What was the first scifi/fantasy book you ever read?

[S.]

For me it was the Lord of the Rings. I was twelve at the time.

[Christopher]

It was a book about a group of folks that were in a nuclear shelter that were on level 7 and what happened to them after the shelter was sealed. Awesome read, which I could remember the author and title, I read the paperback in the early 60's.

[S.]

Christopher wrote: "It was a book about a group of folks that were in a nuclear shelter that were on level 7 and what happened to them after the shelter was sealed. Awesome read, which I could remember the author and..."

Do you think if your first experience with the genre was negative it would stop you from reading any more of it?

[Jim]

It depends on how you define fantasy, I was probably reading The Faraway Tree Stories by the time I was six ;-)

But the first fantasy/SF book I purchased with my own money was Jack Vance, The Dragon Masters
Blew me away and told me that there are no hard boundaries to genre

[Steven]

My first sci-fi book I read was called Star Man's Son, 2250 A.D. by Andre Norton (Harcourt, Brace, 1952). After reading this book as a kid I blew my allowance all the time to get another Andre Norton paperback. When I could afford hardback books it was the first one I ordered.

[S.]

It seems that everyone who posted here had a good first experience. I wonder if - rather hope for that - those who didn't like their first sff contact would bother sharing their thoughts.

[Jim]

S. wrote: "It seems that everyone who posted here had a good first experience. I wonder if - rather hope for that - those who didn't like their first sff contact would bother sharing their thoughts."

I wonder how many people who didn't enjoy SFF would continue and be in this group?

[Massimo]

For me it was one of the Asimov's stories on the I, Robot series.

Either "Liar!" or "Runaround" - My dad received "Astounding Stories" at home.

[S.]

Jim wrote: "S. wrote: "It seems that everyone who posted here had a good first experience. I wonder if - rather hope for that - those who didn't like their first sff contact would bother sharing their thoughts..."

Good point. Should post this in a general thread

[L.]

Since I started with the letter A on the shelf, it was probably Poul Anderson, and likely The Corridors of Time.

[Roberta]

Anne McCaffrey's Dragonsong! I was 10 years old. Haven't stopped reading since then.

[Bob]

One of the Burroughs' Tarzan novels, which then led me into reading his John Carter of Mars books.

[Roberta]

Great books. I inherited my Gramdmother's first editions of the Tarzan books. She loved to read.

[Gaines]

A Spell for Chameleon, when I was twelve. It was also the first novel I ever read of my own volition (as opposed to school reading, etc).

[Roberta]

Great book! I grew up in Florida, so Xanth was special to me. Castle Roogna was my favorite.

[Bob]

I also loved the Xanth books (even though I read them as an adult).

[K.P.]

ooh I actually can't recall. I read a lot out of my age range and was reading books since age 3. :\ ain't no telling ehe :3

[Jemima]

Probably The Machine Stops, which we may have read in school. I think I went on to Foundation or I Robot, and then into Clarke and Heinlein, but I'm talking 60s, too!

[Micah]

The Sirens of Titan

[K.P.]

I read a lot of Bradbury Heinlein McCaffrey & Lackey and a bunch more pulp no longer in print. I used to get books from a college prep school and it was a bunch of books from the 1910s to the 60s while my local library had stuff from the 70s to what was then current (mid 90s). that's a lot of books to get into especially if you have no friends XD

[Marcus]

The first "fantasy" book I remember reading was called "Half Magic" - I think I was in 5th grade.

I loved the Xanth books - read the first 7-8 anyway. I think Dragon on a Pedestal was the last I read.

[Jemima]

K.P. wrote: "I read a lot of Bradbury Heinlein McCaffrey & Lackey and a bunch more pulp no longer in print. I used to get books from a college prep school and it was a bunch of books from the 1910s to the 60s w..."
Your libraries sound like mine, except I'm not sure the school library even had those :)

[V.B.]

At about 12 I went through about half the Tarzan series, then in college someone turned me on to Doc Smith's Lensmen, and then someone else convinced me that Star Trek was NOT Lost in Space and therefore worth watching... My reading is pretty eclectic, but I still love a good scifi yarn.

[Jevon]

Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Think I was 11, or was it 10.

[Gaines]

Marcus wrote: "I loved the Xanth books - read the first 7-8 anyway...."

Yeah, they kinda got a bit um... well, for lack of nicer words, weird & pervy at around book 9 or 10 or so. I lost interest. But I loved the first several :-)

[Jim]

hey, until you've read any of the Gorean books, you ain't seen weird or pervy :-)

[Michael]

Redwall by Brian Jacques. Loved it as a child, still read it now as an adult.

[Jim]

Michael wrote: "Redwall by Brian Jacques. Loved it as a child, still read it now as an adult."

I read my daughters copies, obviously to check they were suitable :-)

[Roberta]

It's funny, I was just telling my boyfriend about the Redwall books last week. We were watching sparrows at the bird feeder and it reminded me of the pugnacious birds from those books.

[Scott]

First ever was a story called borgel by Daniel pinkwater --- my first adult fantasy was something by Neil Hancock (circle of light series I believe). Then I moved right into sword of shannara --- I was born in 1970 so there wasn't as much fantasy available at my local walden books as there is now

[Gaines]

The Shannara books were epic :-)

Redwall? Worth a read?

[Roberta]

The Redwall books are very good. If you liked Shannara, you might give Tad Williams a try. His 'Green Angel Tower' books are very good. There's also David Eddings books.

[Bob]

I never read "Redwall" but when my son was little they ran a great cartoon version of it. I have some fuzzy copies of the episodes on VCR that I taped off the airways (the was pre cable here). If it is every on again, it is really worth watching. I just checked and it looks like Amazon has them on DVD for sale.

[Gaines]

Roberta wrote: "If you liked Shannara, you might give Tad Williams a try.' books are very good. There's also David Eddings books."

Omg, I totally forgot about Tad Williams! I LOVED his books. Starting with The Dragonbone Chair. Really great imagination and a superb writer! I also read Tailchaser's Song and enjoyed it :-)

[Michael]

It's been so long, I don't remember for sure. I'm going to say it was either War of the Worlds or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as my dad had both those in his own library when I was a kid. I was probably 10-11 at the time.

[John]

Does 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' count?

[T. K. Elliott (Tiffany)]

John wrote: "Does 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' count?"

I should say so - as far as I'm aware, pictures don't do that in the real world. Or do I only think that because I've never had a painted portrait of myself? :-)

[Robert]

I think my first was Alice in Wonderland. Other early ones I can remember are Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies and The Hobbit.

[Bob]

John wrote: "Does 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' count?"

I read the Picture of Dorian Gray earlier this year for the first time. I was very disappointed with it. The picture doesn't seem to really play a part until the very end. So I would say most of the story is not sci-fi until the last page or so.

[John]

It's a strange book. Wilde would have been more preoccupied with questions of beauty and immortality than anything else. I believe it was more a case of speculative fiction being a handy conduit for his ideas on these concepts, rather than him having any desire to explore fantasy or science-fiction. I would be curious to know what he thought of Wells and Verne though. In any case, these ideas were all very new at the time.

[J.]

The Hobbit

[Scott]

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5.

[John]

The first "adult" novel that I ever read that had a sci-fi flavor to it was Lost on Venus, by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

[Michelle]

My first SFF was a paperback of The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. We were on a vacation to Iowa to visit my grandmother and there wasn't much else to do. I was hooked.

[Roberta]

Terry Brooks' novels are indeed very enjoyable.

[Roberta]

Terry Brooks' novels are indeed very enjoyable.

[Michelle]

Roberta wrote: "Terry Brooks' novels are indeed very enjoyable."

I believe I've read most of them. I'm intrigued by the new show on MTV of Shannara. I guess it starts January 5th. I hope I remember to watch it.

[Les]

The first in the Dragonlance series by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickham when I was 15 at the time.

[Soren]

Good question!

I think it was the Hobbit and then LOTR for fantasy though I was very much into Fighting Fantasy as a kid. Can we count Marvel Superhero comics and 2000AD?

As for sci fi books, in adult life it was Stanislaw Lem's Solaris. Ahh, I vaguely recall that as a boy I read something called 'The Healer'.

[Michael]

I really have no idea anymore, it's been so long! my guess is it was either H.G. Wells War of the Worlds, or Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. My dad had an extensive collection of history and classic literature books and I do remember reading both those at an early age.