Deep Thoughts and Creative Talent Quiz

Answer: Edgar Allan Poe

American author Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is often credited as being the inventor of the detective fiction genre. His macabre style of writing, along with ghoulish storylines are responsible for his popularity. "A Descent into the Maelstrom" (1841) is a short story about a man who survives both a shipwreck and a whirlpool. "The Gold-Bug" (1943), another of Poe's short stories, tells of a man driven insane after being bitten by a gold colored bug and incorporates code-breaking and buried treasure into the tale.

The short story "The Black Cat" (1843) was published in "The Saturday Evening Post" and was an immediate hit. It is the story of a criminal who kills his wife, and ends up revealing his crimes after becoming unable to live with his guilt.

Many critics believe that the dark nature of most of Poe's writings were a reflection of his sad life and severe life-long depression.

Answer: Ian Fleming

Ian Fleming was a popular British author who gained fame with his numerous James Bond novels such as "You Only Live Twice" (1964). "The Diamond Smugglers" written in 1957, is a tale about the dangerous occupation of South African diamond smuggling. "Thrilling Cities" is a 1963 travelogue that covered numerous cities including Las Vegas, Hong Kong, and Vienna.

This multi-talented writer also penned the children's story "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang" in 1964.

Answer: John Grisham

American author John Grisham is known world-wide for his thrilling crime fiction novels. His first best selling novel was "The Firm" released in 1991 which became a Tom Cruise film of the same name in 1993. "The Appeal" (2008), was a popular legal thriller while "Playing for Pizza" (2007) was one of Grisham's sports novels. Grisham has had numerous novels that were made into films including "The Rainmaker" (1997), "The Chamber" (1996), and "A Time to Kill" (1996).

Answer: Ernest Hemingway

American author Ernest Hemingway was one of the most popular and successful authors of the 20th century. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953 for his novel "The Old Man and the Sea", and a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. "The Dangerous Summer" (published posthumously in 1985) is a novel that deals with Spanish bullfighting. "Across the River and Into the Trees" is a 1950 symbolic novel written as a series of flashbacks of a dying soldier. "Green Hills of Africa" is a 1935 nonfiction novel about a month long safari the author took in East Africa.

Answer: Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was both a biochemistry professor and prolific science-fiction author. He is credited with writing over 500 books which included fantasy and mystery novels as well as science fiction. "Fantastic Voyage" is the story of a group of people who are reduced to microscopic size so that they may voyage through the body of a dying man in an attempt to save him. "Fact and Fancy" (1962) was a collection of scientific essays while "Exploring the Earth and the Cosmos" was a scholastic science book written by Asimov in 1982.

Answer: Charles Dickens

English author Charles Dickens wrote "Bleak House" in 20 monthly installments from 1852-1853. The novel has numerous characters and is loosely based around the real English legal case known as 'Jarndyce v Jarndyce'. "Great Expectations" (1861) was Dickens's 13th novel and is a coming-of-age novel based on the life of an orphan named Pip.

It is considered a classic example of Victorian literature.

Answer: Jack London

Jack London was both an author and social activist. His most famous works are possibly his novels "The Call of the Wild" (1903) and "White Fang" (1906) which were both set during the Klondike gold rush. "To Build a Fire" is the title of two different short stories both set in the far north as is his novel "Burning Daylight". "The Iron Heel" is a futuristic tale of tyranny in the U.S. and is an excellent example of London's ability to write about a wide variety of topics set in a wide variety of locations.

Answer: Oscar Wilde

Irish author Oscar Wilde had a unique writing style as well as a flamboyant personal style. "The Importance of Being Earnest", one of Wilde's most successful works was a comedy play which first premiered in 1895. "Searching For a Woman of no Importance" was a dark comedy play which was still being produced on stage 100 years after it was written. "The House of Pomegranates" was a collection of fairy tales published in 1891. Wilde's only published novel was "The Picture of Dorian Gray" which outraged many reviewers who felt the novel was obscene and held the opinion that the novel was pornographic in nature.

Answer: Mark Twain

Popular author Mark Twain is most well-known for writing about life on the Mississippi River. He also wrote many other novels, and short stories on completely different topics. The short story "Advice to Little Girls", first published in 1867, is a wonderful example of Twain's use of tongue-in-cheek humor. "The Mysterious Stranger" was an unfinished novel by Twain that appeared to be a serious social commentary on the world and its movement into the 20th century.

The historical-fiction novel, "The Prince and the Pauper", was set around the court of Henry VIII and his son Prince Edward.

Answer: Rudyard Kipling

"The Lights That Failed" is a Kipling novel about a painter who has gone blind and his attempts to cope with his new life. "The Man Who Would Be King" is a novel about two European men who became kings of a remote part of Afghanistan. The novel has a historical basis but is definitely a work of fiction. "Captains Courageous" is an 1897 novel by Kipling that is set in the North Atlantic and follows the life of a young man who was washed overboard during a storm and his subsequent struggles to get home after he is saved. Kipling loved to use exotic locations in his writings and his ties to India are evident in many of his writings.