Oh, the Humanities! Trivia Quiz

Answer: A Closed and Common Orbit

Becky Chambers' novel "A Closed and Common Orbit" (2016) was nominated for both the Hugo Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award for best book in 2017.
It is the second volume of the "Wayfarers" series. The first is "A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet" (2014).

Answer: Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick published several volumes of short stories during his career, and almost all of them are dark, and often have tragic endings. Several of his works have been made into films over the years, including "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (1968), filmed as "Blade Runner" in 1982, and "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" (1966) which was turned into the blockbuster "Total Recall" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1990.

In 2005, a group of dedicated fans actually made an incredibly lifelike android of Dick, and it sat on a panel at that year's San Diego Comic Con. Unfortunately, its head was later lost in transit by an airline!

Answer: V

The "V" stood for "Visitors". The original miniseries was first shown in 1983: the book followed, and combined the original plot with that of the follow up "V: The Final Battle" (1984).

One of the aliens, who used the name Willy, and sided with the humans against his own race, was played by Robert Englund, who went on to play Freddy Krueger in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" film franchise between 1984 and 2001.

Answer: Tia

Tia's story is told in "The Ship who Searched" (1992) and was written by McCaffrey in collaboration with Mercedes Lackey. Tia is unusual among Brain people as she was not destined from birth to be a "shellperson", but was older when she entered her shell ship.

Answer: Minerva

Minerva's successor as the main computer on Tellus Tertius is Pallas Athene, who plans to follow Minerva into a human body one day.

Dora and Gay Deceiver are a space ship and a flying car (with two bathrooms!) respectively. They feature in "Number of the Beast" (1980), "Time Enough for Love" (1973) and "To Sail Beyond the Sunset" (1987)

Answer: Abandon him in the woods

"Broken Things" is by G.S. Wright. After Josh's parents abandon him under the pretext of a camping trip to the woods, their only punishment is a "littering ticket" - the android children are simply things, possessions, to be thrown away when they aren't wanted anymore. They go and buy a new child as it is cheaper than it would be to have Josh repaired.

Answer: Dancer

Dierdre's new body is faceless but still beautiful.

Moore's full name was Catherine Lucille; she was published using only her initials for years before it became common knowledge that she was in fact a woman, although she said in interviews that she used her initials not to disguise her gender, but to ensure her "day job" employers didn't find out she was moonlighting as an author. She was one of the pioneering female writers of science fiction and in 1998 she was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Answer: Green skin

We first meet John and his fellow old age pensioner enlistees in John Scalzi's 2005 novel "Old Man's War", and follow their further adventures in the sequels "The Ghost Brigades" and "The Last Colony", published in 2006 and 2007 respectively. The troops' cloned bodies are green so they can photosynthesize if necessary! The book was nominated for a Hugo Award in 2006.

Answer: Monocle

The "Umbrella Academy" comic books are written by Gerard Way, who was formerly the lead singer with rock band My Chemical Romance. The first series, "Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite", was published between 2007 and 2008, with the second series, "Umbrella Academy: Dallas", also arriving in 2008. Fans then had to wait until 2018/19 for series three, "Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion".

Answer: Catskinner

Kdapt-Captain is a Kzin. They are a warlike species and have conquered every race they have ever met, except humans. After his capture and a period of psychological and physical torture, Kdapt-Captain is rescued by humans and, having undergone a religious conversion, changes his name to Kdapt-Preacher. He takes to wearing a mask made of human skin during his religious rites!

The Kzinti first appeared in "The Warriors", published in "Worlds of If" in 1966.