzie Hart. Caroline Burnes is the name she uses in her Harlequin Intrigue series.

3. Carolyn Janice Cherry, an author in the science fiction and science fantasy genre, has been writing since the 1970s. She writes under the pen name, C.J. Cherryh. Why did she choose to write under that pseudonym?

Answer: her editor thought her name was 'wrong' and only men were writing s.f.

Carolyn' first editor thought the name "Cherry" would imply to readers that they should expect romance stories, so she added the "h" to her actual name. At the time that she began writing nearly all s.f. authors were male, and she used her initials in an effort to disguise the fact that she was a female in order to get published and to be credibly accepted by her readers.

An asteroid, (7185 Cherryh), has been named after her. Discovered by D. Wells and A. Cruz on March 20, 2001, they had this to say about the author;
"C. J. Cherryh of Spokane, Washington, is the visionary author of more than 40 novels and three-time winner of the prestigious Hugo Award. She has challenged us to be worthy of the stars by imagining how mankind might grow to live among them."

4. Carolyn Brown has been listed as a New York Times and a U.S.A. Today best-selling author. Based on these titles that she has written, can you determine the sub-genres in which she writes? "The Cowboy's Christmas Baby" "Life After Wife" "A Forever Thing" "Trouble in Paradise" "One Lucky Cowboy"

Answer: historical and contemporary romance

Carolyn Brown has published over 60 books in the categories of historical and contemporary romance. She has written several series of books following these themes.

Born in Texas, she and her husband later moved to Oklahoma. The western settings of many of her books thus reflect that of the world around her. Often, she interjects humor into her stories, a trait that she attributes to the goings-on of her three adult children and her grandchildren.

5. Carolyn Pizzuti, who also writes under the pseudonyms, Carolyn Zane and Suzy Pizzuti, authors romance novels. Since I have never in my life read anything in that genre, imagine my surprise when I visited her website and saw interesting looking titles and even more interesting 'blurbs' about her writing! What was the title of her 2012 book that was based on the destruction caused by a tornadoes that struck Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Joplin, Missouri?

Answer: Beyond The Storm

Since her first novel, "The Wife Next Door" debuted in 1993, Carolyn Pizzuti/Carolyn Zane/Suzy Pazzuti, has penned over 30 books in the genre of Romance.

Now I'm a 50+ year-old guy, and that particular genre has never interested me.
Until now. She seems to capture the humor, the angst, the "real" world in a most refreshing way in her storylines.

Visit her website; I think you'll see what I mean.
(Hey! we all need to broaden our horizons, don't we?)

6. Interesting. This woman wrote thrillers with her husband, both of them writing as "John Case". Actually, her husband's name was Jim, but they both wrote under the pen name John. She also wrote under her own name, but when they wrote in the Thriller genre, they both used the pseudonym "John Case". So, tell me, what was this woman's REAL name?

Answer: Carolyn Hougan

In her own right, Carolyn Hougan published "Shooting in the Dark" "Blood Relative", "The Romeo Flag", and "The Last Goodbye".

Together, the Hougan couple, writing under the pseudonym of John Case, authored a total of six novels: The Genesis Code, The First Horseman, The Syndrome (also called Trance State), The Eighth Day, The Murder Artist, and Ghost Dancer (known in the U.K. as The Dance of Death).

(Carolyn Hougan died of cancer at the age of 63 in 2007 and her husband has chosen to discontinue writing under the name John Case.)

7. Apparently, the ink doesn't freeze in the inkwells... (oh, sorry, wrong century!) Anyway, this resident of Fairbanks, Alaska has written the following titles: "Upriver" (a collection of poetry), "Place of the Pretend People: Gifts from a Yup'ik Eskimo Village" and "The Alaska Reader: Voices from the North". What is the name of this author who writes about the Arctic?

Answer: Carolyn Kremers

Carolyn Kremers is a native of Colorado. She accepted an invitation to teach music and English at a school in a remote area near the Yup'ik Eskimo village in 1986.

An essay that she wrote, "John Haines and the Dream Place," was named as a "Notable" essay in Best American Essays in 2012.

8. Carolyn Gimpel Hart wrote such "cozies" as "A Little Class on Murder", "Deadly Valentine", "Southern Ghost" and "Laughed 'Til He Died". Why on earth, though, are these murder mysteries referred to as "cozies"?

Answer: they are in a sub-genre in which violence is downplayed

The detectives in cozies are nearly always amateur detectives and the genre is light on violence and sex, yet it may rely heavily on humor. Once a murderer is taken into custody by the police (who is almost always a 'buddy' of the fictional detective), they almost always go off meekly to their fate.

Carolyn Hart began writing mysteries in 1964, the year in which her daughter was born. She won a writing contest for her story "Calling All Girls"; a novel designed to appeal to young teen-age girls.

A novel based on WW2 that she has written, "Letter from Home", was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

9. An author who features stories classified as young adult literature, Carolyn Mackler, is a native of Manhattan, New York, but has lived in various locales throughout the state. Which of the following places in New York figures in as the setting of many of her works?

Answer: Brockport

Brockport, New York provides the setting for many of her novels. Her interest in writing began early in life, at about the age of four, when she would dictate news stories to her mother, who would then write them down for her.

As a youngster, she often felt that she didn't quite "fit in" with her peers, and this became the impetus for her novels for adolescent girls.

Influenced by such authors as Judy Blume and Norma Klein, she was once asked why she focused her energies on writing for teens.

"...One of the biggest reasons is that I honestly believe that, along with certain friendships, I was saved by the books I read during those years. They spoke to me in a way that nothing else did. They helped me feel less alone. They made me laugh. They made me feel like there was a world bigger than my high school."

10. "Playing With Matches" was written by Carolyn Wall, along with the novels "The Coffin Maker" and "Sweeping Up Glass". She also has published a novel written about the Oklahoma City bombing incident that occurred in 1995. What is the name of this novel?

Answer: Braced Against The Wind

Carolyn Wall's first novel, "Sweeping Up Glass" received the Oklahoma Book Award for Fiction in 2009.

Prior to becoming a novelist, she worked for twenty years as a free-lance writer, serving as an Editor for "Byline" magazine and as Senior Staff Writer for "Persimmon Hill" magazine.

Source: Author logcrawler

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

"Authored by Carolyn" is Quiz Number 4 of a series based on my teammates names. They volunteered to be my guinea pigs. I volunteered to "experiment" on them! (Bwaa-haa-haaa!) Hope you enjoy this series!

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