What influenced you to read sf and fantasy

[Dave]

You have to love that.

My daughter's a big space and fantasy fan (not as much SF). When we lived near DC I used to take her to Air & Space regularly. We must have gone half a dozen times or more, and always touched the moon rock by the entrance.

[Mary]

When Armstrong was landing, my parents took me up out of the cradle and plopped me in front of the TV, but they think I was asleep again at the actual landing. . .

I was, after all, not yet a year old.

[[deleted user]]

:)

[Bryen]

At 14, I was shopping with my older brother and he gave me "The Eye of the World" and said, "You've got to read this." Right there in the store I read the prologue and from then on I have LOVED fantasy novels!

[James]

I think many years ago in my teens I saw the David Lynch film of Dune on television. I thought it was just so strange and epic, and watched it many times. I eventually got the original novel, and even thought it is a huge book I read it quite fast and was equally impressed and fascinated with it.
Also over the years many science fiction movies, and comic books pushed me toward specific SF novels as I began to read much more through my teens and twenties.

[R.A.]

My dad liked it, and so I ended up reading his books. I couldn't have been more than ten years old when I read The Sword of Shannara, and from Terry Brooks I went to David Eddings, Piers Anthony, and others. Since then I've branched out into other genres, as well, but I still have a soft spot for fantasy.

[Corrina]

Fascinating topic. I guess the first pure SF I can remember reading was John Christopher's Tripod series and that inspired me to seek out more of the same. I can't remember being influenced by a TV show, save Battle of the Planets, but I just remember being fascinated by strange new worlds.

For fantasy, it was the Chronicles of Narnia, which I gravitated too after my horse-crazy phase--I picked up "The Horse and his Boy" first, thus forever skewing my view of the series. :)

Having gone through all the books at the library, I then subscribed to Asimov's SF magazine.

However, I cannot discount my absolute love of of superhero comics, which I read from the time I could read. I'm not sure if they're fantasy or SF but I know that's what I wanted from a story.

[R.A.]

Corrina wrote: "Fascinating topic. I guess the first pure SF I can remember reading was John Christopher's Tripod series and that inspired me to seek out more of the same. I can't remember being influenced by a TV..."

Oh, yes, I did the Chronicles of Narnia early, too. I still like to read them every few years. Pretty soon I'll be reading them to my son, and he'll have his first taste of fantasy, too!

[Jay]

Reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for myself as a young kid, certainly, but also having my mom read Winnie-the-Pooh and Peter Pan to me as an even younger child really did the trick,

[Sharon]

I am always amazed that there are people who don't read sci fi and fantasy. I'm a baby boomer and I can't remember when I didn't read it. I adored fairy tales from the moment I could understand a story and I reread things like The Wild Swans repeatedly. My mother read The Wind in the Willows to us, and Peter Pan, Alice through the Looking Glass, and dozens of others. I remember sitting rapt while she read The Lord of the Rings to my father in the evenings. (Tolkien was Holy Writ in our household.) We watched Time Tunnel, the original Star Trek, 2000 Leagues Under the Sea, etc. I was in junior high when I discovered Heinlein and ripped through all of his young adult stuff. Of course I read other things too, but sci fi and fantasy have always been the mainstay of my literary diet. It wasn't until I got to college that I discovered that not everyone liked or read sci fi/fantasy and it left me completely gobsmacked. How can anyone not like it? But then, I also don't understand why anyone would not reread a book that they liked and I've met a number of people who would never read the same book twice. It's a weird world.

[Raylion]

How I discovered Fantasy:

We were made to read at least 16 books a year in my private school... I made it a point to do at least 32 cause I was a bored brat... I read but did not enjoy it

Order of reading that got me there

1) Stranger With My Face by Lois Duncan
2) Everything i could find by Lois Duncan
3) Christopher Pike -- anything I could find
4) Mom kept buying me Star Trek books -- they were okay
5) Magician: Apprentice - Master by Raymond E. Fiest -- great book
6) Terry Goodkind -- was the real start
7) I had a copy of Eye Of The World by Robert Jordan --- once I started the first book I did not come up for air til book six was finished and then I knew I was hooked on this genre

[Brenda ╰☆╮]

I was born to it.
I didn't like reading unless I found fantasy.
I remember my dad reading me The Hobbit.
Science fiction sort of followed.
Of course, I did grow up watching the original Star Trek.

[K.]

For me, my first book that was at or above my grade level (around 3rd grade) was Terry Brook's Elfstones of Shanarra. That was it, I was hooked on reading. From there, I wandered through some of the more fantastic classics, then came back to the real stuff.

Wandered all over the bigger names through school, and started branching into sci-fi stuff because I was such a voracious reader, and most of my parent's library was dad's sci-fi. (Mom reads mystery and espionage which just never could keep my interest.) Hit a dry spell with reading because mom wanted me to learn a little more culture, but once I could, I swarmed back to the fantasy books, and have stuck with them with only a few sci-fi series making the cut well enough to be displayed on my bookshelves.

[[deleted user]]

if I have to pick a bit of SF that got me into reading, it was, of all things, Star Trek (Kirk was my Captain, thank you much)...I remember it from reruns, but my Mom informs me that as a little on of 3 I would stare at the tube every time it was on...from there it was just a matter of learning to read

[Lizzy]

What influenced me? Three movies/tv shows.

1. Star Wars (I was raised on it)
2. Star Trek: TNG (reruns)
3. The Fellowship of the Ring

Then follows a 7-8 year old me reading Harry Potter and Narnia. Only in the last few years have I gotten into sci-Fi books.

[Lynne]

Doctor Who and Star Wars were definitely primary motivators for me. You can see their influence in some of my writing, as well.

[Brian]

Nearly the same as Elizabeth.

1. Watched Star Trek TNG when I was just a toddler.
2. I watched the original Star Wars Trilogy at age six and I could not stop watching them back to back.
3. Science Fiction and Fantasy in General, who does not love space travel and magic?

[Doug]

Not sure how original any of this will be, but:

1. Absolutely Star Wars. Specifically, The Return of the Jedi. I had the trilogy recorded on an old VHS and probably watched that thing 1,000 times throughout my childhood.

2. Ender's Game. Beyond Star Wars, I didn't really get into actually reading Sci-Fi until much later in life (high school). Ender's Game kind of opened the whole "literary sci-fi" door for me.

3. Game of Thrones. Had never been much into High Fantasy before being introduced to Westeros. Once again, a major door opener for me as far as discovering a new genre to fall in love with.