Time for Nerd Jeopardy! (A Literary Trivia Game Show)

Ryan Chapman hosts Nerd Jeopardy, the online literary game show. Tonight Ryan is joined by Tracy O’Neill, author of Quotients, and Matt Gallagher, author of Empire City. This week’s indie spotlight: Brazos Bookstore https://www.brazosbookstore.com/

Special surprise! Tonight’s winner was serenaded with a champion’s anthem by Westin Glass, member of the band Hurry Up.

Next week’s special guests are Edan Lepucki (Mothers Before) and Jazmina Barrera (On Lighthouses)!

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ROUND ONE

Category 1: COLOR ME IMPRESSED

100: Combine Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “Wallpaper” and “So Much” of this from Percival Everett to produce this “Loving” novelist.
[Yellow, Blue, Green]

200: Depending how much of Esi Edugyan’s “Washington” you blend with Wilkie Collins’s “Woman,” you’ll get “Fifty Shades” of this.
[Black, White, Grey]

300: To see what works in Hemione Hoby’s “Daylight,” employ this Bill Clinton roman à clef and ensure it’s like “Everything” in Jonathan Safran Foer’s debut.
[Neon, Primary Colors, Illuminated]

400: One could make a subtle gradient from William Carlos Williams’s “Wheelbarrow”, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Letter,” and Richard P. Hendrick’s “Tide.”
[Red, Scarlet, Crimson]

500: Boris Vian’s “Mood” may get you “closer to fine” with Emma Cline’s novel.
[Indigo, Girls]

Category 2: DON’T READ THE BOOK

100: Alfred Hitchcock bought all the copies of this Robert Bloch novel to preserve the surprise in his film adaptation.
[Psycho]

200: She revised “Wuthering Heights” for its second edition, hoping to make the character Joseph’s Yorkshire dialect more legible to readers.
[Charlotte Bronte]

300: This British writer advised readers to skip “Keep the Aspidistra Flying” and “A Clergyman’s Daughter,” which he only wrote for money.
[George Orwell]

400: CLUE CREW WITH TRACY O’NEILL
She was happy to see her science-fiction novel “Survivor” kept out of print, saying it was “offensive garbage.”
[Octavia Butler]

500: He so detested the reaction to the success of his debut (and its film adaptation) that he spent much of his life dedicated to shark conservation.
[Peter Benchley]

Category 3: POTPOURRI

100: Its title may sound like a Hogwarts class, but this Kelly Link collection has become almost canonical since 2005.
[Magic for Beginners]

200: This word for a poetical unit is also Italian for “room.”
[stanza]

300: JFK started a modern tradition by asking this poet to read at the 1961 inauguration.
[Robert Frost]

400: Her autobiographical novel “Heartburn” details a crumbling marriage with Carl Bernstein.
[Nora Ephron]

500: Everyone’s after a spice with this name in Frank Herbert’s “Dune”; it’s another word for mixture.
[melange]

Category 4: SPACE JAM

100: This Nicole Dennis-Benn novel might be what you hear if your shuttle’s gone off-course. Or if you’re at a Beatles concert.
[Here Comes the Sun]

200: This celestial marvel is primarily composed of ice particles circling the sixth planet in the solar system. Also, a Sebald novel.
[The Rings of Saturn]

300: DAILY DOUBLE
A baker’s dozen of our only natural satellite will get you this Charles Frazier novel.
[Thirteen Moons]

400: This 1990 Shirley Hazzard work is considered a modern classic, titled for the movement of the second planet from the sun.
[The Transit of Venus]

500: Ron Chernow’s biography of John D. Rockefeller Sr. shares its one-word title with this, Saturn’s largest moon.
[Titan]

Category 5: TRILOGIES

100: Ford Madox Ford and Hilary Mantel have both written trilogies featuring this Tudor king.
[Henry VIII]

200: The Last Hundred Years Trilogy, written by this novelist, includes “Some Luck,” “Early Warning,” and “Golden Age.”
[Jane Smiley]

300: His Oresteia plays are the only extant trilogy from ancient Greek theatre.
[Aeschylus]

400: The title of this final work in J. M. Coetzee’s “Jesus” trilogy shows he isn’t afraid of spoilers.
[The Death of Jesus]

500: He fulfilled many authors’ greatest fear when he died one book into his announced Epic of the Wheat trilogy, which started with “The Octopus.”
[Frank Norris]

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ROUND TWO

Category 1: THE DEATH OF PUBLISHING

200: In 2010 “The Independent” asked if agent Andrew Wylie’s direct negotiations with Amazon over this format spelled the death of publishing.
[ebooks]

400: In the 1980s this retailer began printing editions of public domain classics, which publishers worried meant doom for their backlist.
[Barnes & Noble]

600: In the late 1800s some publishers dismissed the rise of nationally distributed general magazines, arguing this method of reaching readers was fundamentally untenable.
[advertising]

800: CLUE CREW WITH MATT GALLAGHER
In 1939 publishers were terrified of Robert de Graff’s plan to issue 25-cent reprints in this format would destroy the industry.
[paperback]

1000: In the late sixteenth century this British royal centralized printing in London, authorizing the Stationers’ Company to destroy rogue, unlicensed presses.
[Elizabeth I]

Category 2: RHYME TIME
200: The poet behind “Magical Negro” may compose with a neon highlighter. She may not. [Parker Marker]

400: DAILY DOUBLE
This poet’s ode to the Brooklyn Bridge is great, but imagine what he could do with the subject of Denis Johnson’s “Dreams”?
[Crane Train]

600: When the author of “Black Leopard, Red Wolf” assigns fault to Judi Dench and Helen Mirren
[James Blames Dames]

800: When the prolific “Census” novelist is caught in a sudden, windy rainstorm and needs to telephone his rescue.
[Ball Squall Call]

1000: When irritating the “Trust Exercise” author is part of your grand scheme.
[Annoy Choi Ploy]

C3: PUNCTUATION!

200: Willa Cather’s Great Plains trilogy, which concluded with “My Ántonia,” started with this exclamatory work.
[O Pioneers!]

400: This “Comma Queen” once wrote, “Among my fellow punctuation nerds, I have a reputation as someone who has no use for semicolons. I don’t hate semicolons; I hate writing about semicolons.”
[Mary Norris]

600: Her story collection “Krik? Krak!” is named for a Haitian call-and-response used to initiate a good storytelling session.
[Edwidge Danticat]

800: His novel, comprised entirely of questions, is appropriately titled “The Interrogative Mood.”
[Padgett Powell]

1000: This Upton Sinclair work from 1927 loosely inspired the film “There Will Be Blood.”
[Oil!]

C4: JUST DESSERTS

200: The pastry chef recommends pairing Nico Walker’s debut with something from “The Goldfinch” novelist.
[Cherry, Tartt]

400: Making crème brûlée? You’ll need a quart of this type of cream–see Kiese Laymon’s memoir–and, for extreme effect, finish with Rachel Kushner’s novel.
[Heavy, The Flamethrowers]

600: For an autumnal treat, try Rainbow Rowell’s “Heads” and Yann Martel’s “Life.”
[Pumpkin, Pi]

800: Heart set on the “There There” author? Take solace in this Jeanette Winterson book from 1985.
[Orange, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit]

1000: For something sweet, take Sandra Cisneros’s “Street,” Karen Russell’s “Grove,” and the subject described by J.R. Moehringer as “Tender.”
[Mango, Lemon, Bar]

Category 5: I ALSO WRITE

200: He wrote his first book, “Hear The Wind Sing,” while running a jazz bar called The Peter Cat.
[Haruki Murakami]

400: Dublin’s first cinema was opened by this writer, but floundered after he left to teach in Europe.
[James Joyce]

600: Twelve years after his military service and a memorable experience in Dresden, this novelist managed one the first Saab dealerships in the U.S.
[Kurt Vonnegut]

800: You might assume this former head of state won the Nobel Peace Prize, he in fact won for the Literature category, in 1953.
[Winston Churchill]

1000: Everyone knows Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner,” but he wasn’t a full-time poet. He made his living through this profession.
[Lawyer/Attorney]

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FINAL JEOPARDY

CATEGORY: CHILDREN’S BOOKS

CLUE: While Benjamin Button is Fitzgerald’s creation, Benjamin Bunny is Potter’s–and cousin to this eponymous character.

[Peter Rabbit]