One of the little quizzes popular online this past week was “Which SF Writer Are You?” I noticed various people posting their responses, took the quiz (I was Arthur C. Clarke), and didn’t think any more about it until I came across this post by SF writer Kathryn Cramer. Apparently the quiz said she was Gregory Benford. She then found out from Cory Doctorow that the quiz had informed Benford that he was Arthur C. Clarke. (It told Doctorow that he was Robert Heinlein.)
This is clearly the problem with creating a quiz that that refers to real, live people. Much safer to play “Which Star Trek Character Are You?”
BTW, Neil Gaiman, who took the SF quiz some years back, turned out to be Samuel R. Delany. I just struggled my way through Delany’s Dhalgren, and all I can say is “Arggh.”