Pop Quiz: Real World Events and The Best Sci Fi / Fantasy Novels

May 21, 2021

Each week I set out to research and document ten “fun facts” on a topic loosely based on the two books I’ve reviewed that week.  “Loosely” being the operative word. 

This week I reviewed When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, by Daniel Pink, and an advance copy of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Shards of Earth – the first book in his new Final Architects series.

In When, Daniel Pink and his research assistants poured through mountains of scientific research to summarize the impact that timing has on our lives, and how we may be able to influence of benefit from timing. Timing may not be everything, Pink says, but it’s likely more important than you think.

Timing certainly plays a role in Tchaikovsky’s Shards of Earth. Decades after the last planet was destroyed by the Architects – a race of moon sized creatures arising from unspace – a ship is discovered with damage consistent with an Architect attack. The timing of this event sets a number of groups across the Universe in motion, all trying to understand, get ahead of, or profit from the destructive Architects potential reappearance.

Tchaikovsky has created an enormously appealing universe, and the publication of this first book may be looked back on by his fans as an important milestone in his writing. But great science fiction doesn’t get created in mystical universes – it’s penned by real authors and published by real publishers, right here in the real world. Which got me thinking – can I remember the timing of real world events around some of the great science fiction I’ve read in my life? 

And more broadly, can we as readers connect the timing of significant real world events to when the best science fiction and fantasy novels were published? To answer that question I’m giving a little twist to Fun Fact Friday, and offering you what I hope is a fun “pop quiz”. See how well you can match the correct sci-fi or fantasy novel to these ten sets of real world events.

  1. Soviet Dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States. The first space shuttle – Columbia – is delivered to the JFK Space Center to be prepared for launch. Margaret Thatcher forms her first government after the Tories emerge victorious in the UK election. Sony introduces the Walkman. Iranians, mostly students, take 90 hostages in Tehran. Smallpox is certified as having been eradicated. It’s 1979, and the first four episodes of a popular BBC Radio program are adapted and published as this book:

  • A Clockwork Orange

  • Ender’s Game

  • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

  • American Gods

  • Good Omens

  • I, Robot

  • Stranger in a Strange Land

  • Jurassic Park

  • Frankenstein

  • The Time Machine

  • The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

  • Fahrenheit 451

  • The Left Hand of Darkness

  • Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrell

  • Animal Farm

  • Ringworld

    1. Wikipedia goes online. The first draft of the complete human genome is published in the journal Nature. The Hintze Ribero bridge in northern Portugal collapses, killing 59 people. Netherlands becomes the first country to legalize same-sex marriage. Australian Ian Thorpe becomes the first swimmer to ever win six gold medals at the World Championships. The World Trade Center in New York collapses and the Pentagon is heavily damaged in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It’s 2001 and this fantasy novel with its blend of ancient and modern mythology is published:

    • The Handmaids Tale

    • American Gods

    • The Princess Bride

    • The Island of Doctor Moreau

    • Flowers for Algernon

    • Le Morte D’Arthur

    • Mary Poppins

    • James and the Giant Peach

    • The Martian Chronicles

    • Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas

    • A Swiftly Tilting Planet

    • The War of the Worlds

    • Cat’s Cradle

    • Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

    • 1984

    • The Invisible Man

    • Brave New World

    • Stranger In A Strange Land

    • Neuromancer

    • Slaughterhouse-Five

    So there you have it. Scroll down to find the answers. Let me know if you enjoyed this week’s Fun Facts Friday Pop Quiz by leaving a comment below.

    NOTE: 

    The novels named in this quiz are all recognized as among the best on the following lists: 

    All publication years are as found in Wikipedia. Many of the real world events are as found either on Wikipedia or at eventshistory.com.

    Answers below 

    ANSWERS: 1 – Hitchhiker’s; 2 – I, Robot; 3 – Frankenstein; 4 – Ringworld; 5 – The Lord of the Rings; 6 – American Gods; 7 – Mary Poppins; 8 – 20,000 Leagues; 9 – Do Androids Dream; 10 – Neuromancer

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