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

[Sabrina]

The Hobbit and then LOTR. I was in tears when Gandalf died. And still vividly remember reading the scene where Eowyn slays the Witch King saying, 'But no living man am I! You look upon a woman.' To a little girl... those are some powerful words.

[[deleted user]]

I remember reading LotR and Wizard's First Rule my freshman year in High School.

[Jake]

I read the Hobbit in Middle school; my parents bought me a LOTR video game for Christmas one year and I found the world so fascinating that I put the video game away and read all four books before going back to play it.

[John]

I think that would be Spellsinger, which I think is by Alan Dean Foster... Wrinkle in Time struck me as sci-fi at the time I read it...

The first real sci-fi novel would be The Forgotten Planet.

[C. L.]

Frankenstein, but then I went through a spate of Star Trek and Star Wars books that my high school friends were also reading.

[Bryce]

I believe the first fantasy book that I read was The Wizards First Rule, by Terry Goodkind. However I think the first book to really capture my imagination was Rhapsody by Elizabeth Haydon, which led me to Assassins Quest by Robin Hobb, which is my favorite book of all time.

[A.L.]

The Transall Sage by Gary Paulsen. I was in probably the fourth grade and for years after I couldn't remember the title and searched for it tirelessly. When I found it I swore I'd never lose it ever again. I remember it being the best thing since PB & J

[Jason]

The first fantasy novel I picked up was Emperor of Ansalon by Douglas Niles. As for the first Sci-Fi novel, I am fairly certain it was Earth Hive by Steve Perry.

[Kevin]

I believe it was "The Three Giants" - which was one of the Classics Illustrated Junior series - back when I was 3 or 4. That series was kind of like comics, though, so if you mean a book book, it was probably "Donald Duck and the Witch Next Door," which I read around the same time. (I think it was one of the Little Golden Books.)

[Christy]

I can't remember for sure which one was first, but it was either Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time or the trilogy by John Christopher, The Tripods (made up of The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, and The Pool of Fire). After that came anything by Andre Norton (Witch World Series, Daybreak 2250), The Lord of the Rings and a bunch of others.

[Michele]

I think the first was Dragon Drums by Ann McCaffery. at around the same time I also read the Hobbit and A Wrinkle In Time. Ann McCaffery again for the SciFi, as she did Crystal Singer and Freedoms Landing, all of these around 12 or so. I was into mysteries when I was younger. I was and am a voracious reader.

[Anna]

Dune - I was in the 7th grade and found it in the bookcase of my parents; I was absolutely fascinated by the universe created by Frank Herbert and this made me want to read more SF books :)

[Bobby]

Anna wrote: "Dune - I was in the 7th grade and found it in the bookcase of my parents; I was absolutely fascinated by the universe created by Frank Herbert and this made me want to read more SF books :)"

Your introduction to sci-fi was DUNE??? Man, I am of jealous of THAT! That must have been something alright.

[[deleted user]]

Michele wrote: "I think the first was Dragon Drums by Anne McCaffrey. at around the same time I also read the Hobbit and A Wrinkle In Time. Anne McCaffrey again for the SciFi, as she did Crystal Singer and Freedoms ..."

Anne McCaffrey Pern seem like an excellent introduction of SF and Fantasy. I really need to read this Wrinkle in Time book someday.

[Bobby]

Sabrina wrote: "The Hobbit and then LOTR. I was in tears when Gandalf died. And still vividly remember reading the scene where Eowyn slays the Witch King saying, 'But no living man am I! You look upon a woman.'..."

Right on. Good story.

[Anna]

Bobby wrote: "Anna wrote: "Dune - I was in the 7th grade and found it in the bookcase of my parents; I was absolutely fascinated by the universe created by Frank Herbert and this made me want to read more SF boo..."

well it was :D that's why now I want to become a SF writer and editor :))

[Danny]

I'm sure I read fantasy before it, but the fellowship of the ring was the first fantasy book I sought out and read on my own. That was middle school so I was probably given fantasy before that but I don't remember anything actually grabbing my interest the way lotr did.

[E.D.]

The Iliad, over the summer between 2nd and 3rd grade. I see Homer as the father of F and SF. Heroes...gods..epic clashes of civilization. Thousand ship invasion fleets. Technology changes, but men remain men.

[Garry]

Rocket Ship Galileo (Heinlein)followed the same week by the Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet (Cameron) hooked me forever.

[Bobby]

Anna wrote: "Bobby wrote: "Anna wrote: "Dune - I was in the 7th grade and found it in the bookcase of my parents; I was absolutely fascinated by the universe created by Frank Herbert and this made me want to re..."

Can't wait to see what you do!

[[deleted user]]

Mushroom Planet was a good one. :)

[Alex]

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe was the first fantasy book I read I don't know how old I was maybe 9 as for SF that was Island by Aldous Huxley when I was 15 or 16.

[Ray]

i must admit that i do not exactly remember my very first SF/F book, but I started with SF and think it was Star King by Jack Vance. I do know my first Fantasy book though, it was the Birthgrave by Tanith Lee. Instantly hooked...

[[deleted user]]

Triplanetary. A friend lent them to me when we were in Junior High.
Triplanetary

[Grey]

Well I was reading science fiction in mid primary school, so its a bit hard to remember, over 35 years now ago. Probably some of the Doctor Who novelisations, as well as book club purchases and whatever I could find in the local library.

[[deleted user]]

Grey wrote: "Well I was reading science fiction in mid primary school, so its a bit hard to remember, over 35 years now ago..."

Ray wrote: "i must admit that i do not exactly remember my very first SF/F book,..."

Yeah, I can't remember what I read half a century ago, either. I'm sure it was something from the school library featuring a spaceman with a fishbowl-style space helmet (raygun optional) and a spaceship standing on the ground in the background...

The first one whose title I recall was Heinlein's Podkayne of Mars.

[Bobby]

G33z3r wrote: "Grey wrote: "Well I was reading science fiction in mid primary school, so its a bit hard to remember, over 35 years now ago..."

Ray wrote: "i must admit that i do not exactly remember my very firs..."

I still love that brand of science fiction. Nowadays, we're too smart and sophisticated. But in those days, space was a place to let the imagination run wild.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oWNYR0krB7c...

[Brandon]

When I was a kid (Well, a younger kid than i am now), I was terrified of magic for some reason. It was Harry Potter that got me over that, so it was my first fantasy novel, although it's not much like the usual fantasy taste I've developed since.

[John]

That would probably be The Hobbit. I remember I started it, but could not get into it and put it aside. Months later I was sick and home from school. I had nothing else to read so I picked up The Hobbit again. This time I was hooked.

[Jessica]

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
I was obsessed with the book and the 1979 animated movie when I was a kid. This may have been the first book I ever read in it's entirety.

[Jim]

Why? They were fun. Neat world, fun characters.

[Kirk]

The Hobbit or The Knight of Swords, long time ago

[Jim]

You got me thinking about this, does anyone else remember the Trigan Empire? The comic from 'Ranger'

I even blogged about it http://jandbvwebster.wordpress.com/20...

if you're at all interested

[Jim]

Jeff wrote: "No real shame, but my friends and I finally realized just how much of decanting of the Lord of Rings that series -- and many others -..."

When Brooks came out with The Sword of Shannara, I hated it since I'd read LOTR & the Hobbit several times & felt it was a rip-off. Then one of our semi-adopted kids read it, loved it & started plowing through all the rest of my books. I still don't like the book, but it made her happy, so I didn't put it down in front of her.

My grandfather was a book snob & used to make fun of the Mickey Spillane or Conan books I loved to read. While we had a lot of fun sniping at each other, I've never thought well of him for that. It's a good thing I was hard headed enough to ignore him because the books that were his favorites bored me to death back then & many still do. I've heard far too many people tell me they don't read because books are boring. Often, they'll point to being forced to read classics in high school.

I was assigned The Red Pony by John Steinbeck 3 times in HS. I HATED it, never read it fully, & didn't read any other Steinbeck for decades. Then my youngest boy read Of Mice and Men & badgered me into reading it. I loved it & went on to read half a dozen of his books. Right time & mood for me.

I've always felt that a good book is one that makes a person want to read another book, especially a kid. My wife & I hooked our kids on reading, first with Dr. Seuss & such, later with anything they liked. I had a book shelf just for kids, but they were welcome to read anything we had. Two of them read a lot of animal books (Misty, Black Beauty) the other just devoured all my Conan & other REH books. He & the girl got into fantasy, the oldest moved into pure science & all nonfiction. The point is they all read as voraciously as my wife & I.

That's the main goal - just read. No matter what it is, it will expand your mind, vocabulary, & equip you to deal with any other reading that needs to be done.

I'll step off my soap box now.
;-)

[Jim]

Just to agree with both Jim and Jeff here (there's probably a rule against too much agreement but hey ;-)
I wasn't impressed with Sword of Shannara, and whilst I thought of Mice and Men was OK, absolutely loved Cannery Row
But the important thing is to read. Once people are reading, then expand what you put in front of them

[Beth]

Jeff wrote: "Jim, I can't agree with you more.

What you also alluded to is just how subjective the experience of reading a particular book can be, and is highly dependent upon where someone is at in their thin..."

Totally agree that books only come to you when you're ready to read them :D

First my first sifi book that got me hooked was The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury. after which I read everything of his I could get my hands on

I read that one when I was twelve :D

[Jim]

It's amazing how those early books are still worth going back to :-)

[E.D.]

I would like to thank the elementary school librarian that placed The Hawkline Monster on the shelves. Sometimes it's not the finding, but the leaving to be found that truly matters.

Tell me how Richard Brautigan ended up in a public school without some subversive forethought. :}

[Jim]

Some books are well worth going back to. My perspective over the years has changed & the so has the world. Last year I read "To Kill A Mockingbird". I last read it decades ago, maybe as a teen. Now I'm probably Atticus' age. It was fantastic both times, but in different ways.

Others, it's better for me to keep my good memories. My taste has changed & the world has moved on. I remember how Neuromancer blew me away when it first came out. It didn't do much for me the last time I tried to read it a couple of decades later since we're almost there & cyberpunk is old hat.

[Bobby]

Jim wrote: "Some books are well worth going back to. My perspective over the years has changed & the so has the world. Last year I read "To Kill A Mockingbird". I last read it decades ago, maybe as a teen. ..."

Such a great point. It's interesting. I never get tired of re-visiting The Martian Chronicles because Bradbury was less predicting the future and more using Mars as a kind of anything-goes playground for his imagination. Certainly space was his inspiration but not exactly science. He was much more interested in wonder and mystery. Though if you go to that link and scroll down you will read reviews (by younger people generally) who can't deal with it because the "science" -- such as it is -- is immaterial. It like, doesn't make sense to them. Bradbury's Mars is no more related to what we know now about Mars than is Middle-Earth.

I haven't read Neuromancer since it first came out. I wonder if my experience would be the same.

[Brian]

Enders Game 11 years old. NOT looking forward to the butchering of the book by Hollywood. BUT will probably still be first in line.

[Jim]

Bobby wrote: "Jim wrote: "...I never get tired of re-visiting The Martian Chronicles because Bradbury was less predicting the future and more using Mars as a kind of anything-goes playground for his imagination. Certainly space was his inspiration but not exactly science...."

Roger Zelazny said something similar when he wrote A Rose for Ecclesiastes back in the early 60's. A space probe was about to take pictures of the planet, so he knew his story would be mauled by popular science. Since, like Bradbury, his story was more about the people & the situation, it has survived well, at least IMO. It's hard to hold the date against 1984, too.

Other books don't fare as well, though. A lot of the old space operas just become amusing or dreadful. Y2K was unimaginably far away & now we're past it.

Robert A. Heinlein's books can fall on both sides of the fence for me. He got a lot of the science & society wrong, but it doesn't matter in some. I was surprised how badly it could hurt others, though. Corded phones & punch cards in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress really didn't do it any favors on my last read.

[Leith]

My parents gave me a copy of Grimm's Fairytales when I was about 7. I read it until the covers fell off and loved it so much, it was so gritty and to a 7 year old totally mystical and believable. I have a memory of A Wrinkle in Time when I was in grade 8 but the first real fantasy I clearly remember was A Wizard of Earthsea. I still drag it off the shelf and re-read it every couple of years. I think that the ending of The Farthest Shore is still one of the best endings of a series.

To answer Jim, yes I do remember The Trigian Empire. Being Australian we got it in a British magazine called Look and Learn. A couple of years ago I found some very very nice limited reprints of The Trigian Empire hardbound online and bought a few issues. As far as i am aware they are still available.

I am not sure if there are any other Australians educated in the Queensland public system in the seventies out in the group, but the Queensland education system used to run a book club,the brochure would turn up at the school and you would take it home and pester parents to buy a couple of books, and after paying the 2 or 3 dollars per book and waiting 3 weeks or so a small bundle of books would turn up. In grade 7 I got Splinter of the Minds Eye by Alan Dean Foster and The Stranger from the Depths by Gerry Turner. I still have them! By some weird coincidence I am re-reading Stranger from the Depths. On a side note, I have the 1970 abridged version, has anyone read the unabridged version? I would love to know what the differences are.

[[deleted user]]

Leith wrote: "A Wizard of Earthsea. I still drag it off the shelf and re-read it every couple of years. I think that the ending of The Farthest Shore is still one of the best endings of a series."

Definitely agree with that. I thought it was wonderful that three decades after writing the original trilogy, Le Guin returned to the characters and their later years with "Tehanu" and "The Farthest Shore". Since they were published, instead of just rereading the trilogy I now re-read all five of those main books. And the ending is indeed brilliant.

[Melissa]

The first honest-to-goodness science fiction I read was Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I don't count any of the science fantasy I read before then. If I were to count science fantasy I would say the first I read was Heartlight by T.A. Baron.

I have no idea what my very first fantasy read was. Tamora Pierce comes to mind, maybe In the Hand of the Goddess.

[Bobby]

Brian wrote: "Enders Game 11 years old. NOT looking forward to the butchering of the book by Hollywood. BUT will probably still be first in line."

Isn't that the curse? It's almost impossible not to go? Depends though. Stuart Little the movie had nothing for me...though, when I think about it, I was an adult when it came out. If I had been a child I might have read the book and then seen the movie anyway. Yeah, like the Grinch movie as well, had no hold on me. I did go see Dune though, (I was a teen-ager) but didn't like it. No Country for Old Men and man, I must be the only person in the world who didn't like it. I just think you have to read Cormac McCarthy. Same with Milan Kundera. There's no faking the funk.

[K.R.]

Riverwind the Plainsman.

I was 12.

I didn't stop reading it until I was finished into the early morning hours.

That was the start of my love of fantasy novels.

And now I write them.

Here's a blurb from an interview:

IF: What do you think is the purpose of Fantasy?

K.R.: I think getting to transport the reader to a place that is impossible in our reality is an excellent reason to enjoy fantasy. Science has taken us far, but experiencing the wonder of an enchanted object or transforming into a bird through a magic spell to soar, is something that is exciting to dream about. Imagination is fundamentally important, as without it, we couldn't achieve as much as we have - our
species I mean - and dreaming of the impossible, often leads us to find ways to make it happen in our world through creativity and ingenuity.

Fantasy is a driving force.

[Bobby]

Kevin wrote: "WOW!
I dont even know if I remember the very first sf/fantasy book I read.

I remember reading "The Hobbit" at a young age, but I also read "Elric of Melnibone", right at around the same time."

I didn't discover Elric until I was like fifteen or so. Great book.

[Christine]

The Blue Sword I reread it every year or two. <3

[Blieu]

Malice was the first fantasy book I read. It was in the third grade and I read it every year.