Which story first turned you on to SF?

[Tango Alpha Delta]

I'm trying to get my 10-y.o. daughter into sci-fi, but I'm terrible and recommendations.  "Here, kid, try 'Cryptonomicon'" is as likely to cross my lips as anything (which is why I usually keep my lips shut!)

She has, of course, burned through all of the Narnia and Harry Potter books, and is working on Artemis Fowl.  I got her to read Wrinkle in Time, and she started on A Wind in the Door.  She adored Ender's Game, though I'm pretty sure the sequels will be a bit much for her.  And she discovered Cornelia Funke's Inkheart all on her own.

Ah, and she started on some Anne McCaffrey stuff with minimal prodding; it's hard to tell what a 10-yog will find "boring"...

[Zathras]

 I can't remember which came first, but in 6th grade I read Ben Bova's "Exiles Trilogy" and Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama" and they both blew me away.  Back then my small town library had a very limited sci-fi selection so I couldn't get much.  Now my home is chock full of paperbacks thanks to the local sci-fi bookstore.    

[Planish]

I'd have to confess it was probably some of the early Tom Swift stories, beginning with Tom Swift and His Ultrasonic Cycloplane when I was 10 years old or so (ca. 1963). A bit later it would've been all of the Heinlein juveniles and various annual compilations.

[Leon Kensington]

I think my first was the Star Wars New Jedi Order series, but my first serious one was Dune, soon followed by Revelation Space.

And for fantasy it was the Dresden Files.

[Brian Reilly]

I came to SF through means other than literature. Films such as the Star Wars trilogy, Blade Runner (I watched this at far too young an age) etc, TV (yes, Doctor Who played a big part), comics (for example, 2000 AD), RPGs. I read from the library when I was wee, and SF formed the bulk of my selections- probably because it looked similar to my non-reading interests. I don't remember much of it, but I did have a taste for Doctor who novelisations when i was young. And Asimov's robot anthologies.

What made me an avid reader of Sf novels was Ian M Banks Culture books. These mark the transition between picking up a couple of interesting library books and actually seeking out good-quality SF. Why Banks? He's the top Scottish genre author, so his books were prominently displayed in the SF section of the big bookshop in town.

As for fantasy, my dad persuaded me to read The Hobbit, and LOTR. They were the epitome of fantasy in my mind, until I discovered the Earthsea books. And Discworld. I also read Narnia- because I loved the BBC TV series (laughable special effects and all). I wonder if many people are first discovering SF or fantasy through print these days. Perhaps getting into print SF through films, TV etc is the norm now.

And, no doubt, there are those whose first SF story was delivered to them via a podcatcher.

[RichGarner]

For me it was "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Ray Bradbury. I recently discovered that this was recorded as radio drama in the 1940s under the title "There Will Come Soft Rains" which is the name of the poem referenced in the story.

I loved this story because it was haunting, creepy and perfectly illustrated the human desire for comfort and luxury. The most interesting aspect of this story was that it did not have any characters.  (Unless you consider the rotting carcass of a dog as such.)

[SFEley]

For me it was "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Ray Bradbury. I recently discovered that this was recorded as radio drama in the 1940s under the title "There Will Come Soft Rains" which is the name of the poem referenced in the story.

I'm fairly sure "There Will Come Soft Rains" is the name of the Bradbury story, too.  "The Fall of the House of Usher" was by Edgar Allen Poe. 

(However, Bradbury wrote a story called "Usher II" which is also in The Martian Chronicles.)

[RichGarner]

For me it was "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Ray Bradbury. I recently discovered that this was recorded as radio drama in the 1940s under the title "There Will Come Soft Rains" which is the name of the poem referenced in the story.

I'm fairly sure "There Will Come Soft Rains" is the name of the Bradbury story, too.  "The Fall of the House of Usher" was by Edgar Allen Poe. 

(However, Bradbury wrote a story called "Usher II" which is also in The Martian Chronicles.)

That's it: "Usher II." I only remember because it was my fist audiobook on tape. It was read by Leonard Nimoy and it is one of my favorite stories to this day. But I haven't found it since then.

[timprov]

Star War got me interested but this show called Star Blazers got me hooked. The first book I ever remember reading was I think called "The lights in the sky"  about a UFO that crashed into the backyard of a teenage boy.  Thinking back it was very ET like but I can't remember if I read it before or after ET came out.  Of course, before novels I read comic books which I still love as well.

[Nfidel]

Hi folks. First time poster, long time listener.
I didn't really read much that wasn't forced on me at school until my late teens. Still, because of old monster  and space movies I came to the love both genres. (Don't know the plural of that one) As a very religious family, the only thing I was encouraged to read outside of school was the Bible. Naturally, given my previously mentioned love of horror and sci fi, I gravitated to the book of Revelations. Although I'm better now,  I knew it well in Elementary school.

 Later, probably not until high school, I began reading HG Wells and Jules Verne. I suppose they really are the ones who turned me on to SF. On second thought, I remember having to read Poe in elementary grades, but that was really horror.

[Simon Painter]

I was mostly introduced to SF by my Dad, my parents are thankfully both into all sorts of weird things    as a result the first bit of SF I was ever involved with was probably either the pilot episode of Doctor Who, An Unearthly Child (I'm not that old, there was a repeat run on BBC during the 90s) or 2001: A Space Odyssey.  I have to admit that the first time I watched 2001 (I was probably around 10) it freaked me out to the point that I switched it off    Though it's since become one of my favorite films after reading the book at Secondry School (I'd be about 12 at that point).

Fantasy-wise I know the exact book.  I was probably around 7, and utterly fed up of the books I was offered in Primary School, so my Mum recomended one of her favorites: The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, which completely blew me away.  I've never looked back since 

Simon Painter
Shropshire, UK

[ajames]

I really can't say which was the first story that got me into scifi, or even the most influential.  But there were a few that I remember had a big impact on me, many of which have already been posted.

The Narnia Chronicles: Wonderfully imaginative stories.  I got the Aslan-Christ connection, which didn't effect my enjoyment of the stories really one way or another [seeing those children fight for god and country in the movie repulsed me, but that's another topic].

A Wrinkle in Time: I can still see all those children outside their homes, bouncing their balls in unison.

The Martian Chronicles: I was in sixth grade or so when I read those stories, and they blew my mind.

A little later it was The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Asimov's Foundation Series.

And, yeah, Star Wars was cool, but I got hooked on Space 1999.

[BrandtPileggi]

A small compilation called 6xH (six by H) by Robert Heinlein. The main story was 'The unpleasent profession of Jonathan Hoag' but it also had the man who built a crooked house. From there I read 'Stranger in a Strange Land' and 'The cat who walks through walls' (all Heinlein) and it was over. SF books for every birthday and Christmas from then on.

[Mfitz]

I know this is blasphamy, but I really don't like Heinline.  I never got into his juvinile stories and I just don't care for any of his adult work.  Many people I know love his stuff so I've tried over and over to like his fiction, but the more I read the more dislike it.

[Nfidel]

I know this is blasphamy, but I really don't like Heinline.  I never got into his juvinile stories and I just don't care for any of his adult work.  Many people I know love his stuff so I've tried over and over to like his fiction, but the more I read the more dislike it.

There's nothing wrong with that. I've never read his juvenile works, but have read much of his other stuff. His male characters sometimes come across as demeaning to woman in their attitudes, yet their actions prove otherwise. His dialogue sometimes sounds like a Humphry Bogart movie, but I still enjoy his ideas and stories. Well, the last one I read was a bit bizzarro. "Time Enough for Love". He goes back in time, meets his mother and, well, I won't spoil it. But bizzarro. He sure wasn't afraid to tackle the most despised taboos.

[timprov]

Well, the last one I read was a bit bizzarro. "Time Enough for Love".

Yeah, bizzarro is a very kind way to describe that part you're talking about, and, oddly enough, that wasn't really the strangest part in the book! 

[Nelka]

Coming in a little late to this thread, but for me it was The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.  An old boyfriend's friend lent it to me and I done for.

[raygunray]

Actually, my conversion to SF was because of a short story anthology, Dangerous Visions.  I found it at Circus McGurkis in Tampa at used book stall for 50 cents.  To that point, I didn't care for written SF because it was cold and technocratic.  However, I discovered writers like Delany, Sturgeon, Farmer and other who wrote like surgeons wield a scalpel, swiftly excising the matter and showing it in all its multivariate forms.  It was a brillant marriage of heart and mind and the writers' literary skills were equal to a Nabakov or other great modern master.

However, the cost of the voyage was putting up with Harlan Ellison's, the editor, name-dropping and Svengalistic intro's  of the newer writers. I eventually read his stories and by far they are excellent, but his plus-size ego and LA attitude put me off. 

Dangerous Visions 2 wasn't as thunderous as the first, but it had an excellent Vonnegut story.  It turned me on to other new writers like James Tiptree.

[Michael]

Starship Troopers, by Heinlein.  I got to know him while he was alive and living at Bonny Doon, and his widow and I remained in touch after his death, even after she moved to Florida--he was a great lifelong influence.

I think it is a generational thing. The 60's were Heinlein's time--he won more Hugo's than anyone, ever.  No idea if his record has been surpassed, but he wrote "science" fiction.  Most stuff written today is fantasy, or at best speculative--nothing wrong with that, I think people feel science has gotten too complex to understand, and would rather read about magic dragons.   

[Kaa]

The earliest stories I can remember in the three main genres are:

Sci-fi: Ray Bradbury's "Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed."  It was in about fifth grade that I read it along with one whose title I can't remember. It was by either Clarke or Bradbury or Asimov (I think) and it was about a class of kids on Venus during one of the very rare times when the rain stops falling, and some mean kids lock this one little girl from Earth in the closet so she misses the whole thing.  If you know the name of this, let me know.

Fantasy: Zilpha Keatley Snider's "Greensky Trilogy" (Below The Root, ...And All Between, and Until the Celebration) at around the same time, plus the Narnia series when I was 13 and sick with chicken pox.

Horror: The first full-on horror novel I ever read was Steven King's The Shining when I was in sixth grade (so I was about 12).

I also read one of the Mars stories by one of the Big Three when I was in about 4th grade, but I don't remember anything but having read it, so I don't count it.

[Listener]

For me, it was the original Star Trek.

[jrderego]

The earliest stories I can remember in the three main genres are:

Sci-fi: Ray Bradbury's "Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed."  It was in about fifth grade that I read it along with one whose title I can't remember. It was by either Clarke or Bradbury or Asimov (I think) and it was about a class of kids on Venus during one of the very rare times when the rain stops falling, and some mean kids lock this one little girl from Earth in the closet so she misses the whole thing.  If you know the name of this, let me know.

Fantasy: Zilpha Keatley Snider's "Greensky Trilogy" (Below The Root, ...And All Between, and Until the Celebration) at around the same time, plus the Narnia series when I was 13 and sick with chicken pox.

Horror: The first full-on horror novel I ever read was Steven King's The Shining when I was in sixth grade (so I was about 12).

I also read one of the Mars stories by one of the Big Three when I was in about 4th grade, but I don't remember anything but having read it, so I don't count it.

All Summer in a Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Summer_in_a_Day

That one, Dark they Were and Golden Eyed, I Sing the Body Electric, The Veldt, and at least few more of Bradbury's stories were in my primary readers in elementary school. I probably read at least two of his a year from 1st - 6th grade now that I think of it!

[Zathras]

Another writer I got in to as a kid was Clifford Simak.  I grew up in small town WI, where many of his stories were based.  I imagined Way Station taking place on my Grandfather's farm.   His tales were very humane and the settings really connected with me at the time.   

I wonder if any of his stories have been considered for EP? 

[JoeFitz]

I read Heinlein's Friday as a teenager and couldn't put it down. It took me years to read anything else in science fiction, as I was mostly reading fantasy, adventure and horror at the time.

Some early things F&SF that caught my attention, in retrospect, were a compilation of Canadian French folk tales about Ti-Jean, the Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper, Diane Duane's Support your Local Wizard, Piers Anthony's Macroscope still amazes me, Tintin's Destination Moon and many others in the series had elements of F&SF. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory led me to the rest of Roald Dahl, including James and the Giant Peach. I picked up Jane Yolan's Dragon's Blood series at some point and blazed through it and the rest of her work. I wasn't until recently that I started a more systematic return to SciFi classics, and found a few things I felt I should have read earlier. A recent 'discovery' was E.E. Smith's Lensmen series.

I'll never read enough.

Cheers,
JoeFitz