The History of the Future as Written Quiz

"Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" was created from a challenge issued by Lord Byron on an evening in 1816 when he was reading dark stories and poems with a group of friends (including, of course, Mary). Which of them could craft a better ghost story than what they had just heard?

Mary took up the challenge and produced "Frankenstein", which was first published anonymously in 1818 (and she only 20 years of age at the time).

While the original challenge was to write a story in the horror genre, Mary's inclusion of a scientist choosing to create (reanimate) life through technology and subsequently regretting his choice for the consequences expanded the horror theme to the realm of science fiction.

With the full title "From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes", Verne's 1865 novel spends nearly the whole of the narrative in establishing the means to be able to develop and launch three men towards the moon - namely a gigantic Colombiad (cannon). At the end of the novel, the launch is successful, but the reader doesn't learn whether they actually reach the moon.

That can only be learned by reading Verne's 1869 sequel, "Around the Moon".

The main characters in the two novels appear again in 1889's "The Purchase of the North Pole", again trying to make history by altering the axial tilt of the earth.

"The War of the Worlds" was originally published as a serial in "Pearson's Magazine" in 1897 before being released as a full novel in 1898. The story outlines a Martian invasion of the world, specifically through the eyes of the narrator who lives in England.

Wells wrote the story after being inspired by a discussion with his brother on the impact of British colonialism on native populations - specifically the native Tasmanians that were nearly wiped out by settlers.

"The Lost World", originally published serially in "Strand Magazine" in 1912, is the first of a number of stories by Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the character of Professor Challenger, someone decidedly different from his popular literary detective, Sherlock Holmes. Interestingly, both the Holmes and Challenger characters were based on friends of Doyle's.

In this first Challenger story, an expedition is mounted to prove the existence of a 'lost world' of dinosaurs, as (supposedly) discovered on an expedition led by a colleague, now deceased. In a similar fashion to the Sherlock Holmes stories, which are narrated through the eyes of Dr. John Watson, "The Lost World" is narrated by a reporter named Edward Malone.

The other stories with Professor Challenger are:

"The Poison Belt" (1913 novel)
"The Land of Mist" (1926 novel)
"When the World Screamed" (1928 short story)
"The Disintegration Machine" (1929 short story)

Huxley's dystopian novel "Brave New World" was published in 1932 and was conceived of originally as a parody of certain utopian novels by H.G. Wells. He referred to the story as a 'negative utopia', and sought to portray a very different type of future, feeding on the societal anxieties of the day.

In the story, the 'World State' is highly controlled and everyone fits where they belong, as determined from when they are artificially born and educationally indoctrinated into adulthood. All of this is maintained through the liberal use of a mood-altering drug called 'soma'. This supposed 'utopia' of the World State is challenged when John - a young man from a 'Savage Reservation' - is brought into this controlled world.

George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" is another vision of a dystopian future to make my list, and this one has become more prominent over time as a cautionary tale and through the introduction of such terms as 'Big Brother' and 'doublethink', not to mention using Orwell's name itself as an adjective when describing such literature, ideas or situations.

In "Nineteen Eighty-Four" our world has been divided into three super-states that are always at war with each other in one way or another. The main character (Winston Smith) works in the Ministry of Truth where his job is to change the historical record to reflect the current government line. Smith finds himself dreaming of a different life, and knows that this is 'thoughtcrime' and that he could come under suspicion and the attention of 'Big Brother', who is always watching.

Despite the appearance of choosing a year for the novel's title that was an inversion of 1948 (when it was published), that was not actually the case, as Orwell's manuscript had '1980' and '1982' written on it as well, with both scratched out and leaving his last choice of '1984'. His earlier drafts had an entirely different title: "The Last Man in Europe".

Robert A. Heinlein's idea for "Stranger in a Strange Land" was born in 1948 when he conceived of a sci-fi version of Kipling's "The Jungle Book" where the main character is raised by Martians instead of wolves. He would not publish it until 1961, when he felt that society was ready for it.

The shock value of "Stranger in a Strange Land" is from Heinlein's deliberate efforts to challenge many preconceptions of society, especially as regard religion and sexuality. Set in a post-World War III world, the 'raised by Martians' Michael Valentine Smith comes to Earth and not only discovers and embraces the way of the world, he makes it his own and incorporates his Martian learning and abilities.

"Ringworld" was published in 1970 and is part of a collection of novels and short stories that share a 'Known Space'. And Niven revisited the Ringworld in three sequels, plus an additional five novels (four prequels and another sequel) co-written with Edward M. Lerner.

What is the Ringworld, you ask? It is a gigantic, constructed ring around a star, with the inner surface at just the right distance from the star to support life with conditions similar to those of Earth. The main character, Louis Wu, is given the opportunity to travel to the Ringworld along with various alien companions to ostensibly explore it and determine if it is a threat. Things get complicated when their spaceship crash lands, making a return trip seem unlikely.

Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" first appeared as a short story published in "Analog Science Fiction and Fact" in 1977, and was expanded to novel-length and released in 1985. The novel and its 1986 sequel "Speaker for the Dead" both won the Hugo and Nebula Awards in their respective years - the first time that anyone had won both awards in consecutive years.

In the story, Ender (whose actual name is Andrew Wiggin) is a child who is chosen to join a number of other gifted children in military training to become future leaders in the International Fleet's preparation to carry the fight to the insect-like alien Formics that attacked Earth in the recent past.

Card wrote "Ender's Game" with the express purpose of establishing the character of Ender for the already planned "Speaker for the Dead". Two more sequels were published in 1991 ("Xenocide") and 1996 ("Children of the Mind").

"The Martian" was originally published in 2011 in serial format by Andy Weir on his own blog before it was published as a print novel in 2014. It was Weir's first novel, and when he could not find a publisher to take it on, he published a complete version himself through Amazon Kindle, and its popularity soon got the publisher attention that he wanted.

In the story, astronaut Mark Watney finds himself stranded by himself on Mars when the rest of his team (believing him killed) abandon their landing site during an intense windstorm. They are well on their way back to Earth when the learn that Watney (who has managed to contact Earth) is still alive. While Watney figures out how to survive on Mars, NASA works on trying to rescue him from his predicament.

The book was made into a successful film (starring Matt Damon) that was released in 2015.