Short (but Sweet) Science Fiction Stories Quiz

Answer: Allamagoosa

This remarkable comic short story won the Hugo for British writer Eric Frank Russell back in 1955, before I was born. It was funny when I read it as a child, and you know what - it's still funny! Some things, especially military bureaucracies, just don't change. The "Allamagoosa" of the title may have been coined by the author, and means "thingamagig".

Answer: To Serve Man

Damon Knight's story "To Serve Man" was made into a classic episode of "The Twilight Zone" which then spawned multiple references across popular culture, from "The Simpsons" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" through the movies "The Naked Gun 2½" and "Madagascar" to computer games like "World of Warcraft". Any time you hear the phrase "It's a cookbook!" they're quoting this story. "To Serve Man" was honoured with a retrospective Hugo in 2001 as "Best Short Story of 1951".

Answer: Nightfall

In his autobiography, Asimov tells how the editor John W. Campbell challenged him to write a story based on the quote, which concludes: "...how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God!" Campbell's opinion was that, "I think men would go mad." Asimov wrote the story in 1941, and in 1968 it was acknowledged by the Science Fiction Writers of America as the best SF story written before the Nebula Awards started in 1965.

Answer: Flowers For Algernon

This short story won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for Daniel Keyes in 1960. The author expanded it into a novel, which shared the Nebula Award for best novel in 1966. The novel has been adapted many times for film and television including the 1968 movie "Charly" which netted Cliff Robertson an Academy Award for Best Actor.

Answer: A Sound Of Thunder

Ray Bradbury's story "A Sound Of Thunder" was first published in 1952, and has since been reprinted more often than any other SF story. Unfortunately, the 2005 movie adaptation did not do it justice, and if that film is your experience of "A Sound Of Thunder" you really should read the short story.

Answer: '-And He Built a Crooked House'

Quintus Teal's fictional address was 8775 Lookout Mountain Avenue, Hollywood directly opposite Robert A Heinlein's real home. Heinlein describes Teal's neighbour across the street as "the Hermit, the original Hermit of Hollywood" in reference to his own solitary habits.

Answer: Neutron Star

Winning the 1967 Hugo for Best Short Story, "Neutron Star" is famous for bringing the titular object to the attention of science fiction readers, correctly postulating the enormous tidal forces created by its intense gravitational field.

Answer: A Pail of Air

Told from the point of view of a young boy, this was one of those stories I remember reading in one of those SF short story collections for young people when I was at school. It remains one of Fritz Leiber's most well known short stories. That said, Fritz Leiber is probably rather more famous as a writer of Sword & Sorcery fantasy (as he invented the term) and for giving the tales of Fafhrd and Grey Mouser to the world.

Answer: The Dog Said Bow-Wow

Michael Swanwick's story is set in a very strange bio-technological future, centuries from now, and after a war between humans and electronics. It won the 2002 Hugo Award for best short story. (And, yes, all of those are real short story titles by Michael Swanwick).

Answer: The Nine Billion Names of God

The Hugo Award for the best short story wasn't awarded until 1955 so it wasn't until 2004 that "The Nine Billion Names of God" was given its deserved recognition, by being awarded the retrospective Hugo for 1954.