What was the First sci fi / fantasy Book You Read?

[Barbara]

Bobby mentioned Alice in Wonderland
If it is decided to be a genuine sf book, that would be my first. Otherwise I started with Andre Norton even if I don't remember the 1st title.
I also am very familiar with the atom and rocketship stickers on sci fi/fan books.
Oh No! The nostalgia, the nostalgia!

[Kesha]

the first fantasy book i read hmm well i was young about 10 but it was the farthest away mountain by Lynne Reid Banks, Victor G. Ambrus I remember because it was the first proper fantasy i read with from them on i was hooked .:-)

[John]

The Hobbit wins for me, sometime around 6th grade. It was required reading in the school I attended, and I remember thinking "Gosh, I'm not going to like this . . ."

Of course I was fantastically wrong, and was so engrossed after the first chapter that the class ended and the teacher had to tap me on the shoulder because I hadn't noticed.

My first sci-fi book was "A Fall of Moondust" by Arthur C. Clarke, which I read at around age 13 after having seen 2001 for the first time.

I've been hooked ever since and now write my own.

[[deleted user]]

The first fantasy I read was Lord Foul's Bane,it's also a favorite.

[Nicolas]

Wow. A lot of us started with The Hobbit, apparently. I don't know if it was my first fantasy/sci fi, but it's the first one I remember. I remember my dad reading it out loud to me. Certainly makes a strong statement about the value of parents reading to their children.

[The]

the first sci fi book ive read was one of the star wars books i forgot which one and the first fantacy book ive remembered reading is harry potter and the sorcerers stone

[Bobby]

Salem wrote: "the first sci fi book ive read was one of the star wars books i forgot which one and the first fantacy book ive remembered reading is harry potter and the sorcerers stone"

It wasn't my first but I definitely read Star Wars the novel early on. Forgot all about that. As a kid, I dug it, too! Of course, we were in the Azores and spent a year waiting for this phenomenon that had taken over the world!

[Michelle]

Diana wrote: "My first was Andromeda Strain by Micheal Crichton. I read in the early 70's when I was still single and had been in my first apartment for only a couple of weeks. Scared the daylights out of me. Co..."

I love Michael Crichton! I know what you mean, I keep reading the new ones even tho they aren't quite the same..

I can't remember what my first fantasy was but I think it was either A Wrinkle in Time (which I remember absolutely nothing about) or The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. What really set me off in the fantasy direction was seeing the Fellowship of the Ring when I was 12. I read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings right after and they're still my favourite books! :)

I think the first sci fi book I read was
Ender's Game..can't wait for the movie :)

[Bobby]

Michelle wrote: "Diana wrote: "My first was Andromeda Strain by Micheal Crichton. I read in the early 70's when I was still single and had been in my first apartment for only a couple of weeks. Scared the daylights..."

I'd be totally curious to see you go back and read A Wrinkle in Time now. I still loved it, it was still scary but there was one particular aspect of it that I had totally not even noticed as a child that blew me away as an adult.

[Michelle]

Bobby wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Diana wrote: "My first was Andromeda Strain by Micheal Crichton. I read in the early 70's when I was still single and had been in my first apartment for only a couple of weeks. Sca..."

Interesting! I will definitely reread it now haha

[Zachary]

Hi all, My first was a an old all-in-one copy of 'The Lord of the Rings'.

[[deleted user]]

Bobby wrote: "I'd be totally curious to see you go back and read A Wrinkle in Time now. I still loved it,.."

Interesting. Back in March when Stefan was running the March Madness SF&F-style Tournament, I commented that I thought A Wrinkle in Time was a big upset when it advanced several rounds into the "tournament". It seems that I missed out on it because it wasn't written until after I had grown up (whether I've actually grown up is still a subject hotly debated. :) I guess I should pick up a copy and see what all the fuss is about. (Goodreads lists 111 different editions of the book, so apparently it's been pretty popular over the last five decades.)

[Bobby]

Michelle wrote: "Bobby wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Diana wrote: "My first was Andromeda Strain by Micheal Crichton. I read in the early 70's when I was still single and had been in my first apartment for only a couple..."


If you do, let me know what you thought...

[[deleted user]]

Starship Troopers was a good one, but I liked Stranger in a Strange Land better....but then I'm just a OLD hippy. :P

[Bobby]

Spooky1947 wrote: "Starship Troopers was a good one, but I liked Stranger in a Strange Land better....but then I'm just a OLD hippy. :P"

Me too!

[[deleted user]]

I think I read a Wrinkle in Time as a kid...have to go find a copy again...I also fondly remember The Enormous Egg...a chicken lays a dinosaur egg and....

there was also one about some kids who were fossil hunters...they meet up with a very nice dinosaur that shows them were a bunch of fossils are...something like that. I use to love me some dinosaurs when I was a kid....

[Bart]

The first fantasy was an Ace paperback of Conan.

The first SciFi I can recall was H.G. Wells The Island of Dr. Moreau.

[[deleted user]]

Hey,you can't beat the "Xanth" series.

[Travis]

I believe the first sci-fi/fantasy book I read was either Starship Troopers or The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. I know it was one of those. I was in 6th grade.

[Andy]

It was The Hobbit for me, when I was about seven years old. Immediately after reading it I moved onto The Lord of the Rings (and it took me another five years of intermittent reading to finish it!)

[Travis]

LOTR took me awhile of reading. Read a chunk then move to another book then come back. On and off for a few years.

[Andy]

Travis wrote: "LOTR took me awhile of reading. Read a chunk then move to another book then come back. On and off for a few years."

On my first attempt, I didn't get beyond Concerning Hobbits. My second go, around the age of ten, was stopped by Mr Bombadil harping on about Goldberry and such!

[Travis]

Andy wrote: "Travis wrote: "LOTR took me awhile of reading. Read a chunk then move to another book then come back. On and off for a few years."

On my first attempt, I didn't get beyond Concerning Hobbits. My ..."

Wow i did pretty much the same thing. I may have read the first two chapters then stopped.

[David]

It was Anne McCaffrey's To ride Pegasus, loved it and I have read all her other books because of it.

[Karen]

My first was Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. I read it in fourth grade. Took me forever, but after that, I was totally hooked on reading, especially science fiction and later fantasy.

[[deleted user]]

I rember reading 20,000...i was a kid, bought the hardback with my birthday money, spent half the summer reading it. :) then i got Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Time Machine...that was a wonderful summer. :)

[Karen]

I did the same thing! It took me months to read 20,000 but I loved it and then I went on to devour the other Verne books, although I still think 20,000 is the best!

[Bob]

20000 Leagues Under the sea. It was a hardback Christmas present, I probably still have it in a box in the attic.
My first trip into space came via E.E. "Doc" Smith and Galactic Patrol on holiday in Cornwall.
I had been a big reader before these and devoured all sorts of books including my sisters Mallory towers series but Galactic Patrol was my first "buy" as I remember it. The Hobbit came a little later as we read it in my final year in primary school (1969-70).
Guess my enduring love of scifi is a facet of being exposed to too much space travel news when I was young and impressionable!

[[deleted user]]

i have fond memories of the SF Book Club from my teen years...im talking around 13 or so...i was a member, my 3 year old brother was a member, my 2 year old sister was a member, i had a couple of fake names....i was running one heck of a scam...one day they got wise to me tho...my Mom told me years later she pulled a collection letter out of the mail box one day, opened it and found out what i had been up to...she said she wrote across the top of it "he's 13...come get him, he's yours"....no more nasty letters...at least i didnt land in jail like i thought i would. :P

[[deleted user]]

now you know why those books from the SF Book Club cost $2 each back then, insted of fifty cents each.

[Bobby]

Spooky1947 wrote: "i have fond memories of the SF Book Club from my teen years...im talking around 13 or so...i was a member, my 3 year old brother was a member, my 2 year old sister was a member, i had a couple of ..."

We must be around the same age. I too, have fond memories of the SF Book Club. Got there through Marvel Comics, started reading Conan the Barbarian, then moved to the books edited by L. Sprage de Camp with the Frazetta covers. In the middle there was the flyer for the Science Fiction Book Club. I always remember the question "What if God was a computer?" That book club introduced me to Dune, Courtship Rite, Eye of Cat, Friday, Foundation and The Nomad of Time to name but a few. The only thing as exciting as getting the books in the mail was getting the catalogues!

[R.L.]

Ah yes, I remember the SF book club, it was fantastic. didn't even think of scamming it!! Damn, an opportunity missed...

[Abby]

I have no idea what fantasy book I read first. I started fantasy very young. The first science-fiction book I ever read was Survival by Julie Czerneda (woot, got her name right on the first try!). That really got me hooked on sci-fi and now my favorite author is Arthur C Clarke.

[[deleted user]]

R.L., it's crazy how many kids scammed the SFBC....ive heard stories, belive me...truth to tell, i honestly didnt set out to scam them...i just loved getting the 4 books for a buck...i always ment to pay the bills, then close the accounts...then that damn catalog would come and next thing i knew i owed them big bucks (well, big bucks to a 12 or 13 year old back then)...theyd kick me out, id join again (hey, they kept sending me new membership forms..they really were not very bright, and 4 books for a buck was better than anything to me)

[R.L.]

Better hope none of them are lurking on goodreads then :)

[[deleted user]]

i look at it this way...at Harlan's age he can sue me, put me in the poor house, have me locked up, ect, but hes too old to kick my @$$ anymore...

even so, we still love ya Harlan...just calm down, your heart will last longer and you will have a lower BP

[Bobby]

Spooky1947 wrote: "i look at it this way...at Harlan's age he can sue me, put me in the poor house, have me locked up, ect, but hes too old to kick my @$$ anymore...

even so, we still love ya Harlan...just calm down..."

You better hope he never finds out about you scamming the SFBC...

;)

[[deleted user]]

hmmm...guess i might goto jail yet....anyone know if Harlan owns stock in the SFBC?

[Laurel]

The Empire Strikes Back. I was in second grade, the movie was in theaters (okay, I just gave away my age!), and my radical evangelical christian parents thought that Star Wars was the work of the devil and I would go to hell if I watched the movies -- even though my father did take my brother and I to see Star Wars the original film.

So my brother's solution was to buy the novel version of Empire. Being older than me, he read that first. Then I read it, using the dictionary on my teacher's desk. It took me almost three months to read Empire (not exactly written for 2nd graders!), but I felt so good when I had.

Reading the book first meant that I knew Darth Vader was NOT a bad guy in a time where everyone else thought he was pure evil.

Books are wonderfully nuanced that way.


And I would like to mention, my brother started my astronomy kick (which in turn turned me into a science "geek" er sci-fi writer) by lying to me right after we saw Star Wars in 1977. He told me Yavin was a moon of Jupiter.

Be careful what you tell your little sister! lol

[Bobby]

Laurel wrote: "The Empire Strikes Back. I was in second grade, the movie was in theaters (okay, I just gave away my age!), and my radical evangelical christian parents thought that Star Wars was the work of the ..."

Sounds like a great brother!

[Laurel]

It was entirely by accident. Keith wanted to shut me up and stop asking him questions about Star Wars. Because of course a kid weeks away from turning six does not know that Star Wars is completely made up! lol.

He regrets that now as a creationist; university science classes required for my BA turned me into an evolutionary theist. So much so that my mother thinks the "worst" thing to ever happen to me (this is including losing most of my eyesight) was receiving my university degree.

I am sure I not the only Star Wars or Star Trek influenced sci-fi author though!

[Heidi]

Pretty sure my first were The Chronicles of Narnia

[Adam]

The Illustrated Man by Bradbury. Seventh grade, I think.

[Thomas]

Do comics count? In that case, I remember it being He-Man lol

Otherwise, it was either The Chronicles of Narnia or The Hobbit... which I still re-read to this very day.

[[deleted user]]

if comics count, put me down for Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, i could go on....

[Thomas]

Superman and Spider-Man for me! :-D

[[deleted user]]

i still love comics...and im still a Wonder Woman fan. :)

[M.M.]

My first thought is to say The Lion, the Witch and the Waldrobe. But I'm not sure if that's strictly true, it was probably one of the Enid Blyton books on the Faraway Tree. (Where does one draw the line between childhood fairy tales and fantasy?)

After CS Lewis, I wanted to read LOTR because of the cool cover, but my dad made me read the Hobbit first.

[jaw]

I draw a distinction between fantasy and science fiction.

The first fantasy book I remember reading was The Silver Crown but I've always considered that YA. If so, then it would be The Blue Sword.

The first sci-fi book I remember reading was Astropilots but (again) I've always considered that YA. If so, then it would be Crystal Singer.

I guess I draw a distinction between YA, Fantasy and Sci-Fi. :)

[Val]

I think my first may have been a dragon lance novel. Can't remember which one though. Although I remember reading a series of novels based on Norse mythology - I don't know if you could consider that fantasy...