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Quiz about Hugo Runnersup
Quiz about Hugo Runnersup

Hugo Runners-up Trivia Quiz


Many well-loved SF novels were nominated for Hugo Awards, but were beaten by stiff competition. See if you can remember these runners-up, by plot description. Most will be from the sixties and seventies, and some authors will appear more than once.

A multiple-choice quiz by agony. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
agony
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
328,960
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
608
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Guest 165 (9/10), fado72 (10/10), calmdecember (5/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. In this juvenile novel by a well-known author, a teenager wins a space suit in a jingle writing contest. He is inadvertently swept away on an adventure which leads to him having to defend the very existence of humanity!

Which book is it?
Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. A wealthy man and his dog enter a chrono-synclastic infundibulum, and become (for all practical purposes) disembodied. They encounter a Trafalmadorian alien, and find out the moving force behind human history - a rather deflating answer to this ancient imponderable.

Which book is this?
Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. In this ultimate adventure novel, our hero receives a new name early in the story, due to a mistake. Oscar ("Oh, Scar...") embarks on a swashbuckling quest, fighting dragons and searching for the "Egg", in the company of a beautiful woman and her companion.

Which novel is this?
Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. The short story that this novel was an expansion of won the Short Story Hugo in 1960, but the novel version was beaten by Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress".

A mentally handicapped young man receives a treatment which increases his intelligence; however, the effects of the treatment are not permanent, and eventually he is back where he started.

What is the name of this heartbreaking work, which was filmed under the title "Charly"?

Answer: (three words)
Question 5 of 10
5. This novel tells the story of the fire-bombing of Dresden in the Second World War, along with the other time travelling adventures of Billy Pilgrim. So it goes.

What is this book?
Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. A man comes to a psychiatrist with an unusual delusion - his dreams come true. What he dreams can effectively change reality. The doctor disbelieves at first, but eventually comes to see that there just might be something in this for him...

Which book is this?
Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. A celebrity finds that his identity has been erased - no one knows him, he has no fans, there are no records of him in the data bases of the totalitarian government. A reality-warping recreational drug appears to be behind the loss.

Which 1975 novel is this?
Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. 1975 was a good year for SF - another Hugo runner-up was this story of first contact. The humans gradually uncover different facets of the aliens, and learn that they actually haven't understood them at all. In which novel does the "Crazy Eddie Drive" appear? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. This is the coming-of-age story of young Jaxom and his, um, companion. It is the third novel in its very successful series. Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Another third entry into a popular series, this novel follows a schoolboy as he continues to learn more about the secrets of his past.
Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Mar 26 2024 : Guest 165: 9/10
Mar 02 2024 : fado72: 10/10
Feb 17 2024 : calmdecember: 5/10
Feb 13 2024 : Guest 199: 5/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In this juvenile novel by a well-known author, a teenager wins a space suit in a jingle writing contest. He is inadvertently swept away on an adventure which leads to him having to defend the very existence of humanity! Which book is it?

Answer: Have Space Suit, Will Travel

Kidnapping by aliens, a singing "Mother Thing" and finally an intergalactic tribunal deciding the fate of the human race - like most juvenile novels by Robert A Heinlein, this one is a page turner.

"Have Space Suit, Will Travel" was beaten out on the 1959 Hugo by James Blish's "A Case of Conscience". "Who?" by Algis Budrys and "We Have Fed Our Sea" (also known as "The Enemy Stars") by Poul Anderson were also runners-up.
2. A wealthy man and his dog enter a chrono-synclastic infundibulum, and become (for all practical purposes) disembodied. They encounter a Trafalmadorian alien, and find out the moving force behind human history - a rather deflating answer to this ancient imponderable. Which book is this?

Answer: The Sirens of Titan

Did the mention of the Trafalmadorian help you? These plumber's-helper-shaped aliens appear in several novels by Kurt Vonnegut. In this book we learn that all of human history has been manipulated to help Salo, the Trafalmadorian, replace a broken part of his spaceship.

Robert A. Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" was the winner of the 1960 Hugo Award. "Dorsai!" by Gordon R. Dickson and "The Pirates of Ersatz" by Murray Leinster were also-rans.
3. In this ultimate adventure novel, our hero receives a new name early in the story, due to a mistake. Oscar ("Oh, Scar...") embarks on a swashbuckling quest, fighting dragons and searching for the "Egg", in the company of a beautiful woman and her companion. Which novel is this?

Answer: Glory Road

An enormously fun romp, "Glory Road" apparently took Robert Heinlein only a few weeks to write. This was my late husband's favourite book - he lived his life as if he, like Oscar, might at any moment have to fight a minotaur or claim the Irish Sweepstakes.

The winner that year, 1964, was Clifford D. Simak with "Here Gather the Stars". Other runners-up were "Witch World" by Andre Norton and Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle".
4. The short story that this novel was an expansion of won the Short Story Hugo in 1960, but the novel version was beaten by Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". A mentally handicapped young man receives a treatment which increases his intelligence; however, the effects of the treatment are not permanent, and eventually he is back where he started. What is the name of this heartbreaking work, which was filmed under the title "Charly"?

Answer: Flowers for Algernon

Cliff Robertson won a Best Actor Oscar for the 1968 film version of this Daniel Keyes novel. While the novel missed out on the Hugo, it did win the Nebula Award for 1966, in a joint win with "Babel-17" by Samuel R. Delany. The Delany work was also a runner-up for the 1967 Hugo.
5. This novel tells the story of the fire-bombing of Dresden in the Second World War, along with the other time travelling adventures of Billy Pilgrim. So it goes. What is this book?

Answer: Slaughterhouse-Five

This is probably Kurt Vonnegut's most well-known work. Billy Pilgrim has become "unstuck in time"; Trafalmadorians again make an appearance.

Ursula LeGuin won in 1970 with "The Left Hand of Darkness". Other runners-up included "Macroscope" by Piers Anthony and Robert Silverberg's "Up the Line".
6. A man comes to a psychiatrist with an unusual delusion - his dreams come true. What he dreams can effectively change reality. The doctor disbelieves at first, but eventually comes to see that there just might be something in this for him... Which book is this?

Answer: The Lathe of Heaven

In a tradition going back to "The Monkey's Paw", this story teaches to be careful what you dream of, because you just might get it. LeGuin has acknowledged that Philip K Dick was an influence on this novel.

The winner in that year, 1972, was Philip José Farmer with "To Your Scattered Bodies Go". Some runners-up were "Dragonquest" by Anne McCaffrey and "Jack of Shadows" from Roger Zelazny.
7. A celebrity finds that his identity has been erased - no one knows him, he has no fans, there are no records of him in the data bases of the totalitarian government. A reality-warping recreational drug appears to be behind the loss. Which 1975 novel is this?

Answer: Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said

Much of Philip K Dick's work concerns the nature of reality, of memory, of dreams. The 1982 film "Blade Runner" was based on his novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", and his short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" became 1990's "Total Recall". "A Scanner Darkly" was filmed in 2006 - very successfully, in my opinion.
8. 1975 was a good year for SF - another Hugo runner-up was this story of first contact. The humans gradually uncover different facets of the aliens, and learn that they actually haven't understood them at all. In which novel does the "Crazy Eddie Drive" appear?

Answer: The Mote in God's Eye

The humans eventually discover that the "Moties" reproduce uncontrollably, and unavoidably. They have become resigned to a cycle of civilization building, overpopulation, and collapse. The humans realize that they cannot allow the Moties out into the galaxy, and their choice is either to eradicate the species, or forever blockade them in their home system. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle also wrote a sequel, "The Moat around Murcheson's Eye" ("The Gripping Hand") in 1993.

The winner of the Hugo Novel Award in 1975 was Ursula K LeGuin's "The Dispossessed". "The Inverted World" by Christopher Priest was another runner-up.
9. This is the coming-of-age story of young Jaxom and his, um, companion. It is the third novel in its very successful series.

Answer: The White Dragon

Lord Holder and dragonrider Jaxom and his runt white dragon Ruth make some discoveries that eventually, in later novels, lead to unlocking the secrets of Pern's past. Anne McCaffrey, working in later years with her son Todd, has created an enormously successful series, with more than twenty books either published or in the works.

The winner in 1979 was Vonda N. McIntyre with "Dreamsnake". C. J. Cherryh's "The Faded Sun: Kesrith" and Tom Reamy's Blind Voices" were also runners-up.
10. Another third entry into a popular series, this novel follows a schoolboy as he continues to learn more about the secrets of his past.

Answer: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The fourth book in JK Rowling's "Harry Potter" series, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", won the Hugo for best novel the next year.

The winner in 2000 was "A Deepness in the Sky" from Vernor Vinge. Other runners-up were "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson and "Darwin's Radio" from Greg Bear.
Source: Author agony

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor MotherGoose before going online.
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