Which book got you started on science fiction/fantasy?

Pretty sure it was Tom Swift and his Spectromarine Selector. That was circa 50 years ago when I was 8, so my memory on that could be a trifle unreliable.
 
I have to say that Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind got me wrapped up in the ufology subject like nobody's business. I was a surprisingly good little book, as I enjoyed the style-voice very much, and it did have a certain tension about it.

chris
 
Mouse said:
The Redwall books by Brian Jacques. Do they count as fantasy?!
I read the Hobbit when I was little and didn't like it! *ducks flying objects*
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman got me back into it more recently though.
Click to expand...

Yes they count as fantasy! how could they not?

I started with The Hobbit, the Redwall books (which I will still read from time to time, especially the earlier ones), and LOTR.

Interestingly enough, I'm mainly a Sci-fi guy now, and haven't ever really written anything other than Space Opera and some post apocalyptic stuff.

EDIT: WOW that was an old post. Thread necromancy alert! :)
 
Tolkien and the Redwall books got me started on fantasy I believe, back in the early nineties. I think probably Hitchhiker's Guide got me started on SF, but I'm a little hazy on that.
 
My first SF book was Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy(nomadman come on stop copiying me;)

Which i thought was so funny, weird SF future. After that i read Foundation and i was made in SF fan that i am today.

David Gemmell's Sword in the Storm first Rigante book with the hero called Connavar was my first fantasy that was good. I read Salvatore and thought fantasy was crap before Gemmell. I was clueless then about SFF.

I joined SFF chrons when i finished Gemmell book so my birth as SFF fan you can count since i joined here. I read those books 2006-2007.
 
Galacticdefender said:
Yes they count as fantasy! how could they not?

I started with The Hobbit, the Redwall books (which I will still read from time to time, especially the earlier ones), and LOTR.

Interestingly enough, I'm mainly a Sci-fi guy now, and haven't ever really written anything other than Space Opera and some post apocalyptic stuff.

EDIT: WOW that was an old post. Thread necromancy alert! :)
Click to expand...

Indeed! I first posted that back in '06! My answer's still the same. ;)
 
I have always been more of a fantasy person rather than a SF person, unless it has anything to do with Time Travel which fascinates me! I have to say the book that got me into writing was The Hobbit and the LotR books. Also, Harry Potter had a huge influence on me when I was younger :)
 
I read HP 1-4 first, but I still have to say it was Lotr that hooked me to the genre.
 
I would have to say Brian Jacques Redwall books. I read them all as a kid! But after that, moving into more adult fantasy, it was definitely Magician by Raymond E Feist, as others have already said. I tried to read The Silmarillion when I was twelve and I couldn't cope :p
 
RobL said:
I tried to read The Silmarillion when I was twelve and I couldn't cope :p
Click to expand...

BAAAAAD place to start Tolkien, though admittedly, that's what I did when I was 14. He is definitely one to read "in order of publication":

1. The Hobbit
2. LOTR
3. Silmarillion (if you loved The Hobbit and LOTR)
4. Unfinished Tales
5. Children of Hurin (damn, that's a tragic tale worthy of Wagner!)
6. History of Middle Earth (all 12 volumes, for serious fans and scholars only).
 
My first taste was The Wonderfull Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron when I was 6,7,8 or so and then I stumbled on Asimov and Heinlein when I could not find anything else to read in the children's section of the library and was allowed to go up to the adult section. They had a limit of 6 books on check out and every Saturday I would accompany my mother who worked a couple of blocks from the library and I would turn in 6 and take out another 6. How little we appreciate time when we are children.:)
 
Technically it would be Green Eggs and Ham, but in true fantasy it was Rage of a Demon King by Fiest.

Saw it in high school at the library, didn't realise it was the 3rd of a series but the cover was awesome so I got it. I remember having the book on my desk and the girls were shocked at how big it was. Laughable when thinking back on that and how it was considered a huge book.
 
My older brother had lots of science fiction paper backs, I would have to say The Lord of the Rings is what really got me into science fiction/fantasy.
 
Not one book, but a series of books designed for young readers that I could check out of my local library branch as a pre-teen. I couldn't begin to tell you who the authors were or even what they were really about. But the inside of the hardbound covers had illustrations of space ships, robots and people in space suits. Definitely juvenile space opera. I've only seen one copy in my adult years (and I'm pretty old) and it was for sale at an exorbitant price at an antiquarian bookstore in Oregon.

OTOH, I was also able to check out John Campbell's Who Goes There from the same library at about the same time. And that definitely left an impression.
 
Cayal said:
Technically it would be Green Eggs and Ham, but in true fantasy it was Rage of a Demon King by Fiest.

Saw it in high school at the library, didn't realise it was the 3rd of a series but the cover was awesome so I got it. I remember having the book on my desk and the girls were shocked at how big it was. Laughable when thinking back on that and how it was considered a huge book.
Click to expand...

I remember a time when I thought The Hobbit looked like a big book, and it's a fraction of the size of Rage of a Demon King let alone the really long fantasy novels.
 
clovis-man said:
Not one book, but a series of books designed for young readers that I could check out of my local library branch as a pre-teen. I couldn't begin to tell you who the authors were or even what they were really about. But the inside of the hardbound covers had illustrations of space ships, robots and people in space suits. Definitely juvenile space opera. I've only seen one copy in my adult years (and I'm pretty old) and it was for sale at an exorbitant price at an antiquarian bookstore in Oregon.
Click to expand...


Poor form to quote myself, but I figured out what the series of books is. It's the Winston Science Fiction set that consisted of 35 different titles geared for younger readers by authors such as Arthur C. Clarke, Lester Del Rey, Jack Vance, Poul Anderson, Milton Lesser, etc. And I also found the illustration on the inside cover that captivated me so much:

clovis-man-albums-sf-covers-picture1321-winston-endpaper.jpg


How could I not read these at the age of 12?!!
 
clovis-man said:
And I also found the illustration on the inside cover that captivated me so much:How could I not read these at the age of 12?!!
Click to expand...

Indeed. That art connected with much indeed that I longed for! The Coos Bay, Oregon, public library had a few sf novels in its children's section, and one of them was Wollheim's Secret of the Ninth Planet, with the opening about the dreadful sun-tap stations. I was gone....
111978.jpg

The very look of the title lettering got to me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
D How do you choose the book or movie? Book Discussion 6
I I've started writing a series of books, would you read it, based on this premise Writing Discussion 14
S Hi all, so I just started writing a book and... Writing Discussion 13
P One book to get started Book Discussion 58
G I just started reading Douglas Adams books Book Discussion 1

Similar threads


Back
Top