Sci Fi Series Trivia Quiz

Answer: Martha Wells

"All Systems Red" (2017) was the first of this series of novellas by Martha Wells. The series follows a sentient security cyborg (part machine, part organic), which secretly calls itself Murderbot as a result of an incident in which it was involved, that has overcome its governing circuitry to gain independence of action.

The situations it finds itself in usually involve ruthless corporate entities. Its preferred off-duty activity is watching soap operas. Apple TV+ were filming a TV series called "Murderbot" based on the books in 2024.

Answer: Ann Leckie

"Ancillary Justice" (2013) was the first of the trilogy written by American writer Ann Leckie. The series concerns an ancillary Breq, the sole survivor of its unit. Its unit was an AI-controlled spaceship with a crew of soldiers (the ancillaries), in effect weaponised human bodies controlled by the spaceship.

The other books are "Ancillary Sword" (2014) and "Ancillary Mercy" (2015), all set in the expansionist Radch empire.

Answer: John Scalzi

These novels by John Scalzi fit in the military science fiction genre. In this future Earth, you can sign up as a soldier with the Colonial Defense Forces for a 10-year rotation. This is a one-way ticket for the 75-year old volunteers, giving them a chance of a bit more lifespan.

The CDF, a space-based organisation, transfers the minds of volunteers into genetically-engineered younger versions of themselves, turning them into enhanced soldiers to fight aliens.

Answer: Orson Scott Card

Another in the military science fiction genre, Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" (1985) caught the video game industry before the move to home-based gaming took off. The timeline, however, is sometime in the future where mankind is battling an alien species in space.

The best hope is to recruit children with the necessary video gaming skills, which is where Andrew "Ender" Wiggins comes in. The novel started off as a 1977 short story and was written in part to provide a back story for Ender's role in the 1986 novel "Speaker for the Dead".

There is now a host of prequels and sequels.

Answer: James S A Corey

Starting with "Leviathan Wakes" in 2011, James S A Corey wrote nine novels as part of the series, as well as various novellas. Jim Holden and the crew of his stolen ship Rocinante play a major role in all the novels. Humanity has expanded around the Solar System, with Mars now also a powerhouse.

The marginalised Belters, the asteroid belt population, start a revolt and the story goes from there. The series was adapted for TV as "The Expanse", running to six series from 2015.

Answer: Peter F Hamilton

Leap to the 27th century for Peter F Hamilton's "The Night's Dawn Trilogy", by which time mankind has spread to 900 worlds, mainly along ethnic lines and facilitated by wormhole travel. An ancient intergalactic traveller accidentally opens the way to a spiritual dimension populated by a host of unhappy souls, who will stop at nothing to possess the living.

The black and white conflict which follows takes on shades of grey as the series goes on.

Answer: Alastair Reynolds

The universe takes its name from the novel "Revelation Space" (2000) by Alastair Reynolds. This is the setting for a universe with the novels covering roughly four centuries in two different series ("The Inhibitor Sequence" and "Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies") as well as a standalone and short stories. Having an astronomy and European Space Agency background, Reynolds has created a relatively hard science (i.e. based on possible science) universe. "Revelation Space" (2000) from "The Inhibitor Sequence" starts with Dan Sylveste, an archaeologist investigating alien ruins. "Aurora Rising" (2007), first of the second series and now renamed "The Prefect", is a look at human civilisation at its height in this universe from the perspective of a prefect, the equivalent of a policeman.

Answer: Iain M Banks

"The Culture" series consists of ten books published between 1987 and 2012. In a post-scarcity utopian society spanning the Milky Way, the books depict some of the dilemmas arising when dealing with less-advanced societies with different priorities. The Culture themselves consist of mobile artificial habitats (spaceships) controlled by advanced artificial intelligences and populated by humanoids. "Consider Phlebas" (2007) was the first, set during a war and written from the perspective on a Culture enemy.

The Culture ships tend to have names like 'No More Mr Nice Guy' or 'So Much For Subtlety'.

Answer: Kim Stanley Robinson

The "Mars" trilogy covers the terraforming of Mars over a near-200-year period. "Red Mars" (1992) narrates a near-future look at the first colonisation mission to Mars and a deteriorating situation on Earth with transnational corporations rivalling governments in a resource-constrained over-populated planet. "Green Mars" (1993) focusses on terraforming and "Blue Mars" (1996) on the results, including scientific developments leading to the 'Accelerando', the spreading of humanity throughout the Solar System. Robinson followed it up with a short story collection set in the same universe, "The Martians" (1999).

Answer: Liu Cixin

This series by Chinese author Liu Cixin originally started as a trilogy with "The Three Body Problem" (2014 in English) being the first and the source of the nickname for the series. A SETI-type message from Earth is picked up by Trisolaris, a planet where life is becoming unsustainable due to the influence of three suns.

They decide to move to Earth. The deaths of top scientists and the actions of a cult all serve to complicate the situation.