http://gning.org/skiffy.html
I took the test and got:
Not bad, not bad.
[sub]And oddly encouraging to someone who is currently at work on his first science fiction novel…[/sub]
Alfred Bester
A pyrotechnic talent who put only a small portion of his energy into writing.
I’ve never heard of him… any recommendations?
Gregory Benford
Whoever the hell that is. Haven’t read serious SF in 20 years
I’m William Gibson, which wasn’t a big surprise. 
Gregory Benford
A master literary stylist who is also a working scientist.
Heh?
Who’s Gregory Benford? The name sounds sorta familiar. I guess I’m not much of a science fiction fan any more because I don’t know who he is.
Hal Clement (Harry C. Stubbs)
A quiet and underrated master of “hard science” fiction who, among other things, foresaw integrated circuits back in the 1940s.
What has he written and should I be glad about this?
You must read The Stars My Destination by Bester. It’s really good.
I’m apparently William Gibson. I didn’t know I was quite so punk.
Hal Clement’s best-known novel is the classic Mission of Gravity and Needle. He is the father of hard science fiction – no writer before him really bothered about the detail of science. “Mission of Gravity,” for instance, is set on a planet with variable gravity, and he actually went to the trouble of doing all the math for it. (He made some mistakes, though since he was doing it back in the 40s with a slide rule, that’s forgiven.) He’s also one of the nicest people in the field.
Greg Benford’s best-known novel was Timescape (probably the only SF book to give it’s name to an entire line of SF books) though he’s won Nebula awards. He’s also a hard SF writer, when he’s not teaching physics at University of California, Irvine.
Alfred Bester is author of The Stars My Destination, considered by many to be the best SF book of all time. His The Demolished Man is also a classic and he was also a great short story author, with great stories like “5,721,009,” “Fondly Fahrenheit,” “The Men Who Murdered Muhammed,” and “Adam and No Eve” (one of the few science fiction stories John Updike likes*). Bester was the spiritual father of the New Wave and Cyberpunk movements. Read him; he is one of the greats of the field.
Bester and Clement were both named SFWA grandmasters.
I came up with Philip Jose Farmer. Oddly, my own name doesn’t seem to be in the database.
*He describes approvingly in his novel “Of the Farm.”
Wow. I am a god. I am in awe of my inner demons which led to this:
Now if I could only sell something!
James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice B. Sheldon)
I think I like that.
Wow. Interesting. I got:
Isaac Asimov
Now bow down before me.
Robert A. Heinlein.
I honestly don’t know if this is a compliment or an insult.
Arthur C. Clarke
Well known for nonfiction science writing and for early promotion of the effort toward space travel, his fiction was often grand and visionary.
!!! One of my favourite authors! (I was hoping for Asimov through…)
I got:
That might help to explain why I so recently enjoyed Orwell’s 1984 so much and have recently picked up Huxley’s Brave New World.
I’m delighted to report that I got Mr. Farmer, the same as RealityChuck, which is flattering, considering his status as a b’god actual published [and damn good!] SF writer.
Perhaps there’s hope…
James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice B. Sheldon)
Great. I’m a chick.
I’ve read “The Men Who Murdered Mohammed.” It’s in a Time Travel anthology I’ve got. So I guess I have heard of him, I just didn’t remember his name!
Considering the purpose of the test was to categorize me within the science fiction “field,” I think I’m proud to be categorized as standing outside it.
On the other hand, I don’t know the chap.
Besides his classic work, Harry taught science at the Milton Academy. I got to go on a picnic with him and Asimov when I was in college - Asimov did all the talking of course. Harry is a very nice guy.
I wound up being HG Wells.
