# What kind of science fiction writer are you? (Personality test.) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 26, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962 "2003-01-26T02:40:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/1 "2003-01-26T02:40:26Z")
[http://gning.org/skiffy.html](http://gning.org/skiffy.html) I took the test and got: > [@](#): > > Ursula K. LeGuin > Perhaps the most admired writing talent in the science fiction field. Not bad, not bad. [sub]And oddly encouraging to someone who is currently at work on his first science fiction novel…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/2 "2003-01-26T02:54:15Z")
Alfred Bester A pyrotechnic talent who put only a small portion of his energy into writing. I’ve never heard of him… any recommendations? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/3 "2003-01-26T02:55:13Z")
Gregory Benford Whoever the hell that is. Haven’t read serious SF in 20 years ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/4 "2003-01-26T03:03:18Z")
I’m William Gibson, which wasn’t a big surprise. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/5 "2003-01-26T03:07:01Z")
Gregory Benford A master literary stylist who is also a working scientist. Heh? ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/6 "2003-01-26T03:08:43Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Anubis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Anubis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anubis)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/7 "2003-01-26T03:11:33Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Glassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Glassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glassy)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/8 "2003-01-26T03:22:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Silentgoldfish \* > \*\*Alfred Bester > A pyrotechnic talent who put only a small portion of his energy into writing. > > I’ve never heard of him… any recommendations? \*\* 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. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/9 "2003-01-26T03:33:11Z")
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.” ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/10 "2003-01-26T03:45:47Z")
Wow. I am a god. I am in awe of my inner demons which led to this: > [@](#): > > You are: > > H.G. Wells > The first major literary talent to make himself at home in the science fiction field, greatly expanding its popularity. > > (Sorry about the lack of suitable pictures.) Now if I could only sell something! ---
**Author:** ![peri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@peri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peri)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/11 "2003-01-26T03:47:27Z")
James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice B. Sheldon) I think I like that. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/12 "2003-01-26T04:13:29Z")
Wow. Interesting. I got: **Isaac Asimov** Now bow down before me. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/13 "2003-01-26T04:20:16Z")
**Robert A. Heinlein**. I honestly don’t know if this is a compliment or an insult. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/14 "2003-01-26T04:31:12Z")
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…) ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/15 "2003-01-26T04:32:52Z")
I got: > [@](#): > > John Brunner > His best known works are dystopias – vivid realizations of the futures we want to avoid. 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**. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/16 "2003-01-26T04:52:13Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/17 "2003-01-26T04:53:20Z")
**James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice B. Sheldon)** Great. I’m a chick. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/18 "2003-01-26T05:07:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > \*\* > > 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’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! ---
**Author:** ![substatique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@substatique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/substatique)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/19 "2003-01-26T05:07:56Z")
> [@](#): > > **Olaf Stapledon** > Standing outside the science fiction “field”, he wrote fictional explorations of the futures of whole species and galaxies. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962/20 "2003-01-26T05:30:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anubis \* > \*\*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? \*\* 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. 😕 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-science-fiction-writer-are-you-personality-test/150962.md?page=2)