late bloomers

[Cloud]

Do think it's common--or even possible--for someone to suddenly become a fan of SF or F late in life without a foundation of early exposure? I'm probably talking about serious fans and readers (like us); I know most people can't escape casual familiarity with SF through film and TV.

I got to thinking after reading some of the comments about E.E. "Doc" Smith's "Lensman" series, which many people have read and enjoyed (including me) but now regard as unsophisticated and juvenile. I certainly started my journey into SF/F fandom at an early age (also see the "earliest SF memory" thread.) I'm just wondering if it just kind of grows with one.

 

[Loner]

I think its possible, but not common.
I can't think of a single example from my own experience. All of my sci-fi loving friends have enjoyed it since childhood.

 

[j d worthington]

I'd tend to agree... I've seen it happen, but most of the times I've encountered or read people describing their experience with it, they've grown up with it. I've encountered a few that didn't, but who fell in love with the field, though.

Interestingly enough, in light of the comments about Doc Smith... I have a friend who had only read scattered pieces of sf most of his life, in the way of his heterogeneous reading (he preferred either the classics or modern European -- specifically German and French -- literature) ... and my mentioning Smith got him curious about those... and he quite enjoyed them, in his late 20s... I think he likes the older style of writing, and I know he has developed a taste for the old pulp hounds; so it's definitely possible.

 

[Nesacat]

It's absolutely possible. I know of several people who only started reading SFF as adults. Two of them I introduced to the genre a few years ago and now they are quite hooked. They are both my age and I'm 37 now.

I think there are many such people here at least if only because SFF has only very recently started making it's presence felt in the bookstores. Most of those I know who started reading it from childhood had an external source books and then went abroad to study. In my case the books came from relatives abroad and a mother who loved myth and always said that dragons did in fact exist.

 

[Cloud]

Great for those older readers who have taken it up!

I disagree with your statement that SFF has only recently made its presence in bookstores, though. You haven't been shopping in the same stores as I have, I guess.

 

[BookStop]

My only exposure to sci-fi, before I married a sf fanatic, were the Star Wars movies. It's really only very recently that I've been reading sf and fantasy. My husband had been bugging me for years and years to read some of his books. I didn't really relent until he wrote one himself, then I had to read to read it to show my support and all. It was quite exciting and entertaining and I now read sci-fi or fantasy all the time.

 

[Sharukem]

Do think it's common--or even possible--for someone to suddenly become a fan of SF or F late in life without a foundation of early exposure? I'm probably talking about serious fans and readers (like us); I know most people can't escape casual familiarity with SF through film and TV.

I got to thinking after reading some of the comments about E.E. "Doc" Smith's "Lensman" series, which many people have read and enjoyed (including me) but now regard as unsophisticated and juvenile. I certainly started my journey into SF/F fandom at an early age (also see the "earliest SF memory" thread.) I'm just wondering if it just kind of grows with one.

it is very possible and becoming more common among the new of of children. but the more common it becomes the more adn more the authors have to come up with which could be very strenuois for the new sf/f writers.

 

[steve12553]

It's absolutely possible. I know of several people who only started reading SFF as adults. Two of them I introduced to the genre a few years ago and now they are quite hooked. They are both my age and I'm 37 now.

You're still a child. J/K There are so many classics that laid the Foundation (pun intended) for Science Fiction, I feel it would be hard to ever get up to speed but then you always have the rest of your life to try. I do also think you've really missed part of it if you don't start with the early classics or at least go back and pick them up.

 

[WhiteCrowUK]

I think typically sci-fi is something which is associated with childhood and in general it's something which people are expected to grow out of.

Possibly part of this is the fact that children have no limits to their imagination, and the same goes for good sci-fi, there should be no limits. As we get older we seem to naturally straight-jacket our imagination.

That said I see no reason why someone might not get into it at a later age. We all somewhere in our life if we're open enough will experience a Road to Damascus event where we somehow see the world and our life a little differently.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Steve I do disagree with you there, some of the older one's were good some were utter dross,read what you want to read and if through reconmendations or serendipity something grabs your fancy read it, but by no means stipulate that all the older classics must be read, that is of course my opinion,but there again I have only been reading the goodies for around 45 years.

 

[Dirthouse]

Do think it's common--or even possible--for someone to suddenly become a fan of SF or F late in life without a foundation of early exposure? I'm probably talking about serious fans and readers (like us); I know most people can't escape casual familiarity with SF through film and TV.

I got to thinking after reading some of the comments about E.E. "Doc" Smith's "Lensman" series, which many people have read and enjoyed (including me) but now regard as unsophisticated and juvenile. I certainly started my journey into SF/F fandom at an early age (also see the "earliest SF memory" thread.) I'm just wondering if it just kind of grows with one.

I can say its definately possible, but SF is something that people would get into(and decide their oppinion) early in life, probably in their teens... so it wouldn't be the most common thing. peoples tastes change, much like many may eventually "grow out" of such book and film genres...

 

[dustinzgirl]

I'm very slowly rubbing off on my hubby, who actually is watching some sci fi shows with me, like BSG and stuff. I doubt he will ever be a fan, but at least he shows some interest.....or perhaps that is because he is tired of hearing:
I HAVE TO SIT THROUGH HOURS OF RACING, so you can sit through hours of my shows.....

lol......

 

[Dirthouse]

CL is a champ, theres nothing wrong with NASCAR!!!!

 

[WhiteCrowUK]

I'm very slowly rubbing off on my hubby, who actually is watching some sci fi shows with me, like BSG and stuff.

Oh good luck there - my other half tried to watch that with me and the conversation went like this ...

Who's she?

She's a cylon

I thought they looked more like robots with a swishy eye

They still do but some of them look human now

Wait a second, she was on a ship a minute ago, now she's on a planet???

No thats a clone, she has a load of look a likes.

This is rubbish

 

[Loner]

That's pretty funny, Whitecrow!
I think BSG is an example of bad sci-fi. I tried to watch it when it started but gave up after the first episode. Same with Jericho.
If it takes too much explanation and there is little focus on realistic characters it's hard for non-fans to get attached.

Buffy is an example of a show that got some non-sci-fi people interested in fantasy and sci-fi. Well written. A good balance of characters and plot/action.

 

[SpaceShip]

I don't suppose I started to read anything seriously until I finished school and then it became a pleasure to read whatever I wanted simply because I didn't have to. Fantasy has always been top of my list although my reading covers a large spectrum. I expect fantasy, though, together with SF, didn't really stick its claws into me until my two sons reached the ages of 10 and 12 - then we all got hooked and thus got good value out of our books as they were read by all of us from Hitchhikers, through HG Wells to SK. However, we were all agreed that it had to be believed that whatever we were reading could possibly, if not actually, really happen - otherwise how could you possibly allow the hair to rise at the back of your neck or have to sit on your hands in case you chewed your nails down to the quick, unless you knew that whatever it was you were seeing in your mind wasn't actually waiting behind that door to get you?

 

[SpaceShip]

That's pretty funny, Whitecrow!
If it takes too much explanation and there is little focus on realistic characters it's hard for non-fans to get attached.

How funny Loner - we were thinking the same thing at the same time!

 

[Loner]

- otherwise how could you possibly allow the hair to rise at the back of your neck ... unless you knew that whatever it was you were seeing in your mind wasn't actually waiting behind that door to get you?

This will sound funny to some but I had that reaction to the book Jurassic Park! Not the movie, that was naff. But the book really made me believe that eventually genes of dinosaurs could be recreated if the money and organisation could be obtained by someone crazy enough to pull it off.
And - SPOILER ALERT - in the book a few dinosaurs inevitably escape the island and start to populate the earth.
For weeks afterwards I was convinced that every rustle in the bushes was a compsognathus or raptor come to get me!
(Well you know, not really but it made me wonder - which is what good sci-fi should do!)

 

[WhiteCrowUK]

I think BSG is an example of bad sci-fi. I tried to watch it when it started but gave up after the first episode. Same with Jericho.
If it takes too much explanation and there is little focus on realistic characters it's hard for non-fans to get attached.

I think it's a great show, but you're right, not really very sci-fi. I love the retro technology feel of the show.

It's a very earnest show and a very dark one. Sometimes I find I cannot watch it because I'm not up to feeling THAT depressed.

You know sometimes it's nice to have sci-fi which is just a bit of fun!

 

[Nesacat]

I disagree with your statement that SFF has only recently made its presence in bookstores, though. You haven't been shopping in the same stores as I have, I guess.

The bookstores here have been very slow in according this genre space. I remember being very, very surprised when I first went to a bookstore in India and then in the UK where there were whole aisles devoted to the genre.

It's slowly coming into its own here though especially with the opening of Kinokuniya which devoted whole sections to Fantasy, Sci Fi, Horror and Graphic Novels. Borders, which just came here has done the same and the other stores have followed suit.

I see more and more people in the SFF section now including parents with children; something which had not been present even five years ago. Local reviewers are also beginning to do reviews of SFF books and newspapers/magazines and devoting sections to the genre.