What's your favorite first line from a scifi book?

[Rachel]

Not necessarily a favorite, but here's the first line from the book I just started, Rebel Sutra by Shariann Lewitt. I've liked a couple other books of hers, so I have high hopes for this one.

"I hated my second funeral, which is the only one I managed to attend."

[Guillermo]

From John Varley's Steel Beach: "In five years, the penis will be obsolete," said the salesman. " Nuff said!

[Smilla's Sister]

My favorite has to be the opening of Stanislaw Lem's Eden:

Because of a miscalculation, the craft dipped too low and hit the atmosphere with an earsplitting scream.

Isn't it just pure genius :)

[Jeffery]

I don't know if it is my absolute favorite, but I really enjoyed the opening of Old Man's War:

"I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife's grave. Then I joined the army."

The odd combination really struck me when I read the book and set the tone for the whole book.

[Tad]

The opening of Old Man's War may be the only time where I read the first line and said to myself, "Alright, I'm in."

[[deleted user]]

In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit.

[David]

Dang, two of you beat me to the ones I was going to post-- the first line of Dhalgren (but it's technically also the last line, I suppose or perhaps there really is no first line to Dhalgren, only a place to start) and something Cordwainer Smith.

And I agree, if you haven't read Cordwainer Smith and you're into SF, you really have to seek out his work. Definitely one of the most under-read writers in SF these days. R. A. Lafferty is another.