What's the first science fiction story you remember reading?

[Talia]

I loved Nancy when I was a kid too, though my favorite favorites were always the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys crossover books. They, Christopher Pike books and non-Goosebump R.L. Stine books were what I read in abundance in middle school.

[Devoted135]

Yeah, Boxcar children, Nancy Drew, and (I'm slightly ashamed) Babysitter's Club and Saddle Club were my all-time favorites in 2nd-4th grade. The Accelerated Reader program got me to branch out widely in 5th grade, for which I'm forever grateful. That's also when I discovered the Redwall series, a deep and lasting love of mine.

[lowky]

first "genre" and loose at that was probably the Encyclopedia brown Mysteries.  I was reading those in first and second grade off the "third grader shelf.  I think by late 4th I hade exhausted most of the elem. library and would read hot rod mags during library time, as it was about the only "new" materials.

[Scattercat]

Children's books are kind of weird, genre-wise.  They're all kind of magical realism, if you think about it.

[Fenrix]

The Three Investigators were more fun that Nancy or the Hardys. I spent a lot of time in the 3rd tier with Trixie Belden, who was at least mildly flawed.

[Scattercat]

God, yes, the Three Investigators.  I gave away my collection when I was a teenager because I did not yet know about nostalgia, and man do I miss them.  (If anyone knows where I can get ahold of the books again, give me a ring.)

[Sgarre1]

THE THREE INVESTIGATORS were my favorite books as a kid (I have almost all of the original run in hardcover) - and my love for this series, initially written by Robert A. Arthur, has led to a special upcoming episode of PSEUDOPOD!

[Scattercat]

Like, I read a few Hardy Boys books, but the Hardy brothers were all outdoorsy and athletic and generally gross.  I couldn't empathize with them at all.  (For some reason, I had decided that their friend Chet was a fat nerdy loser like me, and there was one book that featured large segments of Chet being helpful, so I kept that one around for a long time.)  The Three Investigators were led by an uber-nerd who also had the hands-down coolest goddamn clubhouse of all time.  Not even a contest.

I think technically I read some twenty-page chapter book about an alien that came to Earth in a cereal box when I was in kindergarten or the first grade or so, and I know I read Bruce Coville's "My Teacher is an Alien" in first grade (because our class had to wait for the second run of buses in Ms. Erwin's room, and she taught second grade and had a bookshelf full of actual books instead of picture book crap, so I snuck in a chapter or two every day during that 10-15 minute wait.  For some reason I was convinced that what I was doing wasn't allowed and it never occurred to me to just ask to borrow the book.)

[Ocicat]

the Hardy brothers were all outdoorsy and athletic and generally gross.  I couldn't empathize with them at all.

I read a few Hardy Boys books, and didn't like them, but didn't really realize why.  I just knew they weren't as awesome as Encyclopedia Brown, despite my appreciating the longer form stories.  Nancy Drew was okay though.  In retrospect, you've clearly put your paw on exactly why the Hardy Boys never resonated with me.

I never heard of the Three Investigators though.  Not sure why that is.

[bounceswoosh]

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.

I blame this series for the fact that I often say "green" when I mean orange, and "orange" when I mean green.  The plant magic one was orange and the fire magic one was green - it permanently crossed my wires.

To be honest, I think I liked the fantasy side better.  The sci fi side seemed just too dystopian and anti-egalitarian.

[bounceswoosh]

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.

I read them all. I definitely agree they got worse - and weird. I mostly remember a large chunk of a book devoted to a human trying to keep up with a were-mare's libido while she was in heat?  Piers Anthony, man.  Kinda like Heinlein that way.

[kibitzer]

The Three Investigators I read and re-read a lot. They were great. Although I do remember that the cover of The Mystery of the Green Ghost gave me nightmares -- this ghostly green Mandarin figure with long fingernails and evil intent, gliding down a stairway. Honestly, it did literally give me bad dreams. I was a sensitive child.

[Sgarre1]

It certainly was a chiller!

[PotatoKnight]

Almost certainly not the first I read, but I do distinctly remember devouring Janet & Isaac Asmiov's Norby books as a pretty young one.  A Wrinkle in Time was right around then as well.  I still remember the sensation of that book expanding my mind.  It was the first book I ever had to tackle slowly just to process the ideas it was throwing out  I was first introduced to them by a serialized comic of one in Boy's Life. Like many kids my age, I also read Jurassic Park in fourthish grade.

[ArbysMom]

I was about to post Isaac Asimov's robot stories, but then saw "A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle" and realized that was my first. After Asimov, I went on to Heinlein, Vonnegut, Bradbury and others. I found Spider Robinson after Heinlein died, and many more since then.

[Windup]

I was about to post Isaac Asimov's robot stories, but then saw "A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle" and realized that was my first. After Asimov, I went on to Heinlein, Vonnegut, Bradbury and others. I found Spider Robinson after Heinlein died, and many more since then.

I wonder how common that pattern is?  I'm going to guess we're pretty close in age. 

I didn't read A Wrinkle in Time but Asimov's robot stories and Heinlein's "juveniles" were among my first SF stories.  Asimov's Foundation stories, and some Bradbury followed on within a few years or so, along with Heinein's work for adult readers -- especially The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Starship Troopers.  I started reading Spider when he was doing book reviews for Galaxy, though I think the first short story of his I remember was a Callahan's Crosstime Saloon story, which I think ran in Omni sometime in the late 70's. 

[Listener]

My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane

[Jompier]

Like many of you, the first science fiction that I recall was A Wrinkle in Time. My middle school English teacher read to the class every week and this was one of the books she read. The first science fiction that I remember picking up and reading on my own was L. Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth series. Not really high brow, but I do remember enjoying them thoroughly.

Now, as a parent, I'm trying to introduce my girls to science fiction (3 and 6). We're reading DuPrau's City of Ember as their start. So far, so good.

[ArbysMom]

I was about to post Isaac Asimov's robot stories, but then saw "A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle" and realized that was my first. After Asimov, I went on to Heinlein, Vonnegut, Bradbury and others. I found Spider Robinson after Heinlein died, and many more since then.

I wonder how common that pattern is?  I'm going to guess we're pretty close in age. 

I didn't read A Wrinkle in Time but Asimov's robot stories and Heinlein's "juveniles" were among my first SF stories.  Asimov's Foundation stories, and some Bradbury followed on within a few years or so, along with Heinein's work for adult readers -- especially The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Starship Troopers.  I started reading Spider when he was doing book reviews for Galaxy, though I think the first short story of his I remember was a Callahan's Crosstime Saloon story, which I think ran in Omni sometime in the late 70's. 

I graduated high school in 1976. I'll let you do the math.

I read Spider's CCS after there were a few sequels. He and I started corresponding by email in 2006 when I mentioned that SciFi.com had Heinlein's date of death off by one year in their review of Variable Star, and asked him for help trying to correct it. Turns out the Library of Congress has it wrong, and that was their source, so, um, no.  We discussed Very Bad Deaths as he was writing Very Hard Choices, and whether or not he'd write a sequel to The Free Lunch (his reply:  "The problem I have is, the book ended with them on their way to the dark Thrillworld.  I don't think I want to spend a whole book of my life there...."). I had never tried corresponding with an author before, so it was rather thrilling.

[Kwisin]

Now that's amazing... the first "modern" scifi I read was aboot Kip and the spacesuit he "won"...

[ungelic_is_us]

I'm pretty sure the very first sci-fi I read was The Invisible Man By H.G. Wells, when I was seven. But I also read A Wrinkle in Time (which I thought of as fantasy rather than sci-fi when I was little, for some reason--maybe because of the centaur/pegasus/witches?),Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Time MAchine all around that time, too, so I'm not sure which one I read first. I do remember being super-excited by the whole passage about light reflection and refraction, because I was learning about that in school at the time.

[Moritz]

A translation of the novelisation of Star Wars IV. I still own that book. It includes a picture of Mark Hammill and Carry Fisher out of their costumes stating that those are Luke and Leia, also one of the subtitles hints at a love story between Luke and Leia

[olivaw]

Like many SF fans in the UK, I was reading Doctor Who novelisations fairly early on.
I think I read a lot of fantasy before I started on SF, though.

A few that stand out for me:
- Under Plum Lake: my first real sense-of-wonder SF
- The Little Prince: although I was mostly objecting to the improbable planetary mechanics
- various books by Douglas Hill: 'proper' SF with spaceships and lasers and stuff.
- various books by John Christopher: The Tripods had just been shown on TV as well.

It helped that Mum is a SF/fantasy fan.

[Cutter McKay]

A translation of the novelisation of Star Wars IV.

My mom read to us the Star Wars novels around the dinner table as kids. Being the geeks that we are, my brothers and I would argue every time the dialogue of the book was different from the dialogue of the movies. Drove us crazy and we would frequently correct my mom with the appropriate quote. Frickin' geeks.

[Windup]

I was about to post Isaac Asimov's robot stories, but then saw "A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle" and realized that was my first. After Asimov, I went on to Heinlein, Vonnegut, Bradbury and others. I found Spider Robinson after Heinlein died, and many more since then.

I wonder how common that pattern is?  I'm going to guess we're pretty close in age. 

I didn't read A Wrinkle in Time but Asimov's robot stories and Heinlein's "juveniles" were among my first SF stories.  Asimov's Foundation stories, and some Bradbury followed on within a few years or so, along with Heinein's work for adult readers -- especially The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Starship Troopers.  I started reading Spider when he was doing book reviews for Galaxy, though I think the first short story of his I remember was a Callahan's Crosstime Saloon story, which I think ran in Omni sometime in the late 70's. 

I graduated high school in 1976. I'll let you do the math.

I graduated in 1980. 

I read Spider's CCS after there were a few sequels. He and I started corresponding by email in 2006 when I mentioned that SciFi.com had Heinlein's date of death off by one year in their review of Variable Star, and asked him for help trying to correct it. Turns out the Library of Congress has it wrong, and that was their source, so, um, no.  We discussed Very Bad Deaths as he was writing Very Hard Choices, and whether or not he'd write a sequel to The Free Lunch (his reply:  "The problem I have is, the book ended with them on their way to the dark Thrillworld.  I don't think I want to spend a whole book of my life there...."). I had never tried corresponding with an author before, so it was rather thrilling.

Well, that's cool.  I imagine it was thrilling; I never would have had the nerve to write him.