Which story first turned you on to SF?

[zagboodle]

For me, it was "And He Built a Crooked House," by Heinlein.  That story had my teenage brain going in circles trying to figure out what four spatial dimensions looked like.

[ClintMemo]

When I was in the second grade, we had a textbook that had short stories and segments from books that we used for reading.  The book had Asimov's short story "The Fun They Had" and a segment from C.S. Lewis's "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe."  That pretty much did it for me.

[jrderego]

My dad taught me to read at 3 years old. The book he used was "The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe".

"The Cask of Amontillado" probably was the one that turned me on to literature of the dark and fantastic.

As for Science Fiction, I didn't know Kon Tiki was really non-fiction until I was about 12. But I read it at 6.

The first real "science fiction" I remember reading was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea when I was 4 or 5 or The Princess of Mars which I received for my 6th birthday from my Dad.

[Swamp]

I would have to say that it was children's book by Ronald Dahl like James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocholate Factory and then later on it was Edgar Allen Poe and the Dragonlance books.  I know these are mostly fantasy.  A sf children's book that IU read several times was The Runaway Robot, but I'm not sure of the author.  First serious science fiction was Dune, but I didn't make it all the way through at first.

Aside from books, of course, there was Star Wars, the original Battlestar Gallactica, and Buck Rogers.

[Mfitz]

I refused to read fiction as a child and which frustrated my very literary mother.  I was crazy to read anything about space or dinosaurs, or any sort of natural history so the summer between fifth and sixth grade she brought home two anthologies from the library in desperation, R is for Rocket and the Calibrated Alligator, and was in love from there on.

I'm not all that old, but I'm old enough that I had to have a note from my folks to take out Andre Norton's space opera books from the "boys" side of my grade school library.  I also needed a note in Jr high to take out some SF books, like Anne McCaffery and the Dune books  that were shelved in the adult section at the public library.  This made SF books seem semi-forbidden fruit and all that more desireable to read.

[ClintMemo]

My dad taught me to read at 3 years old. The book he used was "The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe".

Well, that's a far cry from "See spot run." 
(Somewhere out there is a really funny joke where someone takes words from Poe literature and uses it "See spot run" style, like "See the Raven. See the Raven tap."  That's an awful example. Someone more well read please prove me right.  )

"The Cask of Amontillado" probably was the one that turned me on to literature of the dark and fantastic.

We read that when I was a freshman in high school. The teacher claimed it was the best short story ever written and that it had the best opening line ever written.

[Russell Nash]

I saw Star Wars in the theater three times when I was 6. Then BSG on TV. In school we had Bradbury in our reading books.

When I started to become an advid reader, I just went for what was lying around the house. Later people just gave me all of their paperbacks. This meant at 9 I was reading Ian Fleming's James Bond.(Which is why I hate most of the movies)

The thing is nobody gave me SF. SF was a TV and movie thing. When I was 23 I looked on a friends book shelf and said, "What's with the 15 books called Thieves World?" I proceeded to pillage his bookshelf. (that the same time I finally got into D&D)

My in genre reading is lacking, but I've read everything in my second hand store from Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, Card, King, Thomas Tryon, and some others.

[jrderego]

My dad taught me to read at 3 years old. The book he used was "The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe".

Well, that's a far cry from "See spot run." 
(Somewhere out there is a really funny joke where someone takes words from Poe literature and uses it "See spot run" style, like "See the Raven. See the Raven tap."  That's an awful example. Someone more well read please prove me right.  )

"The Cask of Amontillado" probably was the one that turned me on to literature of the dark and fantastic.

We read that when I was a freshman in high school. The teacher claimed it was the best short story ever written and that it had the best opening line ever written.

The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.

I am partial to the last line -

In pace requiescat!

[DKT]

The Empire Strikes Back was the first movie I ever saw in a theater.  Growing up, I always liked sci-fi, but it wasn't until I read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 that I got the real bug.  That was one of the first books I read that really got me thinking.

[Swamp]

but it wasn't until I read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 that I got the real bug.

Yes, I forgot about Fahrenhiet 451.  I read that in high school and it definately strengthened my intrest in the genre.

[zagboodle]

(Somewhere out there is a really funny joke where someone takes words from Poe literature and uses it "See spot run" style, like "See the Raven. See the Raven tap."  That's an awful example. Someone more well read please prove me right.  )

Or there's xkcd's awesome take on it...

http://xkcd.com/c133.html

[lowky]

Not sure when I started reading them exactly... The Tom Swift Novels.  Were put out by same publisher who did the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books iirc.  While also considered horror, other early sci-fi reads for me, included Frankenstein.  I was in 4th grade and the school librarian didn't think I would enjoy it, it would be too hard etc.  So she demanded that in order to check it out, I had to write a book report on it for her.  Which I did.  By the time I was in 6th grade ( i was actually part of last 6th grade class, before they moved them to the middle school), library time was boring for me as there was nothing left to read, that was interesting enough.  I was always reading at least two to three grade levels above my actual grade.  I first read Heinlein around then I think, read John Norman in highschool, read asimov in high school.  Lovecraft was probably middle school.  Poe I am pretty sure I was in grade school. 

[Tango Alpha Delta]

Star Wars is the first thing I was aware of, outside of the best-selling book in the history of the Earth (you know the one I mean... I'm not the only one who considers it SF, either).

We lived quite a ways out from town, and our weekly trips to the library were such an orgy of literary experimentation for me, I can't remember all of the stuff I was reading.  I recall the Great Brain books by John D. Fitzgerald, and the Hardy Boys (my collection of which my 10-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son just finished burning through); I remember one called "Starluck" by Donald Wismer (thank you Wikipedia!); and I remember a series about a boy who finds an alien boy on his bus (or train) and befriends him.  All I remember about it was that the alien boy was wearing a seersucker suit, which the author never failed to mention at least every other paragraph or so.

Our fifth grade teacher read us "A Wrinkle in Time", and "Twenty-one Balloons" by William Pene du Bois, and then in seventh grade, I shared a music stand with a kid named Chris who was reading Stephen King, Clive Barker... and Dune, and Watership Down... and, well, let's just say it went up from there. 

[Swamp]

A sf children's book that I read several times was The Runaway Robot, but I'm not sure of the author.

I have been thinking about this book since I posted it. so I did some reserach and found out that the author was Lester del Rey.  Nostalgia is now beckoning.  I think I will have to buy this book and read it to my kids.

Here is a breif synopsis:

"When Paul's father tells him they are returning to Earth, Paul can't wait. But when he finds out that he can not take his robot Rex with him, he refuses to leave him behind. So begins a series of breathtaking adventures in space as Paul and his robot Rex attempt to outwit the forces that seek to separate them."

[SFEley]

The earliest stories I can remember were the Narnia books.  Took home a Scholastic book club flyer one day, and my parents got me the 7-book boxed set from it.  I must have the whole series through three times as a kid; some books, the good ones, probably four or five times.

Never got anything deeper from them, though, beyond "These are really good stories."  I was in college before someone pointed out to me that the whole thing was Christian allegory.  That was a real D'oh! moment.

[ClintMemo]

The earliest stories I can remember were the Narnia books.  Took home a Scholastic book club flyer one day, and my parents got me the 7-book boxed set from it.  I must have the whole series through three times as a kid; some books, the good ones, probably four or five times.

Never got anything deeper from them, though, beyond "These are really good stories."  I was in college before someone pointed out to me that the whole thing was Christian allegory.  That was a real D'oh! moment.

I Read the Narnia books a bunch of times in elementary school. I read them all again when I was in high school and it wasn't until then that I saw all the religious overtones.  Last year, I read them to my daughter and the experience was quite different.  I found the religious overtones a little but disturbing, but I had never noticed much racism and intolerance there is in the a few of them - all the ones dealing with Tash and his followers.  I'm not sure which bothered me more - the fact that it was there or the fact that I never noticed it.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

The earliest stories I can remember were the Narnia books.  Took home a Scholastic book club flyer one day, and my parents got me the 7-book boxed set from it.  I must have the whole series through three times as a kid; some books, the good ones, probably four or five times.

Never got anything deeper from them, though, beyond "These are really good stories."  I was in college before someone pointed out to me that the whole thing was Christian allegory.  That was a real D'oh! moment.

Thank you for that... it's nice to know I'm not the only one who misses things like that when I'm caught up in a good story.  Even GREAT BIG things like that!

[Mfitz]

The earliest stories I can remember were the Narnia books.  Took home a Scholastic book club flyer one day, and my parents got me the 7-book boxed set from it.  I must have the whole series through three times as a kid; some books, the good ones, probably four or five times.

Never got anything deeper from them, though, beyond "These are really good stories."  I was in college before someone pointed out to me that the whole thing was Christian allegory.  That was a real D'oh! moment.

That happend to me all the time in my Lit classes in college.  We would read some work of fiction and them talk about it the next week and I would start to get the feeling that I had read some other book with the same name, because I hadn't seen any of the sub text.

[Startrekwiki]

"The Alchamista" was my first real SF story that I had the pleasure to hear. Thank you to EP for that one!

[MustardTent]

The Empire Strikes Back was the first movie I ever saw in a theater.  Growing up, I always liked sci-fi, but it wasn't until I read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 that I got the real bug.  That was one of the first books I read that really got me thinking.

As DKT said, I've always been a sci-fi fan -- but the first book that really made me love sci-fi novels was Hyperion by Dan Simmons. 

I've read that book more times than I can count, and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.

[DKT]

Have you read any of the sequels?  I read Hyperion and liked it a lot, but I haven't read any of the others yet.

[MustardTent]

Yeah, read the whole series.  Hyperion and the Fall of Hyperion are one story, and then Endymion and Rise of Endymion comprise a second story set in the same universe.

The subsequent books are good, but nothing is as good as Hyperion.

[zagboodle]

The earliest stories I can remember were the Narnia books.  Took home a Scholastic book club flyer one day, and my parents got me the 7-book boxed set from it.  I must have the whole series through three times as a kid; some books, the good ones, probably four or five times.

Never got anything deeper from them, though, beyond "These are really good stories."  I was in college before someone pointed out to me that the whole thing was Christian allegory.  That was a real D'oh! moment.

I never read Narnia, but I was a huge fan of that other Christian allegory series (without being aware of it) by Madeleine L'Engle.  In fact, A Wrinkle in Time may have predated my reading of "And He Built a Crooked House."  Of course, AWiT is a novel, so technically my first entry is still accurate.

[contra]

I read Narnia when I was fairly young... and didn't get all the bigger themes obviously...

The first thing I could easly class as sci fi I remember is the short "Chronoclasm", by John Wyndham.
It was in my Mothers collection, and I just picked 'seeds of time" up one day, and picked a story at random

I enjoyed.

[Oblio]

I was in sixth grade when I read it came from the sun by Ben Bova.  The story was simple but very believable even with the technology they had back in the 70's.  I really enjoyed it and it started me into more scifi, before that I was reading mostly fantasy like "Lord of The Rings" and  "The Sunset Warrior."  Now those were some bloody books!

[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