Your first SciFi/fantasy book

[tobl]

justed noticed it was syfy or fantasy...so, do walt dysney books count? i love donald duck, scrooge...

 

[asp3]

It was probably one of the Danny Dunn books. I used to enjoy those as a kid.

The first fantasy book I heard was The Hobbit because my 6th grade teacher read it to the class. Of course before that I had probably heard several fantasy stories with dragons and knights etc...

I'm not sure what the first adult science fiction book I read was. It was probably a collection of short stories because I preferred them to novels. It was probably 1984 because that is one I had to read for school. For my own chosen reading I'm still unsure of what it would be.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Must have been aged 10 or so in the late 60s reading my Dad's old Galaxy and Worlds of If magazines. I can't remember the first story I read but Four in One by Damon Knight stuck with me as did The War against the Yukks by Keith Laumer. The first novels I remember reading were the Robert Heinlein juvies.

 

[Parson]

Almost certainly one of Heinlein's "Space Cadet"? But I read Jules Verne very young as well. The truth is, I don't remember a time when I wasn't reading S.F. --- Fantasy? My first was "The Hobbit" and that was when I was an older adult.

 

[Mon0Zer0]

Planet of Death by Fred and Geoffrey Hoyle.

I remember absolutely nothing about it other than the cover and the fact I think my parents got it for me from the Co-op along with a Bleep and Booster book. I must have been six years old maybe?

 

[Elckerlyc]

I don't really know for certain, but I guess it was Jules Verne. If so, probably Journey to the Center of the Earth.
I remember the library had a whole shelf dedicated to his works.

 

[tobl]

I don't really know for certain, but I guess it was Jules Verne. If so, probably Journey to the Center of the Earth.
I remember the library had a whole shelf dedicated to his works.

good library

 

[Bick]

Asimov's Foundation, it belonged to a cousin and there was a picture of a spaceship that looked like a huge steel mackrel in space -that was the hook ...good thread

I wonder if your memory is playing tricks on you - I'm not sure any edition of Foundation has ever had a big steel spaceship on the cover. There are a number of small steel ships on the cover of the 1951 Gnome first edition (1951) but that's pretty rare and old. Possibly it was the Ballantine trilogy PB from 1983, but it doesn't sound like it either.

 

[AnRoinnUltra]

I wonder if your memory is playing tricks on you - I'm not sure any edition of Foundation has ever had a big steel spaceship on the cover. There are a number of small steel ships on the cover of the 1951 Gnome first edition (1951) but that's pretty rare and old. Possibly it was the Ballantine trilogy PB from 1983, but it doesn't sound like it either.

It's definitely possible that I imagined it, but it has stuck in my head for decades (I could even draw a rough copy from memory); there is a small chance the book is still doing the rounds, will do a bit of investigating and report back!

 

[AnRoinnUltra]

I wonder if your memory is playing tricks on you

The book has floated off, a good sign for the story but not good for my memory -an internet search is throwing up Chris Foss's cover art to the '76 Panther edition of Second Foundation, which must be the book I read; I went on to read all the Asimov I could find so have probably confuddled it with Foundation over the years (dunno how that ever looked like a mackrel, simpler times!).

 

[Parson]

Hm, I think I can see a bit of a mackrel shape in that ship. ---- The new Foundation mini -series on Disney Plus has some ship that are very different from that and from most others.

And then there's the books

 

[Vince W]

I love Chris Foss' artwork.

 

[BAYLOR]

The earliest that I can remember is Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury under science fiction.

Under fantasy and just before I read Howard, I read Lord Foul Bane by Stephen Donaldson and found it to be a slog of read. I re-read it years later enjoyed it more.

 

[Rodders]

I adore book covers that go across the series. That foundation set is gorgeous.

 

[hitmouse]

The earliest that I can remember is Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury under science fiction.

Under fantasy and just before I read Howard, I read Lord Foul Bane by Stephen Donaldson and found it to be a slog of read. I re-read it years later enjoyed it more.

Did you start with the 3rd of the Thomas Covenant books? No wonder it was a slog. Bad enough if you start at the beginning.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Rodomante's Revenge by Gary Paulsen

 

[Astro Pen]

As a child in school Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
First library withdrawals aged about ten were Tunnel in the Sky by Heinlein and Ossian's Ride by Fred Hoyle* ( which is an underrated book btw)
As an independent 12 year old I discovered The Silver Locusts (The Martian Chronicles). There was no looking back after going through that portal into sci-fi.

*ps I realise posting this that the book still influences much of my writing today

Ossian's Ride - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[BAYLOR]

Did you start with the 3rd of the Thomas Covenant books? No wonder it was a slog. Bad enough if you start at the beginning.

Lord Fouls Bane is book one of the first series, thats what I started with . Book 2 The ILLEarth War was a far better and The Power that Preserves caped off that series rather nicely.

 

[Mike J Nagle]

What was you very first SciFi/fantasy book you've ever read?

Mine was The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I was 24 at the time and had to stay at the hospital for 3 months. After a few weeks I was super bored and I wandered around and found a few books former patients had left in the lounge. One of them was said book and I stared reading it out of complete boredom. At the end I absolutely loved it and couldn't believe that I missed out so much for the past 24 years! My second attempt was the Eragon Trilogy. Ever since I'm hooked to this whole reading world full of adventures - and I'm 38 now

What about you?

Hi, Dawg.

The very first SF/F novel (actually, the very first novel of any genre) I ever read was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum. I was four years old at the time.

I had already watched the 1939 MGM movie on the TV, so I was motivated to read the book.

What really surprised me was that there were so many differences between the book and the movie. In my naïveté, I had assumed that the movie would faithfully tell the story in the novel. This was the first time that I noticed that the movie version of a story is seldom the same as the original novel...

Cheers,

Mike

 

[biodroid]

Lightning - Dean Koontz. I reckon it's SF-ish coz it dealt with time travel.