Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion
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What fantasy/sci fi book first ignited your imagination as a kid?
It's ridiculous how often I bring this book up but it was The Martian Chronicles. Still the book I go back to the most.
Bobby wrote: "It's ridiculous how often I bring this book up but it was The Martian Chronicles. Still the book I go back to the most."That's another one I remember from early on. Elementary school library, maybe. Haven't read it in years though.
Yeah, well, it's different now. When I read it as a kid, we still didn't know as much as we know now.When Bradbury wrote Chronicles we still didn't know enough about Mars to get away with it. Bradbury didn't care one iota about science. Mars was just a fantastic playground for his imagination, his Middle-Earth. Still, I keep going back because I still think the stories are amazing and the nostalgia factor is pretty intense.
Bobby wrote: "Mars was just a fantastic playground for his imagination."Haunting stories. I read it a few times but not for years; shall have to again.
Bryn wrote:Haunting stories. I read it a few times but not for years; shall have to again."
It's funny, that you say that, Bryn. The first story, "Ylla" still seems to me the first time I felt adult, sophisticated emotions. I was like, eight when I read that and I remember distinctly the feeling of looking into something which had previously been hidden from me, something sad and painful but beautiful. I wasn't expressing it like that, but I remember feeling that.
I understand; I was fascinated/entranced by him, quite young (although not eight) -- by his poetry with words and with moods, by his deft, quiet tragedies. Marvelous. I mean 'haunting'; the sensibility of these stories had never left me. Thanks for the nostalgia, Bobby, I'll take it down from the bookshelf.
Those children's abridged versions of The Time Machine, War of the Worlds and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was probably the start of it. After that it was probably The Hobbit, Pawn of Prophecy and The Dragonriders of Pern when the hooks sunk in irretrievably.
I didn't read much as a kid but in high school someone gave me a copy of Stephen King's The Gunslinger and I was hooked. The world was beyond anything I had ever imagined. It just kept getting bigger and weirder with every book in the series that I read after that.
Brendan wrote: "Those children's abridged versions of The Time Machine, War of the Worlds and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was probably the start of it. After that it was probably The Hobbit, [book:Paw...""Dragonriders of Pern" was one of my early faves. Loved the original trilogy, but I also liked it when McCaffery went back and wrote about how humans came to Pern and bred the dragons. That's one of my fave "origins" stories.
I think I had the first 13 or 14 Pern books she wrote. Couldn't get enough of them. Amusingly I picked up Freedom's Landing because it was by McCaffery but turned out to be quite a different kind of book, though I guess child me learned a lot from that one as well, in a way.
For me I would say 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and then growing up 2000 AD comic with Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper that just send my brain far away. Rama was great too.
I received the Hobbit/LOTR boxed set for Christmas when I was 10 and I haven't stopped exploring new worlds since.
The earliest was "The Chronicles of Prydain" and the Narnia books. Then on the "The Once and Future King", "The Last Unicorn" and then Tolkien. For some reason I preferred fantasy novels and science fiction short stories. Actually, I read more science than science fiction in my younger days. My reading stack was usually a fantasy novel and 'Scientific American' and 'Natural History' magazines. At some point I tired of the sameness of so much fantasy. These days it is mostly science fiction.
Arthur C Clarke's 'Islands in the Sky' was the book that caught my attention for sci-fi.
Sarah wrote: "The earliest was "The Chronicles of Prydain" and the Narnia books. Then on the "The Once and Future King", "The Last Unicorn" and then Tolkien. For some reason I preferred fantasy novels and scienc..."Tired of the sameness of fantasy fiction? You should read China Miéville!
China Mieville (specifically withIron Council) was who re-ignited my interest in fantasy after being burned out on it for years and being all-in on science fiction.
Kivrin wrote: "So which magical book brought you into the wonderful world of fantasy and sci fi?"Interestingly, I've been trying to remember that lately. I remember I read A Wrinkle in Time very early and adapted part of it into a radio play, but remember very little of it.
I remember one year in particular where I got exposed to a whole new world of ideas and was sort of transformed into the kind of fan I am. I remember The Phantom Tollbooth, The Hobbit, and 1984 that year, but the book that I remember having the biggest impression on me then was Dream Park.
I remember TRYING to get through The Hobbit when I was in 7th or 8th grade. Couldn't do it. Was bored to tears.Since my "study hour" in the library was directly under the "S" section of science fiction, I did read a lot of Silverberg and Simak. Must have been near the "T" section as well, which is why I tried The Hobbit.
Oooo, now I'm trying to remember when I read A Wrinkle in Time. Nah, I still think I read The Martian Chronicles first. But Wrinkle was almost as impactful for sure.
Bobby and Brendan, thanks for the China Miéville suggestion. The Kindle versions look a bit expensive, but I will definitely be on the lookout.
Confession: I do not recall reading A Wrinkle In Time as a child. And having been that awkward girl who loved math and science, it does seem strange. I mean, I sometimes think that book made a profound impression on every other girl of my age. I cannot explain how I missed it.
Sarah wrote: "Confession: I do not recall reading A Wrinkle In Time as a child. And having been that awkward girl who loved math and science, it does seem strange. I mean, I sometimes think that book made a pro..."I read that whole series as a kid, but it didn't really resonate with me. Maybe not enough battles, too much religion.
Brendan wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Confession: I do not recall reading A Wrinkle In Time as a child. And having been that awkward girl who loved math and science, it does seem strange. I mean, I sometimes think that b..."Man, as an adult, I went back and read it, still loved it, but I was absolutely shocked by how much religion was in it. I think, because I grew up Catholic, that when I first read it as a kid, it just washed over me because it was the norm anyway.
My mom's Doc Savage collection,wish I had them to re-read now!
D. wrote: "Kivrin wrote: "So which magical book brought you into the wonderful world of fantasy and sci fi?"Interestingly, I've been trying to remember that lately. I remember I read [book:A Wrinkle in Time..."
I didn't read The Phantom Tollbooth until about 10 years ago when I read it to my oldest son. That was a fun book.
For me it wasn't a particular book but an author, Jules Verne, i was fortunate to have in my home a full collection of his work, the ones remember enjoying most were THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND and 20,000 LEAGUES. A few years later THE HOBBIT made me a Fantasy fan for life...
I grew up with SF&F. My grandfather and my father were both avid fans. My mom tells the story of not having the luxury of being the stereotypical girlfriend when dating my dad. She couldn't keep him waiting when he arrived to pick her up for a date. If she did, she would find her father and her date intensely discussing the latest issue of "Astounding".So, I practically learned to read with words describing rockets, martians and jungle men. It's easier for me to remember the non-SF books of my childhood, due to their novelty.
For me, it was Dunefor SF, and A Wizard of Earthseafor fantasy. I'd read others before those, but they are the ones that really inspired.
It was DUNE that got me started on sci-fi. Martian Chronicles inspired me to want to be a writer.
Probably when I was a teenager and started to read real novels regularly, it was Frank Herbert's Dune. I think the size, scale of the story, the idea that you were going to this huge new strange world out in space in some point in the distant future was very appealing. I had already seen the film, and wanted to know more about the characters and worlds. I don't think I expected to enjoy it so much, but I really did.
I didn't actually read Dune, myself, but early on (before A Wrinkle in Time) my best friend's older brother was reading it, and he would regale us with tales of Freman bravery and Harkonnen debauchery.
Some of my very earliest SFF were classics like Alice in Wonderland or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. My father had an extensive library of classical liturature, so that's where I got started. Once I started haunting the local library, I remember working my way through the Tom Swift, Jr. books. Some other early exposures were the Robert HeinleinJuvinies and many of the books ofAndre Norton.
Watership Down. Awesome book, which led me to Redwall, which led me to realize that it wasn't the talking animals I liked, but the make-believe world, epic wars, and character interaction. I still read it at least once every year or so to this day.
It all started with Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time--still delightfully weird. Then there were John Christopher's novels about the tripods. Then Andre Norton's Daybreak 2150 and the Witch World and Time Traveler books--so many great memories with them! And, of course, the Lord of the Rings--my bedroom wall as a teen (many years ago) had a great black light poster of a map of Middle Earth.
The Chronicles of Narnia.My mom used to read me and my siblings a Narnian story and we would also listen to the audio dramas (I still do in fact). A Horse and His Boy still remains my favorite Narnian book for some reason.
I'm curious. Do Marvel Comics count? I started on those at first. Even my mom started reading those to me first and they were a direct line to science fiction.
K.S. wrote: "Watership Down. Awesome book, which led me to Redwall..."Me too. Except the talking animals thing led me to the Duncton moles instead. Whose many books begin with Duncton Wood
The first sci fi book I read by Issac Asimovs Foundation. It was lying on the bookshelf at one of my parents friends house. That whole evening I was just immersed in reading and begged them to let me borrow the book and after that I was hooked. It took me a while longer to become interested in fantasy, the LOTR series is what made me a fan of the genre.
The Martian Chronicles. Ray Bradbury was a genius. Asimov had amazing ideas and plots, but Bradbury's writing was beautiful, sometimes touching and sometimes funny.
What probably fueled my interest in science fiction and fantasy more than anything else is Ray Harryhausen. His stop-motion animation movies were a wonder to behold back in the 1960's.
I started with Narnia and fairy tales, then moved onto Tolkien and Lloyd Alexander's Prydain novels. And I still love to reread them sometimes.
Definitely was Farenheit 451... I read it before know that the science fiction was a genre on literature... a society where prohibited read.... not only prohibited, punishable
The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury), Time Enough For Love (Robert Heinlein), and numerous books by Andre Norton. So many others but those were what I was reading in late elementary and junior high school into high school.
Just like my mom handed me Calvin and Hobbes when I was 8, she also handed me The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy when I was 12.
Lindsay wrote: "she also handed me The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy when I was 12."Your mom sounds awesome.
In roughly about 7th grade my town opened a public library, about the size of maybe 2 living rooms. I took out a book about people on a planet populated by giant insects. There was a chapter in which army ants destroyed everything in their path except spiders in their webs. I am not sure of the title, but doing some research, it looks like it might have been The Forgotten Planet by Murray Leinster. I'll have to put that on my "to read" list and find out.
Garyjn wrote: "I am not sure of the title,..."
That's my case, too. I have vague memories of library-borrowed sci-fi books full of strange planets and aliens, but no clue what the titles were.
That's my case, too. I have vague memories of library-borrowed sci-fi books full of strange planets and aliens, but no clue what the titles were.
I remember the library was only 2 blocks from our house, right next to a pharmacy. My cousin and i would load up on candy then get our books. I also don't remember titles, it was almost 40 years ago, but i do remember they were the book that at the end of the chapter they would ask the reader if you want to follow the story this way then go to this page or that way then that page. Don't remember the publisher but those were fun, you get 2 stories in 1 book.
Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy
Books mentioned in this topic
The Dark Green Tunnel (other topics)The Dark Green Tunnel (other topics)
The White Mountains (other topics)
Over Sea, Under Stone (other topics)
The Martian Chronicles (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Arthur C. Clarke (other topics)J.K. Rowling (other topics)
Mark Twain (other topics)
Ryk Brown (other topics)
John Christopher (other topics)
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When I was very young (third or fourth grade, maybe), Tarzan was one of the first fantasy books that I ever read. Our church had a small library, and I checked that book out over and over again through the years. I still remember the cover and everything. Today, I have a small paperback copy of the book, and I still like to pull it off the shelves now and then to revisit.
So which magical book brought you into the wonderful world of fantasy and sci fi?