Q 01/05

Which 1920 Czech play gave the world the word 'robot'?

A) The Insect Play

B) Krakatit

C) The Makropulos Affair

D) R.U.R.

Answer · why

D) R.U.R.

R.U.R. stands for Rossum's Universal Robots; written in 1920, the play had its first performance in Hradec Králové in January 1921, weeks before the P...

Q 02/05

Who wrote the 1920 play that introduced the word 'robot'?

A) Yevgeny Zamyatin

B) Stanislaw Lem

C) Karel Capek

D) Franz Kafka

Answer · why

C) Karel Capek

Karel Capek wrote the play in 1920; his brother Josef suggested the word roboti, from the Czech robota meaning forced labour, after Karel had first co...

Q 03/05

Which 1984 novel put the word 'cyberspace' in front of a wide audience?

A) Neuromancer

B) The Difference Engine

C) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

D) Snow Crash

Answer · why

A) Neuromancer

William Gibson had already used the word in his 1981 short story 'Burning Chrome'.

Q 04/05

Which trio of awards did William Gibson's debut novel win?

A) It sold more than any debut novel

B) It has never once been out of print

C) It won the Hugo, Nebula and Dick awards

D) It was the first novel written on a word processor

Answer · why

C) It won the Hugo, Nebula and Dick awards

Neuromancer took the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick awards, a first for a debut; it was released with no fanfare and spread by word of mouth.

Q 05/05

William Gibson's 1984 debut opens which sequence of novels?

A) The Mars trilogy

B) The Culture trilogy

C) The Bridge trilogy

D) The Sprawl trilogy

Answer · why

D) The Sprawl trilogy

Gibson's debut opened the Sprawl trilogy, named for the Boston-Atlanta urban sprawl of its setting; Count Zero followed in 1986 and Mona Lisa Overdriv...