1. Which nation does Bill Masen blame for the rise of the triffids, in John Wyndham’s vision of the plant-driven apocalypse?

   1. America

   2. Russia

   3. Iraq

   4. Germany

2. How does Gordon make ends meet as he drifts across David Brin’s devastated America in The Postman?

   1. Is a gun for hire

   2. Teaches reading - he carries a cache of ancient picture books - to ragged children

   3. Sells seeds, chickens and lumber

   4. Acts out Shakespeare

3. What causes the world to flood in Stephen Baxter’s aptly-titled Flood?

   1. Seismic activity breaks giant underground reservoirs open

   2. The polar ice caps melt It rains for 40 days and 40 nights

   3. A meteor crashes in to North America and the sea rushes in

4. Where do survivors seek refuge in Stephen King’s The Stand?

   1. New Orleans

   2. Salem’s Lot

   3. Derry

   4. Boulder

5. What are the names of the old couple who suffer from radiation sickness in the graphic novel When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs?

   1. Alan and Nicky Baxter

   2. Alfred and Annie Fletcher

   3. Jim and Hilda Bloggs

   4. Tom and Agatha Williams

6. Which post-apocalyptic novel is the following quote taken from? "He scans the horizon, using his one sunglassed eye: nothing. The sea is hot metal, the sky a bleached blue, except for the hole burnt in it by the sun. Everything is so empty. Water, sand, sky, trees, fragments of past time. Nobody to hear him."

   1. The Death of Grass by John Christopher

   2. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

   3. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

   4. The Children of Men by PD James

7. Which novel is often identified as the first post-apocalyptic science fiction tale?

   1. Mary Shelley’s The Last Man

   2. The Time Machine by HG Wells

   3. After London by Richard Jefferies

   4. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

8. “I had a dream, which was not all a dream. The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars Did wander darkling in the eternal space, Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air; Morn came and went - and came, and brought no day, And men forgot their passions in the dread Of this their desolation”. Wrote who?

   1. Shelley

   2. Keats

   3. Byron

   4. Wordsworth

9. In which of the following post-apocalyptic novels is earth NOT the victim of nuclear holocaust?

   1. Z for Zachariah by Robert C O’Brien

   2. Cell by Stephen King

   3. On the Beach by Nevil Shute

   4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick

10. From where do the world-destroying vampires originate in Justin Cronin’s The Passage?

    1. Beneath the Antarctic ice

    2. The jungles of Bolivia

    3. They are created in a lab

    4. A virus

Solutions

1:B, 2:D, 3:A, 4:D, 5:C, 6:C, 7:A, 8:C, 9:B, 10:B

Scores

1. 2 and above.

   Bad luck. The apocalypse is coming, and judging from your performance here, you're not going to make it past page three

2. 5 and above.

   You're not dead yet, but that killer dose of radiation will most likely see you off within a couple of pages

3. 8 and above.

   You've got staying power, but the odds are against you - chances are you'll limp on to the final pages and then die tragically. Chin up!

4. 10 and above.

   You're a survivor! Now grab a couple of tins of baked beans and head for somewhere lead-lined