Author Topic: What's the first science fiction story you remember reading?  (Read 28721 times)

SonofSpermcube

  • Guest
My dad had me read "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel" by Heinlein when I was 7.  I read all the Heinlein I could get my hands on (mostly what my dad or the library had, and the occasional used book) until I was in my teens, and some of the other big authors of the era, and a lot of others whose names I forget, though I'd probably recognize them if I found them now.  Almost always novels, rarely short stories. 

It wasn't until about 2009 that I developed a taste for short stories, and I didn't find Escape Pod until 2011. 



lowky

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2717
  • from http://lovecraftismissing.com/?page_id=3142
Reply #1 on: October 14, 2013, 06:23:12 AM
probably a tom swift novel, think johnny quest if unfamiliar.   Frankenstein was also early, probably third grade


Bdoomed

  • Pseudopod Tiger
  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 5891
  • Mmm. Tiger.
Reply #2 on: October 14, 2013, 07:59:40 AM
That's a tough one.  There was probably something before it, but as for something I remember reading, it would be Animorphs.  Read the whole series, devoured it.

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


eytanz

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 6109
Reply #3 on: October 14, 2013, 08:38:18 AM
When I was about 9, my father had a research assistant who had taken a liking to me. She would often talk to me about what I was reading, and eventually gave me a book of Asimov short stories to read. I'm pretty sure that was my first SF.



Fenrix

  • Curmudgeonly Co-Editor of PseudoPod
  • Editor
  • *****
  • Posts: 3996
  • I always lock the door when I creep by daylight.
Reply #4 on: October 14, 2013, 12:41:04 PM
I'm gonna have to go with either Tom Swift or Asimov's Robby the Robot stories. Fantasy lit me up more at an early age, so I'd have a much longer list of what the first of those could be, but still nothing definite.

All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”


Windup

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1226
Reply #5 on: October 14, 2013, 01:01:49 PM

It's really, really hard to remember.  I know I was fan of "Astro Boy" before I could read, so I know my interest in SF stories goes way, way back.  The first science fiction book I can remember is "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."  I can picture the cover -- one of those Scholastic paperback books that could be ordered through the school when I was growing up.  So I think that might have been the first, though that seems like an awfully difficult read to be the first one.

"My whole job is in the space between 'should be' and 'is.' It's a big space."


matweller

  • EA Staff
  • *****
  • Posts: 678
Reply #6 on: October 14, 2013, 05:56:32 PM
When I was a kid, I watched a lot of sic-fi on tv [I specifically remember Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, V and this one episode of Ray Bradbury Theater called Mars is Heaven (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6YcI5UzumA)], but mostly read fantasy like CS Lewis and the standard kid books from Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. There were probably one or two before, but the first I recall reading was Crighton's Terminal Man. Fahrenheit 451 would have been about that time too.



Devoted135

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1252
Reply #7 on: October 14, 2013, 06:57:50 PM
I read a lot more fantasy than sci fi as a kid (actually, that trend continued into my mid-twenties). So, I'm going to slightly stretch the genre and say that The Giver was probably the first sci fi that I ever read. Actually, I'm surprising myself in that I can't really think of much other sci fi that I read prior to late high school/college.



Ocicat

  • Castle Watchcat
  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 3722
  • Anything for a Weird Life
Reply #8 on: October 14, 2013, 08:54:17 PM
I watched a lot of Star Trek and Twilight Zone as a kid.  My older brother (and to a lesser degree my father) had a large collection of SF books, and I was pretty fascinated by them.  I remember making a conscious decision to start investigating SF when I was about in 3rd grade.  I decided the best way to do that was to start with the oldest books they had, and thus get the foundations of the genre.  Ya, I was that kind of kid.  Anyway, I started with 2,000 Leagues Under the Sea, then War of the Worlds, and The Time Machine.  I then worked my way up to Asimov, Heinlein, and Bradbury. 



Darwinist

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 701
Reply #9 on: October 15, 2013, 12:12:17 AM
I remember having to read The Martian Chronicles in 7th grade for an English class.  The first book I read that I chose was Rendezvous with Rama, probably later in 7th grade. 

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.    -  Carl Sagan


kibitzer

  • Purveyor of Unsolicited Opinions
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2228
  • Kibitzer: A meddler who offers unwanted advice
Reply #10 on: October 15, 2013, 02:01:38 AM
The first one I remember re-reading obsessively is 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was pretty big on Clarke over just about everyone else (then).


stePH

  • Actually has enough cowbell.
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 3906
  • Cool story, bro!
    • Thetatr0n on SoundCloud
Reply #11 on: October 23, 2013, 07:43:43 PM
The first I remember reading is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle. I'm sure I'd read some SF prior, but that one made the impression; I can't remember anything beforehand.

"Nerdcore is like playing Halo while getting a blow-job from Hello Kitty."
-- some guy interviewed in Nerdcore Rising


matweller

  • EA Staff
  • *****
  • Posts: 678
Reply #12 on: October 23, 2013, 08:13:38 PM
OOh, good call. That puts my sic-fi roots earlier...about 8 or 9 years old.

As an aside, I first heard of A Wrinkle in Time on an old PBS show called Storybound where this guy John Robbins would narrate a book and draw pictures of the story in pastels or chalk as the narration played. I seem to remember he drew 2 or 3 pictures for this and at least one -- the man with the red eyes -- was quite stirring. It's a sin these aren't available on YouTube.
http://www.worldcat.org/title/wrinkle-in-time/oclc/6698640



SonofSpermcube

  • Guest
Reply #13 on: October 24, 2013, 04:08:02 PM
I remember THAT I read that book (~6th grade), but I don't remember much about it. 



Cutter McKay

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 952
  • "I was the turkey the whoooole time!"
    • Detention Block AA23
Reply #14 on: October 24, 2013, 04:50:11 PM
I was raised by Trekkie parents, so sci-fi has been a staple for my entire life. I can't pinpoint the exact first sci-fi I read, I recall my mom reading the Start Wars trilogy to us during evening meals. Like SonofSpermcube, I owned a copy of Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, but I can't say for certain when I read that. I can say without a doubt the first sci-fi book I couldn't put down, reading well into the wee hours of the morning every night, was Jurassic Park. This began my love affair of Crichton, I've read it all and loved it all, with the exception of Pirate Latitudes, which I think I've mentioned before most likely has Crichton turning over in his grave.  :-\

-Josh Morrey-
http://joshmorreywriting.blogspot.com/
"Remember: You have not yet written your best work." -Tracy Hickman


matweller

  • EA Staff
  • *****
  • Posts: 678
Reply #15 on: October 24, 2013, 06:31:33 PM
Oh, wait, I can go back to age 4! I totally had The Black Hole book & tape!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi1uUHPZB_c

For the record, the book & tape was the biggest casualty in the media changeover from cassette to CD, IMO. Kids live lesser lives for them not being around anymore.



Talia

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 2682
  • Muahahahaha
Reply #16 on: October 24, 2013, 07:32:41 PM
The very first one, I'm pretty sure, was Bradbury's 'A Sound of Thunder' (that's the dinosaurs/butterfly one. I had to look up the title). reprinted in one of my Dad's 'Playboy' magazines which I was paging through for some reason (I'm not into ladies. Perhaps it was for the cartoons!).



bounceswoosh

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 305
Reply #17 on: October 25, 2013, 02:17:57 AM
Split Infinity by Piers Anthony. At least half of it was sci fi, right?  Pretty steamy series for a fifth grader.



Fenrix

  • Curmudgeonly Co-Editor of PseudoPod
  • Editor
  • *****
  • Posts: 3996
  • I always lock the door when I creep by daylight.
Reply #18 on: October 25, 2013, 01:09:37 PM

Split Infinity by Piers Anthony. At least half of it was sci fi, right?  Pretty steamy series for a fifth grader.


And to be fair, the science fiction half is the more compelling part. I think this one was seventh or eighth grade for me.

All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”


Talia

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 2682
  • Muahahahaha
Reply #19 on: October 25, 2013, 01:19:13 PM
Oh man, I LOVED that series! At least the first three. There were more after that, but they weren't as good.

Say what you will about the writing overall, but I loved the description of the "games" in the future/sci-fi side of the universe.



Cutter McKay

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 952
  • "I was the turkey the whoooole time!"
    • Detention Block AA23
Reply #20 on: October 25, 2013, 01:46:06 PM
The more I think about it, the first sci-fi book I actually read by myself might have been The Forgotten Door, by Alexander Key.

-Josh Morrey-
http://joshmorreywriting.blogspot.com/
"Remember: You have not yet written your best work." -Tracy Hickman


DKT

  • Friendly Neighborhood
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 4980
  • PodCastle is my Co-Pilot
    • Psalms & Hymns & Spiritual Noir
Reply #21 on: October 25, 2013, 04:13:42 PM
Wow. I don't really remember what I first read - Star Wars was my first exposure, as well as Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and Buck Rodgers. I do totally remember my dad reading A Wrinkle in Time to me, along with The Time Machine and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

There were a couple of books that I can't remember now that I did book reports on in elementary. One really confused me, because it was about some high school kids who were time traveling, and at one point that traveled into the future (early 70s). And I was reading this in the 80s and was TOTALLY confused. There was also one about a boy who lived in an underwater base with his family and somehow Martians were involved, even though (I think) it took place on Earth.

As far as books go, I remember reading 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Frankenstein, and Something Wicked This Way Comes (Fantasy/Horror, I know, but still) all in my sophomore HS English class. That was a very good year.


MarsGirl

  • Extern
  • *
  • Posts: 4
  • Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor not a critic!
Reply #22 on: October 25, 2013, 08:06:01 PM
It had to be something by Louise Lawrence... a junior sci-fi author from my youth. The first novels I ever read were Nancy Drew. And I remember that as I ended that series, I found these books in the library with the little planet symbol on them.... and I read one... and I was hooked.

I remember reading Calling B for Butterfly by Louise Lawrence which I think was about a girl who survives some sort of catastrophic failure of a mission or ship near Jupiter? I remember liking it, but not the plot so much. I also loved Children of the Dust, by the same author, which was about several characters surviving a post-nuclear war apocalypse. I own that book.

I also read a lot of D. M. Hoover. She wrote a ton of sci-fi and I must have read every book. I own The Delikon which I found in a used book store a few years ago.



Cutter McKay

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 952
  • "I was the turkey the whoooole time!"
    • Detention Block AA23
Reply #23 on: October 25, 2013, 08:48:37 PM
If we're talking first books of any genre that you chose to read on your own, not selected by your parents, the earliest books I remember reading, checked out from the elementary school library are the Boxcar Children series, the Hardy Boys, and a while lotta Choose Your Own Adventures. I couldn't get enough of those as a kid   :)

-Josh Morrey-
http://joshmorreywriting.blogspot.com/
"Remember: You have not yet written your best work." -Tracy Hickman


DKT

  • Friendly Neighborhood
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 4980
  • PodCastle is my Co-Pilot
    • Psalms & Hymns & Spiritual Noir
Reply #24 on: October 25, 2013, 09:26:01 PM
Oh, yeah. I read a TON of the Hardy Boys and Choose Your Own Adventures. The Choose Your Own Adventures were great.

My daughter is very into Nancy Drew right now, which is pretty fun. They're not the best written books by a long shot, and Nancy (much like Frank and Joe Hard, I suspect) is a very flat character without any flaws. But she lurves them, and is having a blast reading them.