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Quiz about Left Behind
Quiz about Left Behind

Left Behind... Trivia Quiz


... and other tales of the "End of the World" - How many of these apocalyptic tales do you remember?

A multiple-choice quiz by Rowena8482. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
Rowena8482
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
355,300
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
5 / 10
Plays
229
Question 1 of 10
1. The "Left Behind" series begins with the experiences of Rayford Steel during the Biblical End of Days. What is Rayford's occupation, before the world as he knows it falls apart? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. When the "zombie virus" spreads and ends life as he knew it, John Talon is left alone to care for his baby son Jacob. He keeps them both alive and inspires other survivors to take back towns from the dead, and build a new society from the ruins of their lives. Which series, written by Joseph Talluto, tells John's story? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. An early example of a literary End of the World was the French novel "La Fin du Monde", also published in English translation as "Omega: The Last Days of the World". Which French astronomer wrote it? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. This short story by Frederick Pohl tells us about an astronomy professor on the last flight out of America during a nuclear strike. He meets a child named Timmy, separated from his family, and takes him along, thus saving his life.
Which story is this?
Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. In the "Greatwinter" series by Sean McMullen, what was the strange cause of the death of much of the human population of Earth? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Another early example of an "End of the World" tale was the 1909 short story "The Machine Stops". Which author, probably better known for his novel "A Passage to India" (1924), wrote it? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. After a twelve year mission in space, a crew return to Earth only to find (from reading old newspapers) that they have missed the Second Coming, and The Rapture, and everyone is gone. Which story, by Jerry Oltion, is this? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. In the 1944 story "Kindness", by Lester del Ray, the last surviving Homo sapiens is "allowed" to escape from Earth and, stealing a rocket ship, makes his home way out in the asteroid belt. Who or what is he escaping from? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. In Mark Tufo's "Zombie Fallout" series, not only does the zombie apocalypse wreck life as we know it, but the zombies are formed into an undead army, with an evil vampire at their head. Who is this vampire? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. One horrific End of the World scenario plays out in the novel "Blindness", originally published in Portuguese as "Ensaio sobre a cegueira" in 1995.
Which Nobel Laureate wrote it?
Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The "Left Behind" series begins with the experiences of Rayford Steel during the Biblical End of Days. What is Rayford's occupation, before the world as he knows it falls apart?

Answer: Airline pilot

"Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days" was first published in 1996, and was written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.
The twelfth and final book, "Glorious Appearing: The End of Days" was published in 2011.
2. When the "zombie virus" spreads and ends life as he knew it, John Talon is left alone to care for his baby son Jacob. He keeps them both alive and inspires other survivors to take back towns from the dead, and build a new society from the ruins of their lives. Which series, written by Joseph Talluto, tells John's story?

Answer: White Flag of the Dead

The "White Flag of the Dead" series comprises six books, with the eponymous first volume being first published in 2011.
Joseph Talluto has also written a book set 20 years after the events of "White Flag", telling the story of John Talon's sons Jake and Aaron.
3. An early example of a literary End of the World was the French novel "La Fin du Monde", also published in English translation as "Omega: The Last Days of the World". Which French astronomer wrote it?

Answer: Camille Flammarion

"La Fin du Monde", one of several early sci-fi works by Flammarion, was first published in 1893. It tells of a collision between a comet and the earth, and the subsequent death of humanity and the planet itself.
Flammarion was a respected astronomer, and had his own private observatory in France. He was the first President of the Société Astronomique de France, which he founded in 1887. As well as several comets, there are craters on both Mars and the Moon named after him.
4. This short story by Frederick Pohl tells us about an astronomy professor on the last flight out of America during a nuclear strike. He meets a child named Timmy, separated from his family, and takes him along, thus saving his life. Which story is this?

Answer: Fermi and Frost

Pohl won a Hugo Award in 1986 for "Fermi and Frost". The story appears in the 2005 collection "Platinum Pohl".
5. In the "Greatwinter" series by Sean McMullen, what was the strange cause of the death of much of the human population of Earth?

Answer: Telepathic whales

In the stories, a team of scientists have managed to recreate an ancient whale from DNA, in a "Jurassic Park" type scenario. This whale turns out to have been a telepathic forerunner species which promptly escapes. It then collaborates with present day whales to give them telepathic powers. They then use these powers to "call" humans and other large mammals, who walk into the seas and drown.
The first two books of the series were called "Voices in the Light" and "Mirrorsun Rising" when they were first published, in Australia, in 1994 and 1995 respectively.
They were published as a single volume in the USA in 1999, and retitled "Souls in the Great Machine".
6. Another early example of an "End of the World" tale was the 1909 short story "The Machine Stops". Which author, probably better known for his novel "A Passage to India" (1924), wrote it?

Answer: E. M. Forster

E.M Forster also wrote "A Room With A View" in 1908 and "Howard's End" in 1910.
"The Machine Stops" was first published in book form in the 1928 anthology "The Eternal Moment and Other Stories", and can also be read online on several free literature sites.
7. After a twelve year mission in space, a crew return to Earth only to find (from reading old newspapers) that they have missed the Second Coming, and The Rapture, and everyone is gone. Which story, by Jerry Oltion, is this?

Answer: Judgement Passed

Jerry Oltion has also written several books in the "Star Wars" milieu, and some set in the "Star Trek" universe too.
He won a Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1988, for "Abandon in Place".
"Judgement Passed" was written in 2008, and first published in the anthology "Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse".
8. In the 1944 story "Kindness", by Lester del Ray, the last surviving Homo sapiens is "allowed" to escape from Earth and, stealing a rocket ship, makes his home way out in the asteroid belt. Who or what is he escaping from?

Answer: Homo intelligens

Homo sapiens has been supplanted by Homo intelligens, and Daniel, the last living "ordinary" man feels hopelessly inadequate in their society.
The people who watch over him set things up so he can "steal" the ship and "escape" to the asteroids in the hope he will be happier there, before his depression deepens.
"Kindness" was first published in "Astounding Fiction" magazine, in October 1944.
9. In Mark Tufo's "Zombie Fallout" series, not only does the zombie apocalypse wreck life as we know it, but the zombies are formed into an undead army, with an evil vampire at their head. Who is this vampire?

Answer: Eliza

Eliza has lived for hundreds of years in the shadows, and when she realises her vampiric powers give her control over the hordes of zombies now roaming the world, she will stop at nothing to gain complete domination. Our hero, Michael Talbot, gets in her way and becomes her sworn enemy as he tries to thwart her evil plans.
The first book in the series, "Zombie Fallout" was published in 2010, and followed by five sequels, with the sixth and last volume "Til Death us do Part" published in 2012.
Mark Tufo has also written several other books featuring Mike Talbot, and an episodic series set in the zombie infested world of "Zombie Fallout".
10. One horrific End of the World scenario plays out in the novel "Blindness", originally published in Portuguese as "Ensaio sobre a cegueira" in 1995. Which Nobel Laureate wrote it?

Answer: José Saramago

Saramago won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998.
"Blindness" tells the story of a small group of people who are locked up in an asylum with other people affected by "the white blindness" and the only woman among them who can see, but who must hide the fact for fear of her life.
In 2008, the story was made into a film and starred Julianne Moore as "the doctor's wife" who could see.
Source: Author Rowena8482

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
Related Quizzes
This quiz is part of series Rowena's Sci-fi Quizzes:

All the science fiction quizzes I have written, apart from the ones about books by Robert A. Heinlein and C. J. Cherryh which have their own quiz lists.

  1. Anne McCaffrey's "Tower and Hive" books Average
  2. Raising Dragons Average
  3. Old Man's War Average
  4. The Last Colony Average
  5. Let's Hear it for the Girls Tough
  6. Joy to the Jovian Tough
  7. Which End of the World is This? Tough
  8. Science Fiction First Lines Average
  9. Red Pill, Blue Pill Tough
  10. Xenobiology, Xenophobia, Xenophily Tough
  11. Root for the Home Team Tough
  12. Where Angels (Still) Fear to Tread Tough

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