Authors by Genre Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mystery

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a Scottish physician who found fame as a writer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While he wrote in different genres, Conan Doyle is most famous for his detective stories about Sherlock Holmes.

Answer: Horror

American author Stephen King, born in Portland, Maine in 1947, is well known as a prolific writer of horror novels and short stories. King has also written in other genres, such as science fiction, crime, and suspense. Much of King's work has been adapted for movies and television.

Answer: Historical

James A. Michener (1907-1997) was an American writer of historical fiction novels, many of which were stories of extended families told over several generations. Much of Michener's work was set in exotic locations, such as Asia and the Pacific. Michener was noted for the detail and meticulous research he did for his novels.

Answer: SciFi

One of the first famous writers of science fiction, Jules Verne (1828-1905) was from France and began writing while studying to be a lawyer in the late 1840s. While Verne wrote plays, novels, and short stories, he is most famous for his science fiction novels that were often set in fantastic places and involved technologies that were ahead of their time.

Answer: Historical

Born in Sydney, Australia, James Clavell (1921-1994) was a prolific writer of historical fiction, most famous for his "Asian Saga" series of novels, which were about Europeans living in various Asian locations. Clavell also wrote screenplays for Hollywood films, and wrote and directed the 1967 film "To Sir, with Love".

Answer: Mystery

Known as the "Queen of Crime", English author Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the best selling fiction writer of all time. Writing under her own name and the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, Christie published 66 novels and 14 short story collections, as well as plays.

Answer: Historical

Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916) gained fame for his historical fiction novels, most notably the "Trilogy" series and "Quo Vadis". The "Trilogy" novels, set in the 17th century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, were written when Poland was divided by Germany, Austria, and Russia and the Polish language was suppressed. Sienkiewicz won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his epic writings.

Answer: Historical

Harry Turtledove, born in Los Angeles, California in 1949, received his PhD in Byzantine history in 1977. He published his first two novels in 1979 under a pseudonym, and Turtledove has used several different ones in his career. He mostly specializes in alternate history novels, where real events are changed by chance or the introduction of another element, some of which are either supernatural or fantastical. Turtledove continues to write in the 2020s.

Answer: Horror

American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) wrote mostly poetry and short stories, many with a macabre style. He is regarded as the inventor of the detective fiction genre with his short story "The Gold Bug", but is probably best known for his Gothic horror poem "The Raven".

Answer: SciFi

Along with Jules Verne, English writer Herbert George "H.G." Wells (1866-1946) is regarded as one of the fathers of the science fiction genre in literature. While Wells published many non-fiction works in fields such as politics, history, and satire, he is most famous for his science fiction works such as "The Time Machine", "The War of the Worlds", and "The Island of Dr. Moreau".

Answer: Horror

Dean R. Koontz was born in Pennsylvania, USA in 1945. His first works, published in the late 1960s, were science fiction. He began writing horror fiction in the 1970s, often under various pseudonyms on the advice of his editor. As of 2024, Koontz has published over 105 novels, as well as novellas and short stories, several of which have been made into films and television adaptations.

Answer: Horror

Howard Phillips "H. P." Lovecraft (1890-1937) was an American writer of horror and supernatural fiction. His works, consisting almost entirely of short stories and novellas, were published mostly in pulp fiction magazines. Lovecraft was virtually unknown during his lifetime, but he is now regarded as one of the most significant authors of horror fiction in the 20th century.

Answer: Mystery

Born in southern New York State in 1947, James Patterson was an advertising executive when he wrote his first novel in 1976, which introduced one of his best known characters, forensic psychologist Alex Cross. He has authored over 200 books, most of which are in the mystery and detective fiction genre.

Some of Patterson's best known works are the "Alex Cross", "Michael Bennett", and "Women's Murder Club" series.

Answer: SciFi

Russian born American author Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) was a professor of biochemistry at Boston University in Massachusetts, USA. He is considered to be one of the premier authors of science fiction, with over 500 published works, mostly science fiction novels and short stories. Asimov also was a prolific writer of nonfiction hard science books.

He is known for tying together his stories into unified series.

Answer: SciFi

Robert Anson Heinlein (1907-1988) was born in Missouri and graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1929. He spent five years in the Navy in communications, rising to the rank of lieutenant. He began writing science fiction stories in 1939, being first published in pulp fiction magazines.

Heinlein's writing often incorporated social and political commentaries, and he tried to emphasize scientific accuracy in his works.

Answer: Mystery

Anthony "Tony" Grove Hillerman (1925-2008) was an American writer of mystery and detective fiction. He grew up in Oklahoma and was decorated for his Army service during World War II. He was a newspaper journalist and then a professor in journalism at the University of New Mexico when he began writing fictional detective stories, mainly set in the Native American communities of Arizona and New Mexico.