How did you get started?

Muttley · Post by **Muttley** » Thu Jul 26, 2001 3:39 am

What was the first SF story you read, or the one that got you hooked on our common obsession?As I said in an earlier thread, Starman Jones was the first SF story I read; it was included in a large hardbound collection, consisting mostly of "school stories" as far as I remember (it was about forty years ago <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif">). I was prepared for disappointment, wha I came back to read it again after so long, and so much exposure to literature in the interim.I had a pleasant surprise! The language was adult, there was no "talking down" to the audience, and it hooked me in quite quickly, kept me turning the pages, caring about the characters. I'd forgotten most of the details in the intervening years. A flaming good story, and one that I can easily see leaving me wanting more; so there's every chance that Heinlein is responsible for me being a fan. Not that I'd be the only one, of course . . .How different it might have been: as I said to Nireena earlier, when she first mentioned it, we've had Madeline L'Engle's "A Wrinkle In Time" on our shelves for more than 20 years, but I hadn't read it until now. Wweeeeeelll now. I have read quite a lot of "childrens" fiction, some of which is every bit as complex, engaging and rewarding as "mainstream" or "adult" books, and others that are crude, condescending and best left alone. While "Wrinkle" is not the worst I've seen, it isn't top rank. The human characters I find quite believable; but the exotics are a bit harder to stomach. Theres a Happy Medium (presumably to be struck), and the villain is a naked brain called IT.But it was the bad science that really got me. The title is vaguely descriptive of the mode of interstellar transport used: "tessering", derived from a tesseract described as a five-dimensional construct, where time is the fourth dimension. Hence the "Wrinkle" is an allusion to the "folded-space" model of ftl travel.BUT But but - - - I'm sure that Maccabee will be the first in line to tell you that "tesseract" is derived from the Latin, derived in turn from the Greek tesseres, meaning

T Campbell · Post by **T Campbell** » Thu Jul 26, 2001 8:14 am

Geez. The ONE that got me hooked, or at least the one that was a bigger hook than any of the others.While I've been a fan of CHINTZY SF for as long as I can remember (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe started THAT ball rolling), my gateway drugs into some SF with actual thought behind it were the Hitchhiker's series and 100 Great Fantasy Short Short Stories. Everybody knows Hitchhiker's, but Stories, edited by Isaac Asimov, was what KEPT me reading SF. Some of the "twist endings" seem a little predictable to me now, but it worked like a karate chop to the brain when I was fifteen years old...

Bevan · Post by **Bevan** » Thu Jul 26, 2001 10:44 am

I was read a lot of children's fantasy as a little kid: the Hobbit, Narnia, the Dark is Rising, stuff like that. This meant that I got interested in fantasy as a young age and because of that my parents got me Basic D&D for my birthday when I was in grade 3. And that got the ball rolling. Ironically, I actually don't read too much fantasy anymore, or not fantasy as people usually consider it. I've been getting into mysticism and religion, and have been reading a lot of books (fact and fiction) about that, and have become somewhat jaded, and more then a little irritated with traditional fantasy (Tolkien, Weis and Hickman, etc.).

Animaniac · Post by **Animaniac** » Fri Jul 27, 2001 12:05 am

My gateway book into SciFi I still remember, although the author's name escapes me. The book was Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers. It was about a couple of college footbal players who invent a Hyperdrive in the backyard and hook it up to the team's jet to test it. They ended up on the other side of the galaxy having space opera adventures, including much sexual innuendo and how to create a bomb out of a cheap plastic wallet and the contents of an airplane bathroom. I was quite young, 3rd grade maybe, but I got most of the references. I was always percocious. <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif"> I started reading alot of Sci Fi then. My Mother was a trekkIE so my TV habits just progressed naturally from there.The first fantasy I remember was a girl named Shannon who lived down the street from me when I was about 5. Oops. hehe, wrong board.My first Fantasy book I remember is split between reading Narnia around the time I read Star Smashers and remembering my father reading The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings trilogy to my brothers and I. I had the entire Narnia boxed set, but only got 3-4 books in to it. So I would have to blame my father for getting me hooked on fantasy. I started playing D&D in 4th grade.Animaniac
::Having a pleasent trip down memory lane::

Valerie Elizabeth · Post by **Valerie Elizabeth** » Fri Jul 27, 2001 12:12 am

Oh my gosh?? What got me hooked??*makes a little eep of distress*My earliest exposure to Sci-Fi and Fantasy was through television. I grew up with a Trekkie... need I say more? I watched what my parents watched... Star Trek Next Generation is the first Sci-Fi show I remember being genuinely interested in... And I watched it from the pilot episode, even though I'm not sure how old I was at the time.. I watched a lot of Science Fiction movies too. Stuff I don't even remember, but my Mom says I demanded to watch over and over again.It's hard for me to really remember.. mostly because it's always been there. Where most people had to discover the genre and had to have a catalyst to start the addiction, it's always been a part of my life.And in that way, I suppose I'm sort of lucky.------------------
[begin Fans! code]
E(lta)M-B-FF-A---WFCk-r+y+a+s+w(s)IPI*Kc---Kt+Cp--b.w+Ll++
[end Fans! code]

Nireena · Post by **Nireena** » Fri Jul 27, 2001 5:11 am

Uh... the very first? Not really sure anymore. Narnia, Hitchhiker's, and Pern were among the earliest, but probably the one that really got me hooked on the entire scifi genre was "Ender's Game". No clue what the first fantasy one was- fantasy seemed a natural extension of the bedtime stories my parents read me.Muttley, re: Wrinkle- I think L'Engle did a good job getting across the idea of revulsion associated with IT, but I was mildly disappointed, too, that it turned out to be a big brain. And it shows you how long I've been working in information technology that I assumed IT stood for something, instead of just being "it" in capitals <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gif"> I liked the aliens that couldnt see; in fact, they were more interesting than some of the human characters (like that other boy who just stood around and provided emotional support). As for the science behind tessering- didn't catch the inconsistency; I kinda let it wash over me. For me, unless it's glaringly inaccurate (like in some of the early scifi stories), the science aspect of scifi falls into the category of "suspension of disbelief".

Roscoe · Post by **Roscoe** » Fri Jul 27, 2001 6:03 am

My story echoes that of Val...ST from an early age. I always liked Data and Geordi the best, followed by Mr. Spock.And I did see Empire and Jedi a couple of times, but Star Wars never really clicked for me until I saw A New Hope at age 9.The only connection I've ever had to fantasy was an ancient (read, first edition) Basic Dungeons & Dragons booklet I bought and some dice I found at a Cub Scouts event (within a week of one another...). Then I read the Hobbit for the first time. Meh. I liked Golem and Bilbo, but everything after Bilbo escaping the tunnels wasn't too interesting to me. What really got me into fantasy is, a few months ago, I bought some compilations at a book sale and discovered a story featuring a gent named Cudgel the Clever, which I thought was the best thing since sliced peanut butter. Still do. So I'm kind of getting into fantasy again.As to how I got into manga and anime...well, that's a story all its own, spanning well over 7 years...

Muttley · Post by **Muttley** » Fri Jul 27, 2001 6:06 am

T; Was it the Hitchhiker books that got you started? If so, how did you find the radio series (you may have encountered it as cassette tapes or CD's)? I consider myself fortunate to have heard the radio show first; "42" is still my benchmark for comic effect. For me, the books are less effective, and the television series is frankly embarassing in places.I'm not familiar with the Asimov-edited anthology, but I am still a short-story fan. There's something about the discipline inherent in writing shorts that makes them extremely effective (when they work) Consider for instance The Cold Equations, Nightfall, The Nine Billion Names of God, First Contact, With Folded Hands, Mimsy Were the Borogoves - well, you get the picture.Bevan; I sympathise with your frustration regarding fantasy: there is so much published now, most of it unimpressive, but stretching to three volumes or more each. Life's too short to plough through them all; have you not managed to find a reviewer/reviewers that you can calibrate as a guide?Another way to go could be mythology: I found Norse saga's to be entertaining (and incedentally exposing a lot of Tolkiens influences): Njal's Saga, Laxdaele Saga, The Prose Edda, that sort of thing. Nireena: You thought that the villain in "Wrinkle" was I.T.??? As IT professionals, we both know that that is both funny and slightly scary . . .I suppose I ought to confess that my knowledge of the tesseract comes from Mr. Robert Heinlein (beginning to sound like a stuck record, I am). One of his short's, "...And He Built a Crooked House" is about a man who buys a house in Laurel Canyon that has been built in the form of an "unfolded" tesseract; then an earth tremor happens when he's inside it, and it folds up . . .Maccabee: Star Trek is, in my opinion, a benchmark in the genre; like 2001, like Star Wars, they raise the ceiling for every subsequent effort."The Wall of Years", Andrew Stephenson: - noted; inter-library loan request being written right now <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.g ... >Mojosurge: ahah, another Heinlein convert, we must do our best to balance out these Tolkien-fantasy-fans <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gif"> In fact I found "Cat" unsatisfying, perhaps because "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" is almost my favourite Heinlein. Dystopia's - hah! let me tell you, I got heartily sick of dystopia's in the Cold-War-fuelled glut of post-apocalypse stories that abounded in the '60's. Doom, gloom, we're all gonna die . . . eventually you cry enough! and go and find something entertaining to read.Animainiac: "Star Smashers" is by Harry Harrison (its in my collection) A most apposite suggestion; you did know that Harrison spent some time as a writer for Green Lantern, didn't you????
Muttley

FrustratedPilot · Post by **FrustratedPilot** » Fri Jul 27, 2001 6:42 am

It was an issue of the Charlton comic "Doomsday Plus 3". My maternal grandmother had it and some other comic books around for when we kids would visit her. Of course if I saw it today, I'd probably gag on it.TV hooked me first. Space: 1999. The TV versions of the Marvel Comics superheroes (Spiderman, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four). The Six Million Dollar Man. Project UFO (which was NOT the Gerrymation UFO, but an entirely different series, more like X-Files--which was why I never bothered with X-Files at all, I thought I'd already seen it).

Athene Parthenos · Post by **Athene Parthenos** » Fri Jul 27, 2001 6:46 am

The first books were the Chronicals of Narnia, the Wrinkle in Time Series, and Astrid Lingrid's Ronia, the Robber's Daughter. But I think that I was into fantasy long beforehand as I can remember playing Star Wars with my friends when we were 4 and going to see E.T. when it came out.------------------
Athene Parthenos
Goddess of Wisdom
(not spelling)

Maccabee · Post by **Maccabee** » Fri Jul 27, 2001 7:05 am

In the summer of 1980 I went into a gift shop where my kindergarten teacher worked during "vacation" (gotta love teachers' pay, huh?) I saw a book called The Wall of Years by Andrew M. Stephenson and was just instinctively drawn to it. Of course it was beyond me -- I was only six at the time and the technical details of time travel made me give up immediately.My brother was a Tolkein fanatic, and he loaned me a copy of The Hobbit when I was seven or so. Again I had a false start. The openning bit about hobbit holes seemed overly silly, I guess, and I only read the first couple of pages. I tried again not too much later and devoured the book. Then I devoured The Lord of the Rings. When we went up to grandmommy's place I'd bring it with me and read the trilogy during the weekend. I must have read it a dozen times by the time I was ten. Of course that made me look at other fantasy too, and I liked the Oz books and The Prydain Chronicles. I eventually got around to L'Engle's book and enjoyed it rather alot (this was before I'd taken Latin <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gif">). I thought it was really good at the time, and still think it's a fine piece of fluffy juvenile sf/fantasy (it sort of straddles the line, I think).My introduction to sci-fi (second attempt) was Asimov's The Rest of the Robots short story collection. This time it took, and I've been hooked ever since.My intro to TV sci-fi was Doctor Who which channel 9 used to broadcast. The first episode I recall seeing was from the "Inferno" seven-part story from 1970 (ironically this was from the season that started Muttley drifting away from the series).I got hooked on Trek a few years later (when I was 12 or so) and only recently have recovered. Of course, you're never completely cured. I bought a first edition Original Series Tech Manual last month. {{sobs}} It's never over...Incidentally, I found another copy of The Wall of Years at a con not too long ago and tried again -- it was an absolutely brilliant book.------------------
Risus est telum ultimum contra tyrranem. Nullus dictator exercitibus allibus ridiculem vulgi longe resistare potest.

Czhorat · Post by **Czhorat** » Fri Jul 27, 2001 7:30 am

I started with Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke. When I was a wee lad, my father took me to the SF section of the kid's section in our local library and pointed out some of the things he liked. I think Heinlein's juveniles were my first real SF addiction (I recall titles like Citizen of the Galaxy, Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, and quite a few others). Through the next few years, he introduced me to Fred Pohl and Larry Niven. His sister had a fairly sizable collection of sf paperbacks from a book club or something. When she saw me reading Heinlein she lent me some old Poul Anderson, more Asimov, and several others.The ironic thing about this is that Dad hasn't read any SF in years. He's mainly into junky political thrillers these days. I, meanwhile, am a full-fledged fan. It wasn't until High School that I met any others who even remotely shared my fandom, but that's a different topic....

Wish · Post by **Wish** » Fri Jul 27, 2001 7:51 am

Oh, Narnia, right off the bat. My dad read them to us when my brothers and I were young children and we couldn't get enough. I still remember laying in bed in the evening and seeing the cave of Mr. Tumus, and shivering over the exotic, imagined flavor of Turkish Delights, a candy worth selling your soul for...I've always loved fantasy, but what brought me out of my Black Stallion and Nancy Drew phase and into the world of Heinlin, Asimov, and Ellison was none other than Ray Bradbury. His books drew me to the science fiction section of the library and planted me there until I'd read nearly every book on the shelves. Even today, I can go back to the same library and honestly say that I've read three of any five books in the section.-Wish
Cutting it off before the self-love drives everyone away.

Mojosurge · Post by **Mojosurge** » Fri Jul 27, 2001 8:18 am

I would have to blame my grandparents and my Uncle. They started me on a diet of Dr. Who, Robotech, and comics from an early age. The only place to move to was books. I read mostly fantasy, then my Uncle tossed me a copy of "The Cat Who Could Walk Through Walls." The beginning of the end was upon me. After that I went on a Heinlein crazed binge followed closely by C.J. Cherryh and Orson Scott Card fueled reading. Both of whom I respect for different reasons. I like the darker Sci-fi. Call me what you will, but Dystopias are much more interesting to me than Utopias. So, I have to mention Gibson and Stephenson. Cyberpunk is alive and well, it just looks more and more like the world around us.[This message has been edited by Mojosurge (edited 07-27-2001).]

Mephron · Post by **Mephron** » Fri Jul 27, 2001 9:37 am

I was seven.I had gotten all A's on my third-grade report card for the first quarter.My parents told me I could pick a movie as a reward.I chose 'Star Wars'.The rest is infamy.

Bevan · Post by **Bevan** » Fri Jul 27, 2001 10:27 am

I'm actually reading a fair amount of mythology now, I've always been interested in it. I suppose I lost interest because a) I found that my interests were getting very inbred, b) I lost interest in heroic quests, c) I started reading a lot about real religions.Reading about real religions did a few things. Firstly, the stuff in that is more complex and fascinating then the stuff in most fantasy. This also got me interested in philosophy. A lot of the stuff in fantasy just seemed like pale imitations of religious stuff with a lot of the work not as interesting. Secondly, I become more interested in religion and philosophy then in heroic mythology. Instead of grand quests and dragon-slaying I started to read more on stuff which delt with religious and philosophical issues. I turned more towards Umberto Eco then Weis and Hickman.A lot of the traditional stuff in fantasy just bugs me. They tend to have a lot of polarization of cultures, 2-dimensional groups, and simplistic religions. Which frequently are like real-world ones with the interesting metaphysical stuff taken out of. They also tend to glorify battle.That said, there are many brilliant fantasy books: the Earthsea series, the Worm Ouroboros, the Last Unicorn, and many others. BUT, I've read a lot of fantasy, and I want to try other stuff now.Keep in mind that by fantasy, I mainly mean ones in invented worlds or heroic-type. I still love supernatural fiction, but the ones I read now have to do more with discussing the nature of God or the human soul instead of destroying the Dark Lore.

Tuscahoma · Post by **Tuscahoma** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 2:39 am

We were supposed to read a book and write a book report on it (had to be like 4th grade or something). I found a book of science fiction and fantasy short stories (had one called "The Smallest Dragonboy" by Anne McCaffrey). I was hooked. The librarian suggested another book to base my book report on, "A Wrinkle in Time". Then I was really hooked!--Tuscahoma

Matrygg · Post by **Matrygg** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 5:50 am

First time I've posted to this board...Anyway, I think I got interested in fantasy and sci-fi because my folks took me to see Star Wars and E.T. From there, I just started reading it like there was no tomorrow. First Sci-Fi, then as time went on, more into fantasy.Now I'm reading mythology, and planning on getting my PhD. in medieval lit. I don't read as much Fantasy as I did, but anything that's well written (which to me means having a logical, cohesive world -- like Tolkien) tends to draw me.I also find myself reading a lot of comics, too -- archtypical stuff, like the JLA, or Vertigo.--Matt

Wish · Post by **Wish** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 7:53 am

Welcome to the board, matrygg! Always room for one more, you know. <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/biggrin.gif">-Wish
Scary Laugh Mama

Mojosurge · Post by **Mojosurge** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 9:18 am

Muttley:But the foot.... the foot was the end all be all of TNSTAAFL. Plus, what's cooler then saying "Mark the time record so we can evacuate that station next operation."? Mike the Computer is in 'Harsh' right? I ahve that sitting on teh shelf, but I haven't read it. I think I will after my current backload. I am more then happy to throw in my glove for the Sci-Fi side. Love fantasy, but I want to fly a space fighter more <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif">.