Classic Science Fiction Short Stories Quiz

Answer: Inconstant Moon

The moon shines not by generating its own light but by reflecting light from the sun. So an "Inconstant Moon" is what you get if the sun releases a huge flare, wiping out the life on the dayside of the Earth but hopefully allowing some survivors of the nightside. It's a great story, with very appropriate dialogue and characterisation - and the possibility of a happy ending.
Of the incorrect answer options, "Day for Night" is a film made by Francois Truffaut (* free bonus question - what's the SF connection?), "False Dawn" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling and "By Dawn's Early Light" is an HBO film from 1990.
(*SF connection: Truffaut starred in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind")

Answer: Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.

"Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out" is an outstanding last line - no melodrama, just the end of the Universe! Clarke's other stand-out short stories were "The Star" (in which a priest is left to work out why God allowed a magnificent alien civilisation to be destroyed in a nova so that the light from the event would be the star shining over Bethlehem) and "The Sentinel" - which became "2001: A Space Odyssey". A nice story: just hours before Clarke died a major gamma ray burst from about 7.5 billion light years away set a new record as the farthest object that can be seen from Earth with the naked eye; it was suggested that it be called the "Clarke Event".

Answer: Day Million

The one millionth day of the Common Era is due to occur in 2737 CE. Pohl's story "Day Million" is a reasonable inquiry into morality and modes of thinking, and how they change over time. The story ends: "Balls, you say, it looks crazy to me. And you - with your aftershave lotion and your little red car, pushing papers across a desk all day and chasing tail all night - tell me, just how the hell do you think you would look to Tiglath-Pileser, say, or Attila the Hun?".

Answer: A Planet Named Shayol

"A Planet Named Shayol" is an excellent story, with redemption at the end of it. The Hebrew Bible mentions an underworld called Sheol where the souls of the dead go, so calling a punishment planet "Shayol" clearly alludes to this.

One of the features of many of Smith's stories is that things he mentions in one story, perhaps whimsically, have a cogent explanation in another. Thus, the incorrect answer options are all Smith stories, but one of them, "The Crime and Glory of Commander Suzdal", relates directly to a character in "A Planet Named Shayol".

Answer: Allamagoosa

"Allamagoosa" - a nonsense word, perhaps used to name something that you don't know the real name of - like "zapper" for a remote control, "ding" for microwave or "doot-doot" for an ATM - all in use in this household.

The crew of the starship Bustler are preparing for inspection, but can't find an item on the ship's manifest called an "offog". So they make a little machine with flashing lights to fill the role. After the inspection ends they dump the offog, claiming that it came apart under gravitational forces - and the whole fleet is grounded. It turns out that "offog" was a misprint for "off.dog" - the ship's dog.

The story is actually a re-working of an old Royal Navy tall tale called "The Shovewood", dating back to the 1930s. It's very, very funny.

Answer: Flowers for Algernon

"Flowers for Algernon" won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960, was expanded into a Nebula Award-winning novel in 1966 and then made into an Oscar-winning film in 1968. Algernon was of course the experimental mouse that became clever - and then reverted to its normal intelligence level, showing Charlie Gordon what was in store for him.

The story is ahead of its time, powerful and moving; Keyes has always resisted attempts to make versions with a happy ending.

Answer: The Game of Rat and Dragon

"The Game of Rat and Dragon" was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1956, losing out to Arthur C Clarke's "The Star". Like much of Smith's work it's dazzling, strangely written.
If you're at all interested in following up on Cordwainer Smith, look at his daughter's site, www.cordwainer-smith.com - and look at the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award for forgotten SF classic, founded in 2001.
All the incorrect answer options are films, some better than others!

Answer: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

The flaw is that the city's ongoing splendor necessitates that a single child be kept in perpetual filth, darkness, and misery. All citizens know of this, but most accept that this one injustice is necessary to secure the happiness of the rest of the city. Some citizens, however, leave the city after seeing the child; none of them return. These are "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas".
The concept underlying the story is based upon William James' book, "The Moral Philosopher and The Moral Life" - how can happiness be achieved when it's the result of such a bargain?
All the incorrect answer options are other short stories by Le Guin that have been nominated for Hugo Awards.

Answer: I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

One of computer's prisoners realises that there's only one way out of the nightmare in which they are all living; he achieves this but must live thereafter as a solitary, ghastly thing totally controlled by the computer. The title of the story, "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream", is its last sentence - and very, very scary.
All the incorrect answer options are other short stories by Ellison that were nominated for Hugo Awards; two of them were winners ("'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" in 1966 and "The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World" in 1969).

Answer: His wonderful leather coat

The title of the story, "How the Marquis Got His Coat Back", rather gives the game away! Both novel and story are great reads, and it's interesting how Gaiman gives sensible but slightly twisted explanations for the names of London places. I certainly wouldn't want to meet the Elephant from the Elephant and Castle, and the Shepherd is a very nasty character indeed - and his sheepdogs are even worse! It's a good, fun read.