Fictional Works by Fictional Authors Quiz

Answer: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

In the Sherlock Holmes canon (the stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), there are numerous mentions of fictional works written by Doyle's characters - Sherlock Holmes, Dr John Watson, Professor James Moriarty and Colonel Sebastian Moran.

Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr Watson should need no introduction. Professor Moriarty is the main villain in the stories. He is a professor of mathematics, a criminal mastermind and arch-enemy of Sherlock Holmes. In addition to writing "The Dynamics of an Asteroid", he is said to have written "A Treatise on the Binomial Theorem". Colonel Moran is Moriarty's right-hand man, described as the second-most dangerous man in London.

Many of the fictional works mentioned in the canon now exist, having been written as pastiches or fan fiction. One of the most well-known is "A Practical Handbook of Bee Culture (With Some Observations Upon the Segregation of the Queen)" by Sherlock Holmes, which was mentioned in the short story, "His Last Bow"(1917). There are now a few versions of this book title that are available, mainly as e-books.

Answer: Agatha Christie

Ariadne Oliver is one of Agatha Christie's sleuths. There are quite a few similarities between Agatha Christie herself and her creation. In a magazine article ("John Bull Magazine", 1956), she was quoted as saying "the character of Ariadne Oliver does have a strong dash of myself." Both were authors who had created a foreign detective whom they grew to dislike. Both loved apples and did not like public speaking.

Ariadne Oliver appeared in seven novels and, in addition to "The Affair of the Second Goldfish", she was credited as being the author of "The Cat It Was Who Died", "Death of a Debutante" and "The Body in the Library". Ariadne Oliver mentioned writing "The Body in the Library" in the 1936 novel, "Cards on the Table". Six years later (1942), Agatha Christie recycled the title and used it for her own book.

Answer: Charles M. Schulz

Miss Helen Sweetstory is a fictional author featured (but never actually seen) in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip, "Peanuts". She was introduced in 1971 as the author of a series of ten books about "The Six Bunny-Wunnies". The books themselves were first mentioned in 1970.

They are Snoopy's favourite books. One story line revolved around "The Six Bunny-Wunnies Freak Out" being banned from the school library, upsetting Charlie Brown, Linus and Sally, who decide to campaign to have the ban rescinded.

Answer: John Mortimer

English writer John Mortimer is the author of the "Rumpole" series of books and the creator of the character Horace Rumpole, a barrister who describes himself as an "Old Bailey hack". Rumpole is married to Hilda, whom he refers to as "She Who Must be Obeyed".

In the novel "Rumpole and the Reign of Terror", the story is peppered with extracts from the fictional "Hilda Rumpole's Memoirs". Hilda purchases a laptop in order to write her memoirs and keeps it hidden from Rumpole in the boxroom. (A boxroom is a very small room which is used primarily as a storage room but can be a spare bedroom if needed). In her memoirs, Hilda vents about the trials (pun intended) of living with Rumpole, her disappointment with Rumpole's lack of ambition, and her flirtation with Justice Leonard Bullingham (the "Mad Bull" or "Injustice Bullingham", as Horace calls him).

Answer: Alexander McCall Smith

Although Alexander McCall Smith was born in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), he is of Scottish descent and has lived in Scotland most of his life. McCall Smith is the author of a series of books called "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency".

The main character in this series is Precious Ramotswe, who starts the titular detective agency in Botswana. She describes herself bluntly as "a fat lady detective". Precious has had no formal training so she purchases the fictional book, "The Principles of Private Investigation" by Clovis Andersen, early on in her career and refers to it frequently throughout the various stories. In the 13th book in the series, "The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection", Precious meets Clovis Andersen in person.

Creator Alexander McCall Smith has said in interviews that, although the book and its author are entirely fictional, he has received a number of enquiries from readers trying to locate a copy.

Answer: JK Rowling

The "Harry Potter" books by JK Rowling contain numerous mentions of fictional books, usually in the context of text books for the various classes at Hogwarts. Three such books were later written by Rowling to add to the Harry Potter canon - "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" (2001), "Quidditch Through the Ages" (2001), and "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" (2008).

"The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts" is first mentioned in the book, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (published as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the USA) but the author's name is not provided.

Other fictional books include "The Monster Book of Monsters" by Edwardus Lima, a textbook for the Care of Magical Creatures class. "One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi" by Phyllida Spore is a textbook for the Herbology and Potions class.

Gilderoy Lockhart, the conceited Dark Arts teacher, is credited with writing a number of books such as "Magical Me" (an autobiography), "Break with a Banshee", "Gadding with Ghouls", "Holidays with Hags", "Travels with Trolls", "Voyages with Vampires", "Wanderings with Werewolves", "Year with the Yeti", "Marauding with Monsters" and "One Hundred and One Practical Uses for Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans".

Answer: Stephen King

"Misery" (1987) is a novel by "the King of Horror", Stephen King. His protagonist is a novelist, Paul Sheldon, who has written a series of books featuring a Victorian heroine, Misery Chastain.

At the beginning of King's story, Sheldon has written the final installment of the series, "Misery's Child", in which he has killed off his heroine so he could be free to pursue other areas of writing. His next project was a novel about car thieves called "Fast Cars". On his way to deliver the manuscript, he has a car accident while intoxicated, crashing his car into a pile of snow and breaking both his legs. He is rescued by Annie Wilkes, a nurse and his self-proclaimed "number one fan". Annie takes care of him but becomes enraged when she finds out that Sheldon has killed off Misery, her favourite character. She holds him prisoner and demands that he writes another novel, resurrecting Misery - "Misery's Return".

Answer: Lewis Carroll

In Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There" (1871), the main character, Alice, steps through a mirror into an alternative world where everything is reversed.

In the first chapter, Alice comes across a book of poetry lying open on a table. At first she is unable to read it but then realises that she needs to hold it up to a mirror for it to be readable. Even then, she still can't read it because it appears to be in a foreign language. What Alice is looking at is a poem called "Jabberwocky". As everybody who is familiar with this famous poem knows, it is written mainly in nonsense words, as the first verse illustrates:

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Although the book's title and author are not revealed, Alice refers to it as the "Looking Glass book".

Answer: John Cleese and Marty Feldman

"Knickerless Nickleby" by Edmund Wells was one of a number of fictional titles featured in the "Bookshop" sketch, written by John Cleese and Marty Feldman (1967). It featured on the television show "Monty Python's Flying Circus" in 1972, as well as their LP record "Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album" in 1980, and in a number of subsequent books consisting of written compilations of Monty Python sketches.

It features an annoying customer (Graham Chapman) asking an exasperated bookshop owner (John Cleese) for ridiculous titles such as "101 Ways To Start a Fight", "Biggles Combs His Hair", and "Ethel The Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying". He also asks for a number of books by Edmund Wells which are obvious misspelt allusions to books by Charles Dickens, such as "Knickerless Nickleby", "David Coperfield" (with one 'p'), "Grate Expectations", "Rarnaby Budge" and "A Sale of Two Titties".

Answer: William Shakespeare

This question deals with a fictional play-within-a-play. The play is part of the plot of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet". Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, asked a visiting troupe of actors if they can play "The Murder of Gonzago" to the court but told his Uncle Claudius, the King, that the play is called "The Mousetrap". Hamlet suspected Claudius of being guilty of the murder of his brother, Hamlet's father. Claudius then assumed the throne and married his brother's widow, Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. Hamlet staged the play as a trap in order to study Claudius' reaction to the plot, which paralleled the death of his father, and thus ascertain whether Claudius was likely to be guilty of fratricide.

Agatha Christie used the title "The Mousetrap" for her play which she originally titled "Three Blind Mice". Christie had to change the name because there was already another play with the same name. She chose "The Mousetrap" from "Hamlet" because of the common theme of setting a trap to catch a killer.