What initially inspired you to get into Fantasy or Science fiction??

I still have Folk of the Faraway Tree, Tales of Long Ago, Rubalong Tales, and Toyland Tales on my shelf.:eek:

I gave hundreds of my books to charity a few years back-most were Enid Blytons.

But those stayed put.:)

She loved tales didn't she our Enid?:D
 
I had an Aunty Enid (Horrible woman!) . . .

(Wonders if he should admit to reading Malory Towers!!!)
 
LOL

Too late, you already did!!

(I was more a twins at st clares reader)

:)
 
daisybee said:
I know-lol, Milady was the best though. :D

Recently remembered my collection of Enid Blyton books-The Magical Faraway Tree was a favourite so that probably sowed a few seeds of interest in magic and stuff as a kid.
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They were the first 'fantasy' books I read as a child. I just loved the feeling of escapism.


I'd have to say, the main introduction into my life as a fan of Sci-fi and Fantasy has to be Star Wars: A New Hope. I watched it every day after school (taped off the telly!) until I could recite it (and the adverts in between!) word for word!

My first ever crush was on Chewbacca! *blushes*
 
When I was approximately five, a childrens' magazine named "Jack And Jill" published serial short stories about Baba Yaga the witch but told from the point of view of her familiar, a wiseacre black cat. The stories were not the classic Russian fables but new (circa 1955) fiction. If my memories haven't played me false, the stories were well written and entertaining. Then in grade school, I discovered childrens' SF and have been a fan ever since.
 
I suppose the first series I ever read was Dragonlance. After reading the first set I moved into all the spin-off storylines. Soon after I was hooked on Terry Brooks's Shannara series, and I think that's really what did it.

Then I couldn't get enough. David Eddings, Piers Anthony, RA Salvatore, anything by Weiss & Hickman, and, of course, Tolkein...it got to the point that I had read every book in our local library--I kid you not. I actually had to go searching through other genres. Oh, the horror!
 
SWfan said:
When I was approximately five, a childrens' magazine named "Jack And Jill" published serial short stories about Baba Yaga the witch but told from the point of view of her familiar, a wiseacre black cat. The stories were not the classic Russian fables but new (circa 1955) fiction.
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I remember those stories! But I don't know if I read those before or after my mother read The Wizard of Oz to me. I don't think I can pinpoint when I first became interested in Fantasy. Maybe from the first time someone read me a fairy tale.
 
I remember them, as well... my first encounter with Baba Yaga, who (along with her hut) has remained a part of my mental landscape ever since.... And, like you, I recall the stories as being rather well-written....
 
nothing special-just got around to it naturaly-sort of an ofshoot form things like Gullivers travells,which has roots of both.
 
I was initially inspired to get into sci-fi by my dad. He has quite the extensive collection and I was always intrigued by them. As for fantasy, I wanted to read the books before LOTR came out in theatre's and then, about a year ago, I was introduced to Dragonlance and fell in love with it. That's basically how the sci-fi & fantasy bugs bit me :p
 
I grew up in new suburbs of Los Angeles in the late 40s and early 50s, and it was blank. Boring architecture, boring big flat valley, boring schools, boring kids (I was the one of the few college-bound kids), nothing at home (drunk mom, emotionally absent dad). So scifi was an escape--gave me the futile hope that I'd been left here by accident & my real parents would come & get me. They had science fiction theater on AM radio at the time--maybe that gave me the first inspiration. And some truly cheesy sci fi shows on TV where the "special effect" was a paralyzing ray gun. Aim, fire, and the guy you shoot freezes. The first CGI I can recall was the id monster in Forbidden Planet--you only saw it when it was illuminated by the humans' rayguns. Apparently Disney's aimators did the monster. Oh, and it had the first electronic music score of any movie. The music would be innovative even today--and really stand out amid all the thundering John Williams and Williams wannabe soundtracks.

For books, a mix of Dr. Doolittle's Adventures and Heinlein's kid stuff, followed by Asimov, Clarke etc.--people with great ideas whose limited writing skills were invisible to the excited kid I was. I especially loved the exobiological stuff like Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity.
 
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I know what got me into reading - when I was 9, my family friend, of the same age, introduced me to Enid Blyton, the British children's author. I took to reading with a passion, and she was my favorite author. Then, somehow or other, I got into fairy tales, and, eventually, Perry Rhodan and the Star Trek novels and, the rest is history.

Reminiscing is always fun.
 
First it was comics, then a comic collecting buddy introduced me to sf books. The first sf novel I read was The Star Kings by Edmond Hamilton and the first short story collection was Asimov's Mysteries (by Asimov of course). I don't remember which I read first but either way I was hooked.:)
 
When I was a kid, Television started at 4 in the afternoon, and we didn't have one anyway. My older sisters used to read 'The Faraway Tree' and 'The Secret Seven' books to us, and my young brain was hooked on Fantasy and Mystery........ Lying in bed aged 16, with bad tonsillitis, I asked my sister to get me a really big book to read: she came back with this funny looking book called 'Dune' by some guy named Frank Herbert...:)
 
Boneman said:
When I was a kid, Television started at 4 in the afternoon, and we didn't have one anyway. My older sisters used to read 'The Faraway Tree' and 'The Secret Seven' books to us, and my young brain was hooked on Fantasy and Mystery........ Lying in bed aged 16, with bad tonsillitis, I asked my sister to get me a really big book to read: she came back with this funny looking book called 'Dune' by some guy named Frank Herbert...:)
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Great intro!:)
 
Aged 12, and an avid reader of anything with an adventure theme ( from Enid Blyton, through the British story comics, Rover and Wizard, to R.L. Stevenson and R. M. Ballantyne), I came across Heinlein's Starman Jones. It inspired me to read every SF story I could find for the next 15 years, although I believe the genre, or myself, began to lose some sparkle by the end of the 70s.
Aged 17, I discovered The Lord of the Rings, and could hardly believe the beauty of the prose, or the magnificent handling, development and merging of the narrative themes. I have read lots of fantasy since, and only Wizard of Earthsea and Gormenghast have come close to having the same impact on me.
If these two enormously different favourites have anything in common, it is a strong and clear narrative structure. Is it my perception, or do storytellers too often forget these days that their first task is to tell a story?
 
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