Classic Science Fiction Novels II Quiz

Answer: Three species of sentient Martian animals

"Out of the Silent Planet" (1938) was followed by two sequels, "Perelandra" (1943) and "That Hideous Strength" (1945). Looking back 65 years it seems to me to be quite possible that this was the first real SF I ever read.

I remember being entranced by the three species of thinking beings that Lewis imagined living on Mars. To clarify, hrossa look like bipedal seals or otters, and they specialise in farming, fishing, and the performing arts. Seroni are feathered and 15 foot tall; they specialise in science, engineering and abstract learning. Finally pfifltriggi are builders, technicians and miners; they resemble large frogs.

Even as a child I never embraced religion, and a lot of the deeper meanings and allegorical content in these books escaped me; I found "That Hideous Strength" incomprehensible. Lewis is of course best-known for the "Narnia" books, but I didn't like those at all - as soon as I come across elves I just turn off. Give me spaceships any day!

Answer: Wasp

"Wasp" (1958) is a classic example of Russel's use of black humour and irony; describing it, Terry Pratchett said that he "can't imagine a funnier terrorists' handbook". Early in the book the example is given of a wasp in a car causing a panic leading to the driver crashing and the death of him and all his passengers. Similarly, as a single person the agent could cause havoc on the Sirian-occupied planet.

The Sirian Empire is portrayed as a fascist state similar to Nazi Germany: there's a vicious secret police force, censorship and suppression. The agent's actions are normally non-violent, often amusing but very focused; some critics have pointed out that some of the actions described have since been used in real life by subversive groups.

Russel was and is one of my favourite SF authors. He won the first annual Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1955 for "Allamagoosa".

Answer: Helliconia

Brian Aldiss (1925 - 2017) was a prolific British writer and anthologist, especially associated with the so-called British New Wave of SF. One of his early novels, "Hothouse", won a Hugo Award in 1962, and his non-fiction analysis of the history of SF, "Trillion Year Spree", won a Hugo in 1987.

His massive work was the Helliconia trilogy: "Helliconia Spring" (1982), "Helliconia Summer" (1983) and "Helliconia Winter" (1985). The first two books describe many changes in the planet of Helliconia and its inhabitants as spring turns to summer, while the third focuses on one character. To my mind it's the best of the three.

The books are full of the most astonishing imagery, of weird animals and strange landscapes. The chapters in "Helliconia Winter" describing the main character's ten-year imprisonment in solitary confinement have stayed with me for years.

Answer: Neptune

The eighteenth and last species of mankind lives on Neptune. Sadly, they are all wiped out when a supernova consumes the Solar System and they are unable to escape. They do, however, release a virus to spread life to other worlds, ultimately bringing about the evolution of new sentient species throughout the galaxy.

The two billion year history of man includes many wonders, such as giant brains, flying people and a rabbit-like species that evolves into the Tenth Men. Stapledon focuses on how species ebb and flow in repetitive cycles, with many varied civilisations rising from and descending back into savagery.

Stapledon influenced many early SF writers, for example Brian Aldiss, James Blish, C. S. Lewis, Arthur C. Clarke and H. P. Lovecraft.

A little personal note - in 1975 I appeared on BBC TV's "Mastermind", with Science Fiction being my "Specialist Subject". This question came up! - and I got it right because I'd just read about it that morning on my way to the recording. It didn't help me, though, I still got beat by one point!

Answer: The Chrysalids

"The Chrysalids" (1955) starts off as a brilliant novel, describing and analysing the social situation in which the people in the settlement live. The title is self-evident - there are people in the society who are going to develop further until they "hatch" as fully telepathic adults. As the book goes on, one of the children manages to establish telepathic communication with people in New Zealand, who come to rescue them from the threatened situation in which they exist. Sadly the novel then deteriorates to a routine "chase" finale.

Critical reviews noted the "deus ex machina" element of the New Zealand intervention, and there was also some adverse reaction to the proposition made that conflict between a more advanced species and its less advanced progenitors is inevitable. This seems to contradict the implicit pleas for tolerance made earlier in the book.

Interestingly, the 1968 Jefferson Airship song "Crown of Creation" was based upon this book, with Whyndam's approval.

The three incorrect answer options are all of the post-apocalyptic genre, "Davy" (1964) by Edgar Pangborn, "The Scarlet Plague" (1912) by Jack London, and "The Road" (2006) by Cormac McCarthy; the latter is possibly one of the most depressing books I've ever read!

Answer: The Man in the High Castle

Philip K Dick was an immensely productive writer with 44 novels and 121 short stories to his credit. Perhaps the best of these is the "The Man in the High Castle", an excellent book, well-written and full of energy. The plotting is excellent with lots of narrative strands that eventually come together. Dick was obsessed with the concept of reality, and this is clear in his writing: nothing is what it seems and there are competing realities everywhere.

The three incorrect answer options are all novels by Dick, of which the semi-autobiographical "VALIS" (1980) is perhaps the best. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" was of course made into the wonderful movie "Blade Runner" by the brilliant Ridley Scott.

Answer: City

"City" describes a world in which people have developed superior technology and have abandoned the cities to move into the countryside. The principal characters are the Webster family and their robot servant, Jenkins; one of the Websters surgically provides dogs with the ability to speak. What happens over the following millennia involves the near-extinction of man, the take-over of the Earth by ants and the translocation of dogs to another Earth. It's a rich tapestry of a novel, wonderfully written but with an air of sadness and regret suffusing the whole.

A typical Simak story is immediately identifiable - it's set in a rural environment and features a crusty, drily humourous backwoodsman and his dog interacting with aliens - in fact his Hugo-winning novelette, "The Big Front Yard" (1959), matches this description perfectly! Simak won a lot more Hugos: two Retro Hugos for best novelette, "Rule 18" (1938) and "City" (1944), and Hugos for best novel for "Way Station" (1964), and best short story for "Grotto of the Dancing Deer" (1981).

Kudos if you realised that all three incorrect answer options are the titles of novels by Arthur C. Clarke.

Answer: The Stainless Steel Rat

James Bolivar "Slippery Jim" diGriz is the starring character in the novel "The Stainless Steel Rat" (1961); he's a con man and a thief, but with a strong sense of morality. He actually made his debut in a short story published in 1957 in "Astounding" magazine which was reworked to form the first few chapters of the novel. Harrison went on to write 10 more novels with him as the central character.

Perhaps Harrison's best-known book is "Make Room! Make Room!" (1966), which made the rough basis for the film "Soylent Green" (1973). Sadly, he didn't win a major genre award for any specific work of fiction.

Looking at the incorrect answer options, the lead character in "Deathworld" is Jason dinAlt, in "Bill, the Galactic Hero" it's - perhaps surprisingly - Bill, and in Larry Niven's "Ringworld" it's Louis Wu.

Answer: Majipoor

"Lord Valentine's Castle" and its many sequels are set upon the planet Majipoor. It's an impoverished world; there's little large-scale industry or technology, and most people are of peasant status and live by agriculture. Its crust contains few heavy metals and hence its density and gravity are low, but its size means that journeys are long.

"Lord Valentine's Castle" actually starts brilliantly: a man is walking along a country road when he suddenly realises that he doesn't know where he is, who he is or where he came from - it's quite frightening. Needless to say he has to tackle many obstacles to find out this basic information.

Silverberg won three Hugos: best novella for "Nightwings" (1969) and "Gilgamesh in the Outback" (1987), and best novelette for "Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another" (1990).

Again, kudos if you realised that all three incorrect answer options are the names of planets in the "Dune" novels by Frank Herbert.

Answer: The Demolished Man

Alfred Bester's influence upon early SF was huge; his first novel, "The Demolished Man" (1953), is a wonderful book, followed closely by his "Tiger, Tiger" (1956; "The Stars my Destination" in the UK) reached levels of plot and characterisation that had not previously been evident in the genre.

"The Demolished Man" is an SF police procedural story set in a future where telepathy is common. This makes the whole notion of plotting to kill somebody, let alone actually carrying out the crime, very difficult! But a murder does take place (though the reader is aware of the identity of the killer). The killer's psychological condition and his duelling with the investigating telepath dominate the book.

Looking at the incorrect answer options, "The Great Explosion" (1962) was written by Eric Frank Russell, "All Flesh Is Grass" (1965) by Clifford D. Simak, and "The Midwich Cuckoos" (1957) by John Wyndham.