# Name That Author!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [May 29, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047 "2008-05-29T18:18:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/1 "2008-05-29T18:18:16Z")
It’s time once again for **Name That!** I haven’t done this for a while, but it’s fun, and I’m gonna do it again.
Following is a list of fictional books and stories and plays — that is, not books _of_ fiction but books mentioned _within_ other media. There are a few ringers in there, just to keep you honest: some real books with fictional authors, for instance.
Try to identify both the fictional author of the book and where the reference comes from.
Naturally, you are encouraged to add your own — and not to Google for the answers.
Death and Taxes
Fast Cars
A Rock and a Hard Place: One Boy’s Triumphant Story
The Lonely Buddha
A Match Made in Space
Edmund: A Butler’s Tale
The Red Book of Westmarch
Samuel’s Castle
The Savage Secret
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Venus on the Half-Shell
Anslem
Babes in Babylon
Deep Six
The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism
Copper Silver Gold: An Indestructible Alloy
Love Hurts
The Corpse Danced at Midnight
Carnovsky
The Adventures of Black Jesus
The Necronomicon
Springtime for Hitler
The Green Enemy
The Courtship of Lord Strathmorlick
---
### Author:  [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/2 "2008-05-29T18:38:43Z")
Death and Taxes-Karen Eiffel from Stranger than fiction
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### Author:  [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/3 "2008-05-29T19:16:01Z")
_Edmund: A Butler’s Tale_
by Edmund Blackadder from the third season of _Blackadder_
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2008, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/4 "2008-05-29T19:24:27Z")
[QUOTE=Fish]
Copper Silver Gold: An Indestructible Alloy
[/QUOTE]
Don’t remember the fictional author, but this is from _Gödel, Escher, Bach_ by Douglas Hofstadter.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/5 "2008-05-29T19:29:36Z")
[QUOTE=Sigmagirl]
_Edmund: A Butler’s Tale_
by Edmund Blackadder from the third season of _Blackadder_
[/QUOTE]
Under the pseudonym Gertrude Perkins.
Death by Double Fault
---
### Author:  [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/6 "2008-05-29T19:40:09Z")
Yes: “Death and Taxes” was by Karen Eiffel, from the movie _Stranger Than Fiction_.
“Edmund: A Butler’s Tale” was E. Blackadder, writing as Gertrude Perkins.
“Copper Silver Gold” is referenced in _Gödel, Escher, Bach_, supposedly written by Egbert B. Gebstadter.
MadtheSwine = 1
Sigmagirl = 1
Robot Arm = 1
Biffy the Elephant Shrew = 1
> [@Still Remaining...](#):
>
> Fast Cars
> A Rock and a Hard Place: One Boy’s Triumphant Story
> The Lonely Buddha
> A Match Made in Space
> The Red Book of Westmarch
> Samuel’s Castle
> The Savage Secret
> The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
> Venus on the Half-Shell
> Anslem
> Babes in Babylon
> Deep Six
> The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism
> Love Hurts
> The Corpse Danced at Midnight
> Carnovsky
> The Adventures of Black Jesus
> The Necronomicon
> Springtime for Hitler
> The Green Enemy
> The Courtship of Lord Strathmorlick
> Death by Double Fault (contributed by Robot Arm)
---
### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/7 "2008-05-29T19:54:31Z")
A match made in space - George McFly
The Red Book - Bilbo and Frodo, with maybe some Sam in the end,.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/8 "2008-05-29T20:01:08Z")
Well, _Venus on the Half Shell_ is of course a real book by the fictional Kilgore Trout. Really written by Philip Jose Farmer, though Trout is a character in Kurt Vonnegut’s books.
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### Author:  [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/9 "2008-05-29T20:01:32Z")
Well I’ll take the two easy ones;
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy but I think the guide was just pulled from diffrent sources in the book
Springtime for Hitler - The Producers written by Franz Libkin (I think) the nazi guy
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### Author:  [@Surok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surok)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/10 "2008-05-29T20:05:03Z")
And I’ll take the other easy one:
Fast Cars is by Paul Sheldon, the hero of Misery, by Stephen King.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/11 "2008-05-29T20:11:16Z")
Then since no one else has, I’ll take the other other easy one: _Necronomicon_ is by the “mad Arab” Abdul Alhazred, and is cited in numerous H.P. Lovecraft stories.
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### Author:  [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/12 "2008-05-29T20:25:18Z")
Yes: “Fast Cars” was a book by Paul Sheldon in Stephen King’s _Misery_.
“A Match Made in Space” was by George McFly in _Back to the Future_.
“The Red Book of Westmarch” was by Bilbo Baggins and others.
“Venus on the Half-Shell” was indeed by Kilgore Trout… sort of.
“The Necronomicon” was by Abdul Alhazred.
“Springtime for Hitler” was the fictional play by Nazi enthusiast Franz Liebkind in _The Producers_.
For points on “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, surely you can name at least one contributor? 🙂
> [@Still Remaining...](#):
>
> A Rock and a Hard Place: One Boy’s Triumphant Story
> The Lonely Buddha
> Samuel’s Castle
> The Savage Secret (hint: the author was a single woman who travels to Columbia)
> The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
> Anslem (hint: the “author” lived on a space station)
> Babes in Babylon
> Deep Six
> The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism
> Love Hurts (hint: the author was the villainess in a movie)
> The Corpse Danced at Midnight (hint: the authoress was also a TV detective)
> Carnovsky
> The Adventures of Black Jesus
> The Green Enemy
> The Courtship of Lord Strathmorlick
> Death by Double Fault (contributed by Robot Arm)
---
### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/13 "2008-05-29T23:05:16Z")
Fish:
> [@](#):
>
> For points on “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, surely you can name at least one contributor?
Ford Prefect.
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### Author:  [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/14 "2008-05-30T00:37:31Z")
I’ll take a stab at:
The Corpse Danced at Midnight, by Jessica Fletcher
ETA: The Savage Secret, by Joan Wilder
Rats. I can name the actress, and the movie, but not the character for Love Hurts. And looking it up would be cheating, dammit…
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/15 "2008-05-30T00:42:10Z")
Here’s one to figure out:
_The Books of Bokonon_
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### Author:  [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/16 "2008-05-30T13:56:34Z")
H2G2 most recently edited by Vann Harl, previously Lig [forgets surname], who is actually the official editor, missing, presumed fed. He may have been sacked when Infinidim Enterprises took over, however, making Vann Harl the editor (rather than acting editor). Other previous incumbents include Stagyar Zil-Doggo, and Roosta may also have written for it, though this is unclear. I don’t think any other contributors are named, apart from the founding editor, whose name also escapes me.
Incidentally, I don’t think Ford Prefect should count; surely he is more likely to have written under the name “Boy who cannot adequately explain what a Hrung is, neither why it should choose chose to collapse on Betelgeuse 7”.
Do I get a point? 🙂
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2008, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/17 "2008-05-30T14:19:08Z")
> [@Fish](#):
>
> The Adventures of Black Jesus
Huey Freeman?
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/18 "2008-05-30T15:51:42Z")
**The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism:** Crap. This was “The Book” in _1984_. Who the hell was the author? Not O’Brien. The “evil” guy who was always the target of the Two Minutes’ Hate. Shit!! It’s on the tip of my tongue. Must. Not. Go. Look. It. Up.
Argh, I can’t stand it. Guess I get only half a point.
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/19 "2008-05-30T15:54:27Z")
OK, I went and looked it up, and at least now I can stop gnashing my teeth. But I’ll let somebody else get the credit for getting it right.
---
### Author:  [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-author/451047/20 "2008-05-30T16:41:14Z")
Yes, Ford Prefect was one of the contributors to the _Guide_… barely.
“The Savage Secret” was one of Joan Wilder’s books in _Romancing the Stone._
“The Corpse Danced at Midnight” was a book by Jessica Fletcher from the TV show “Murder, She Wrote.”
“The Adventures of Black Jesus” is indeed Huey Freeman, from _The Boondocks._
We’ll give a point for **Dead Cat** ’s unnecessarily thorough listing of all the people known to contribute to the Guide. 🙂
> [@Still Remaining...](#):
>
> A Rock and a Hard Place: One Boy’s Triumphant Story
> The Lonely Buddha
> Samuel’s Castle
> Anslem (hint: the “author” lived on a space station)
> Babes in Babylon
> Deep Six
> The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism
> Love Hurts (hint: the author was the villainess in a movie)
> Carnovsky
> The Green Enemy
> The Courtship of Lord Strathmorlick
> Death by Double Fault (contributed by Robot Arm)
> The Books of Bokonon (contributed by IvoryTowerDenizen)
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