Comments on: How did you come to the SF genres?

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:23:37 +0000

The Star Wars movies were my introduction to Sci-Fi/Fantasy. ….which led to Star Wars comics which led to collecting comics in general which led to Elfquest which led to the LOTR and Narnia books ….. after that the floodgate was open.

By: Daemon

Daemon — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:33:08 +0000

I’m creeping up on 34, and I honestly can’t remember a time in my life when SF/F wasn’t a part of my life.

The only picture book I actually remember from childhood: Where the Wild Things Are

The first novel I ever read (albeit alternating reading chapters with my mother) was The Phantom Tollbooth – and i’ve been devouring fantasy and some SF ever since.

One of the earliest TV series I remember watching is Doctor Who. A little later on, recall Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and the real Battlestar Gallactica.

Oddly enough – I’m the only person in the family who really cares one way or the other about it.

By: Savant

Savant — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:12:11 +0000

I came to sci-fi a little later in life. LOTR, Star Wars, and some Jules Verne were scattered about my childhood, but I was really a comic book nut more than anything else (still am).

In high school, I was mostly reading Raymond Feist, Douglas Adams, and Terry Pratchett. I remember trying to read Greg Bear’s “Eon” when I was about 15. Way over my head at that point. (Came back to it a couple of years ago, now in my 30s, and loved it loved it.) The only other title I can remember from that time was David Brin’s “The Postman,” which I did enjoy.

Into college and I discovered Niven’s “Lucifer’s Hammer” and “Footfall,” Bear’s “Songs of Earth and Power,” and continued to follow Feist, et al.

The turning point for me, AFAIC, came soon after graduating college when a friend of mine recommended “Ender’s Game.” Having enjoyed it so thoroughly, and now having a real job and a steady income, it was all downhill from there! It was only into my twenties when I discovered Heinlein, Asimov, Dick, and myriad other authors I now consider my favorites. Sure, there are some regrets about not having discovered some of this stuff earlier. But I think in some ways I’m better off only getting around to books like “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” and “Martian Time-Slip” at this later stage of my life! :)

By: David E

David E — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:20:28 +0000

As far as the visual vs written being the thing that drew one into SF I think it will tend to be the visual (movies and TV) simply because we SF fans often (as in my case) were already fans when we were just beginning to learn to read.

By: David E

David E — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:15:18 +0000

SMD, same here. I was 5 when Star Wars came out. I came out of that movie an addict constantly looking for another “sense of wonder” fix.

By: SMD

SMD — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:47:38 +0000

Star Wars. That’s what got me into it. I watched Star Wars and never looked back.

As for what got me into literature: I loved the work of Poul Anderson and there was an anthology of great SF shorts edited by Orson Scott Card that really got me excited. It had Sandkings by George R. R. Martin in it, and Call Me Joe by Anderson…all good stuff in there.

That’s really where it all began.

By: JDsg

JDsg — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:33:07 +0000

My Dad, who both read and watched SF (I remember watching some episodes of the original Star Trek with him when I was around 6-7 years old). My Dad was a semi-prolific reader to the point where my Mom would inform us kids (many, many times) that Dad was still asleep on a Saturday morning because he had stayed up till 2 am reading a book. He would also take us to the local city libraries, which were rather well stocked with SF novels for a small city of 35,000 in upstate NY. I read quite a bit of SF by authors who are mostly forgotten today, such as Martin Caidin and Stanislaus Lem.

The better question would be how my Dad came to SF, who went to high school in the early 50s. Funny, I’ve never thought of him as a George McFly-type. ;)

By: Larry

Larry — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:11 +0000

Although my grandmother introduced me to the Tom Swift novels (strange to think so many of us have read either the second or third iterations of that shared universe setting) as well as my discovery of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien between 9-12, I think part of the reason why I came to enjoy spec fic deals more with the climate around me. There’s something about the “New” South that I suspect lends itself toward being drawn to the weird, dark, and surreal. Probably explains why Flannery O’Connor in my opinion has as much of a spec fic “attitude” in her writing than any host of SF writers who’ve ever written their works.

By: Wesley

Wesley — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:44:38 +0000

I grew up in Iowa in the 1980s, the last years before Borders and Barnes and Noble popped up everywhere. (I still remember seeing a Borders for the first time. My mind was blown.) We had a Waldenbooks at the mall, and there were still mass market paperbacks in the Hallmarks stores. The selection was indifferent. Not that I had much money for books when I was ten. Mostly I used the library.

I came to SF through Star Trek. I went from the TV series, to the books (many of which were better) to other SF books. So I may be a data point in support of Resnick’s theory.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:40:57 +0000

My mother brainwashed me, a child of 8, to think that Lord of the Rings was the greatest work EVER. I couldn’t slog through it then–I didn’t even try–but I did dig into more age appropriate stuff like Matthew Looney in elementary school, Chronicles of Prydain, The Hobbit and some Andre Norton in middle school. I didn’t read any spec fic for a long time, but it was Lord of the Rings in my early 20’s that got me interested again and Robert Jordan’s first Wheel of Time Book and George R.R. Martin that anchored me here. I love it here. Can I stay?