Which book got you started on science fiction/fantasy?

[K. Riehl]

I was handed two books when I was nine years old. The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology and Triad by Van Vogt. Triad contained Slan, World of Null-A, and Voyage of the Space Beagle. I'll always have a soft spot for the gee-whiz, sense of wonder books published in the 40's and 50's.

 

[Osprey]

Lord of the Rings was my first real fantasy book. Read it when I was in early high school probably 13 or 14 at the time. Was hooked on it for a while and read all of his works. Wasn't a huge reader in high school after that. Once I moved out of home at the start of last year I started to read large amounts. Since LotR I have been slowly making my way through authors that I have heard good things about on the net and amongst people I know.

 

[aarti]

I don't know if I remember, exactly. I think it might have been Caroline Stevermer's Dealing with Dragons. Or, at least, that's the one that stands out most in my mind.

Does The Phantom Tollbooth count as fantasy? If so, then that might actualy be my first. Both are still well-loved by me, though!

 

[HoopyFrood]

Blimey...well I suppose, seems the question is nwhat got me started on sf/f it would have to be The Hobbit, as this, of course, ultimately led me onto The Lord of the Rings and then just branching out from there. Although it's only since joining this site becoming aware of the well known sf/f writers that I've started on the things like Terry Pratchett's Discworld and some of H.P Lovecraft's work.

 

[TheGuyverUnit]

Hello folks. As I am new here be gentle with me. I remember my first sci fi book was called Talon or had Talon in the title, but that was many eons ago and I can hardly remember what it was about. Wyrd Sisters got me hooked on Terry Pratchett, it was a book my sister leant me. I found him very comical. Mostly on sci fi though I just read the compilation books I do not have a specific author, I think sci fi is harder to get into.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Although not liking the Hobbit is an offense punishable by booking (like stoning but with books), mice are exempt.

(punishable by booking)that made me chuckle Like it.

 

[tonic]

Harry Potter...cliched but true.

 

[Allegra]

Snow White and Pinochio, when I was, eh, 5? Aren't all the fairy tales childresn's fantasy? Isn't it how we all started? Then on the way of growing up I became more and more interested in other things - tried the Lord of the Rings but couldn't finish it. Guess I'm just not a serious epic reader. Then much later, one day I read my 1st Terry Pratchett - The Fifth Elephant and decided that's my type of fantasy. I think I started from there and discovered some authors and books of that sort, more or less, and got hooked.

 

[steve12553]

Snow White and Pinochio, when I was, eh, 5? Aren't all the fairy tales childresn's fantasy? Isn't it how we all started?

I think most people outgrow those two, but some of us wonder if the peoples of the seven dwarves ever fought a war with the peoples of Rumplestiltskin and become Fantasy readers and others wonder whether Pinochio's affliction was a genetic mutation or caused by toxic waste and become Science Fiction readers.

 

[Locksmith]

Like a couple of others, it was Redwall by Brian Jacques that got me started. Great series that really captured my imagination.

And then The Hobbit (although I still don't "get" LOTR <<ducks>>).

 

[jackokent]

Yeah after making that comment, I went all Wikipedia on his ass. He seems to write something every ten years. His last book was in 2003. I shall, with all the determination of a ham sandwich on a dusty day, seek it out.

I don't know what else he's written but Owl Service, Elidor, the Wierd Stone of Brisslington and the Moon of Gomrath were totally brilliant. I'd highly recommend all of these if you've not read them.

 

[Curt Chiarelli]

Although my childhood movie-viewing habits were comprised entirely of science fiction/fantasy/horror and historical adventure films (Ray Harryhausen, Willis O'Brien, Boris Karloff, Charlton Heston, Michael Curtiz, Franklin Schaffner, etc.) and certainly indicated a strong affinity for imaginative fiction, the book that permanently warped my consciousness with shattering impact was The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. This gracious accident of Fate would later have serious repercussions on my future and colour my decision to foresake a career in science for that of a commercial artist.

I read it when I was 11 and immediately launched into the Rings Trilogy, thus cementing my postion in my hometown as the resident, certifiable Tolkien fanatic (why the DSM IV doesn't categorize this as a variety of obsessive-compulsive disorder is beyond my understanding).

Next, I read Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End by the time I was 13. Reeling from that devastating one-two knockout punch and late in my 14th year I read H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth which sent me spinning over the edge, sealing my fate forever as a purveyor of the weird and wondrous.

 

[Frozeninja]

Hmmm... I think for me it was LOTR followed by the Wheel of Time, which I picked up on the recommendation from a friend a couple of years ago.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Like a couple of others, it was Redwall by Brian Jacques that got me started. Great series that really captured my imagination.

And then The Hobbit (although I still don't "get" LOTR <<ducks>>).

I don't remember any ducks in LOTR Ki
Oh and the books early on the fairy tales then greek myths, arabian nights etc E.Burroughs Barsoom series and lots of fantasy since with a few science novels thrown in.

 

[Teir]

The works of Enid Blyton when I was younger...then prob the Hobbit

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Probably the stories of a guy called Douglas Hill, in particular his "Last Legionary" and "Colsec" series.
I remember reading all his stories in my local library in about a week and then about a month later I actually learned that he was touring my area and would be having a sit down chat in my library. I got to meet him, discuss his books and even write to him off & on for a few months later.
Although in all honesty, it was probably mythology books which I first read and enjoyed but they were in the "non-fiction" section so that's my reasoning

 

[bryanspellman]

I read my father's copy of LOTR, I also read a lot of comics as a youngster and that opened my eyes to other works of literature......

My first Sci-fi was probably Doc Savage or something by Ray Bradbury.

edit: come to think of it, Day of the Triffird(sp?) was serialized in the back of Boy's Life so that was the first Sci-Fi I read......

 

[Pointfinder]

The Hobbit and then LOR

 

[ScottSF]

Notice how many people can't just name one book? For me also it's like pebbles starting an avalanche. For Fantasy I read Prince Caspian And Sci-fi Nor Crystal Tears by A.D. Foster before the age of 11 but I really wasn't a reader yet. I was like many American kids who just didn't read.

So the pebble that got the bigger rocks to start falling wasn't even close to my favorite but I was heavy into comic books when my local shop started putting some novels on the shelves in one area and I saw this book with the coolest cover. Now it took me a while to track it down and when I saw the cover my sides were in pain from laughter because the cover didn't look as cool as I remembered it. So the book was called Fool's Run by Patricia McKillip and just the fact that it went deeper than all the comics I was reading got me hooked. A few books later led me to John Varley and his short story collection Persistance of Vision was the life changer but I might have never got there without Fool's Run.

 

[Telperaca]

The Hobbit and then *LOR

*LotR

Hey, it was the EXACT same for me! I'd watched the LotR movies, and I really liked the first one (though I must say, I was very confused at that point)... and my brother pointed me to The Hobbit (only because he was reading LotR at that point and he didn't want to share...)
I think after finishing LotR, that's when I got into reading itself. Reading for fun! And I love it!
And that's the say I became very 'sad' - because I prefer book shopping rather than clothes/shoe shopping!