What Was Your First Sci-Fi?

Post by Glenn P.,
What was the first Sci-Fi you ever read?
I'll start off; I have *two* memories. :)
The first Science Fiction BOOK I ever read, was Eleanor Cameron's,
"The Wonderful Flight To The Mushroom Planet" (and, later on, its
sequel, "Stowaway To The Mushroom Planet." Both, after being long
out of print, are now IN PRINT omce more.) The former title featured
two boys who, with the assistance of a mysterious, wizened scientist
and inventor, outfit their homemade spaceship (!) and journey to
an invisible second moon of Earth called "Basidium X," where
they help the Mushroom People who live there to bypass the
plague infesting their food supply.
But this wasn't actually my first exposure to Science Fiction
(actually, "Science Fantasy" would be a nearer description).
The very first Science Fantasy/Fiction STORY I ever read, came
by way of my third-grade reader, called "From Bicycles To
Boomerangs," and the story -- as hinted at in the book title --
was called, "The Magic Boomerang." (You know, I never noticed
it before, but you can kinda tell that the story would have to
be a scence *fantasy*, given the word "magic" in the title!)
"The Magic Boomerang" involved a boy's father returning from
a trip to Australia and giving the boy a boomerang that the
aborigine providing it claimed was magic. The boy then falls
asleep and dreams that the boomerang takes flight -- with the
boy holding tight to both the boomerang AND his dog (!). The
boomerang takes them both into space and eventually lands
them on a distant planet, etc. Kinda silly, really, but hey,
I was like what, nine? Ten? I loved it... and I still do. :)
It was very brief story -- about a dozen pages, twenty at the
most, in fairly large print. And *that* was my introduction
to "Science Fiction." ...Such as it was! :)
So... what about YOU...? :)

Not exactly a high-traffic group, this (:-/), but as my fiction
reading has always been essentially *only* SF/fantasy all my life,
I have to add my tale! I don't remember the exact temporal order,
but one of the first books I bought was "Interplanetary Stories/
Invasion from Mars" (depending on whether you read the front cover
or the spine!.) I still have it. It was a pretty good start,
("Selected by Orson Welles") with tales by Bradbury, Asimov, Boucher,
Leinster, Fredric Brown, and others, *And* the complete script of
Welles' 1938 "War of the Worlds" broadcast!

It may actually be the *first* book I personally bought -- don't
remember any earlier -- but it wasn't my first SF. I remember being
in bed with a cold, and Mum brought me a copy of Astounding SF she
had found in Woolworths; I would have been about ten. I guess my
tastes were obvious even then! (I still have that, too.)

A little later on, I bought (mostly first editions of) Clarke's
"Against the Fall of Night", Asimov's "I, Robot", Raymond F. Jones'
"This Island Earth", and Wyndham's "Day of the Triffids", all of
which are still on my shelf. These were followed by countless
paperbacks, all on the 'hard' side of SF. I wasn't much interested
in Fantasy back then, but more recently I've found good stuff in
that genre too (starting with Tolkien, as you might expect).

For completeness, I suppose the *very* first SF in our household
was (a signed copy of) Olaf Stapleton's "Last and First Men", but
I never managed to make any headway in that until *much* later!
Probably just a few years ago. I'm uncertain how it was signed
but I have vague memories that Stapleton visited across the road
and Dad met him then. I also have had a continuous subscription
to "Astounding/Analog SF" since probably my mid teens.

Maybe more than you wanted to know!

-- Pete --

Pete

2021-06-13 20:59:59 UTC

Post by Glenn P.,
What was the first Sci-Fi you ever read?

[....]
For completeness, I suppose the *very* first SF in our household
was (a signed copy of) Olaf Stapleton's "Last and First Men",

Urghh... I should have got his name right after it being on my shelf
for most of my life! It's "Stapledon", of course...

-- Pete --

Glenn P.,

2021-06-22 05:32:50 UTC

...but one of the first books I bought was "Interplanetary Stories/
Invasion from Mars" (depending on whether you read the front cover
or the spine!.) I still have it. It was a pretty good start,
("Selected by Orson Welles") with tales by Bradbury, Asimov, Boucher,
Leinster, Fredric Brown, and others, *And* the complete script of
Welles' 1938 "War of the Worlds" broadcast!

Ooo! I *adore* the "Panic Broadcasr*! I can quote long stretches of it
from memory alone!

I probably have a better rendition, provided by its original author
(no, that wasn't Orson Welles; it was written at his direction, but
the actual author is Howard Koch. Not to be confused with ED Koch,
mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989.) Howard Koch wrote a
magnificent account (now, alas!, out of print) titled simply,
"The Panic Broadcast."

A little later on, I bought (mostly first editions of) Clarke's
"Against the Fall of Night", Asimov's "I, Robot", Raymond F. Jones'
"This Island Earth"...

I stll have my copy of Jones' "Planet Of Light." There were several
other authors of "juvenile" Sci-Fi (mostly pseudonyms); one of my
favorites is Philip Latham's "Five Against Benus," which depicted
a "Jungle Venus." At that time (before the Mariner II probe smashed
it to bits) this was the prevailing conception of Venus, even among
scientists, and "Five Against Venus" was considered HARD Svi-Fi!!!
It is, at any rate, one of my favorite stories. :)

For completeness, I suppose the *very* first SF in our household
was (a signed copy of) Olaf Stapleton's "Last and First Men"...

That is NOT "Sci-Fi," but rather an essay of scientific speculation
about humankind's far future. It might (or it might not) interest
you to know that C. S. Lewis (of Narnia fame) called this essay
(and I quote) "brilliant, but depraved." Which is a really GOOD
description of it!!!

Maybe more than you wanted to know!

Nah. Just right. I'm actually glad to read it -- for awhile there,
I was afraid no-one was interested! :/

-- %%%%%%%%% "Glenn P.," <C128UserDELETE-***@FVI.Net> %%%%%%%%%%%%
===================================================================
"All of the scenes in this program, whether actual or created,
depict authenticated facts." ------------------------------------
--"Mutual of Omaha's 'Wild Kingdom'"

:: Take Note Of The Spam Block On My E-Mail Address! ::

Ted Nolan <tednolan>

2021-06-24 22:16:46 UTC

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.

By the definition of SF used there, some Seuss would qualify
so I suspect it was one of the Bartholomew Cubbins books for me.

After that it's hard to say, but I would guess it was
_Tom Swift & His Flying Lab_ because I'm pretty sure I recall trying
to puzzle my way through a lot of the words as I was just starting to
read.

I certainly did read the Mushroom Planet books, but a good bit later.

--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

Dorothy J Heydt

2021-06-24 22:45:30 UTC

Post by Glenn P.,
What was the first Sci-Fi you ever read?

...

Post by Glenn P.,
So... what about YOU...? :)

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.

The first SF I know I read was Schmitz's "The Second Night of
Summer" (Galaxy, December 1950), because I read it over my
mother's shoulder and asked her to explain the illustration.

My mother bought all the Big 3 magazines of the day, and I read
them too. I had a collection of ten or eleven years' worth, all
carefully ordered in shoe boxes. Then I went off to college and
my parents tossed them. :(

Around the same time, I got hold of two Very Old novels in modern
reprints, and it's a wonder I ever read any SF again, because
they were Ralph Milne Farley's _An Earthman on Venus_ (original
title, _The Radio Man_, which gives you an idea of how old it
was) and Stanton A Coblentz's _Into Plutonian Depths_ ("Hey, we've
got a space drive! Let's go to the Moon or Mars!" "The hell
with that, let's go to Pluto!!")

But I still read the magazines. I can remember sitting on my
bedroom floor in a puddle of gosh-wow, after finishing the final
segment of _The Stars My Destination._

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

Lynn McGuire

2021-06-24 23:07:57 UTC

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.
By the definition of SF used there, some Seuss would qualify
so I suspect it was one of the Bartholomew Cubbins books for me.
After that it's hard to say, but I would guess it was
_Tom Swift & His Flying Lab_ because I'm pretty sure I recall trying
to puzzle my way through a lot of the words as I was just starting to
read.
I certainly did read the Mushroom Planet books, but a good bit later.

Either one of the Tom Swift Jr. books or one of the Heinlein juveniles.
"Have Space Suit Will Travel" or "Time for the Stars" or "Starman
Jones". We did not have money for buying books so I got all my first
books from the elementary school library in Norman, OK. Probably third
grade when I was eight. 53 years ago.

Lynn

Titus G

2021-06-25 00:07:23 UTC

On 25/06/21 10:16 am, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
snip

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
By the definition of SF used there, some Seuss would qualify
so I suspect it was one of the Bartholomew Cubbins books for me.

My first memory of children's sf is of a didactic picture story which
might have been called The Little Train Who Left The Tracks. Despite
promising to stay on the rails, he didn't and sat in the grass making
daisy chains and talking with animals and birds.
But maybe Enid Blyton's Noddy stories would qualify as well?

My first 'real' science fiction would have been early Heinlein or
Asimov or similar from the library when a teen.

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
After that it's hard to say, but I would guess it was
_Tom Swift & His Flying Lab_ because I'm pretty sure I recall trying
to puzzle my way through a lot of the words as I was just starting to
read.
I certainly did read the Mushroom Planet books, but a good bit later.

Robert Woodward

2021-06-25 05:08:11 UTC

<snip>

Post by Glenn P.,
But this wasn't actually my first exposure to Science Fiction
(actually, "Science Fantasy" would be a nearer description).
The very first Science Fantasy/Fiction STORY I ever read, came
by way of my third-grade reader, called "From Bicycles To
Boomerangs," and the story -- as hinted at in the book title --
was called, "The Magic Boomerang." (You know, I never noticed

<SNIP>

Post by Glenn P.,
So... what about YOU...? :)

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.
By the definition of SF used there, some Seuss would qualify
so I suspect it was one of the Bartholomew Cubbins books for me.
After that it's hard to say, but I would guess it was
_Tom Swift & His Flying Lab_ because I'm pretty sure I recall trying
to puzzle my way through a lot of the words as I was just starting to
read.

I am not certain which sf/fantasy story was my first. I remember getting
the 7th Tom Swift, Jr. title as a Christmas present from an aunt. I
remember reading something that had to have been at least an extract of
_Wind in the Willows_ when I was 7 or 8. I might have read a Pooh around
that time as well (I have a vague recollection of what I think was a map
of the wood).

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward ***@drizzle.com

Wolffan

2021-06-25 19:22:21 UTC

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.
By the definition of SF used there, some Seuss would qualify
so I suspect it was one of the Bartholomew Cubbins books for me.
After that it's hard to say, but I would guess it was
_Tom Swift & His Flying Lab_ because I'm pretty sure I recall trying
to puzzle my way through a lot of the words as I was just starting to
read.
I certainly did read the Mushroom Planet books, but a good bit later.

1st not-so-real SF: a Stingray (Gerry & Silvia Anderson puppet show) tie-in
book. Very nearly my last, it was so badly written. I was about 8 or 9, the
right age to watch Stingray and Supercar and Fireball XL-5 and Captain
Scarlet and Thunderbirds. The TV puppet shows were far better than the book.

1st real SF: Between Planets, RAH. I was about 11 and got it from my school
library. It was quickly followed by the other Heinlein juveniles, and lots of
Norton, van Vogt, Asimov, Fontana, Brackett, de Camp, others. By the time I
was 15 I had all the Lensman and Skylark books, and all of Burroughs’s Mars
and Venus planetary romances. (As I lived in a place where we played _real_
footie, with actual round balls, and used our feet, several references in
several of the books, especially the Lensman books, to ‘football-shaped’
spacecraft were confusing, until I realized that they meant a rugby ball.)

Chris Buckley

2021-06-25 23:08:37 UTC

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.
By the definition of SF used there, some Seuss would qualify
so I suspect it was one of the Bartholomew Cubbins books for me.
After that it's hard to say, but I would guess it was
_Tom Swift & His Flying Lab_ because I'm pretty sure I recall trying
to puzzle my way through a lot of the words as I was just starting to
read.
I certainly did read the Mushroom Planet books, but a good bit later.

I have no memory of what my first SF books were. I started reading
early and it quickly became my primary occupation. I read everything I
could get my hands on, and since the library was within walking
distance, that was a lot! I was reading hundreds of books a year by
age 7 or so, and the SF wasn't a major part of it.

But I remember that pretty much all the SF available was often
re-read. Danny Dunn was the first SF series I remember. I also
remember a few Oz books (they didn't have that many), Dr Doolittle,
and Mary Poppins. The Mushroom Planet books were certainly read early
as well.

I didn't pay much attention to authors in those years, except as a grouping
to find books of a series. The notion that some authors might write
better books certainly did not cross my mind!

What was important, as I realized what my interests were, was publisher!
Avalon Books. The library had 2-3 dozen SF books published by Avalon
that became my most frequently re-read books. And the librarians
would reserve any new Avalon SF book for me any time one came in. I
remember each book's back cover was a list of 20 or so other Avalon SF
books - there were books out there worth reading that weren't in the
library! I would try to guess what they were about from the titles.
With a couple of exceptions, I was guaranteed a good read if it came
from Avalon.

Looking back, I suspect it was a fortuitous library space problem that
led to my access to those books. The children's section occupied the
basement of the library and I was allowed to check out anything from
there, but there was a bookcase of genre specific (SF, Western,
Mystery) books at the base of the stairs that perhaps belonged
upstairs.

We moved when I was 11 and I was quite disappointed when the new
junior high school library didn't have any Avalon books. I had to pay
attention to authors finally, like Herbert, Asimov, and Heinlein.
Looking back at Avalon's list of books
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalon_Books
it's now clear that the attraction of the Avalon books for me was that they
were adult science fiction rather than good science fiction - Avalon
was definitely a second tier SF publisher.

Chris

Ted Nolan <tednolan>

2021-06-26 02:56:30 UTC

Post by Chris Buckley

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.
By the definition of SF used there, some Seuss would qualify
so I suspect it was one of the Bartholomew Cubbins books for me.
After that it's hard to say, but I would guess it was
_Tom Swift & His Flying Lab_ because I'm pretty sure I recall trying
to puzzle my way through a lot of the words as I was just starting to
read.
I certainly did read the Mushroom Planet books, but a good bit later.

I have no memory of what my first SF books were. I started reading
early and it quickly became my primary occupation. I read everything I
could get my hands on, and since the library was within walking
distance, that was a lot! I was reading hundreds of books a year by
age 7 or so, and the SF wasn't a major part of it.
But I remember that pretty much all the SF available was often
re-read. Danny Dunn was the first SF series I remember. I also
remember a few Oz books (they didn't have that many), Dr Doolittle,
and Mary Poppins. The Mushroom Planet books were certainly read early
as well.
I didn't pay much attention to authors in those years, except as a grouping
to find books of a series. The notion that some authors might write
better books certainly did not cross my mind!
What was important, as I realized what my interests were, was publisher!
Avalon Books. The library had 2-3 dozen SF books published by Avalon
that became my most frequently re-read books. And the librarians
would reserve any new Avalon SF book for me any time one came in. I
remember each book's back cover was a list of 20 or so other Avalon SF
books - there were books out there worth reading that weren't in the
library! I would try to guess what they were about from the titles.
With a couple of exceptions, I was guaranteed a good read if it came
from Avalon.
Looking back, I suspect it was a fortuitous library space problem that
led to my access to those books. The children's section occupied the
basement of the library and I was allowed to check out anything from
there, but there was a bookcase of genre specific (SF, Western,
Mystery) books at the base of the stairs that perhaps belonged
upstairs.
We moved when I was 11 and I was quite disappointed when the new
junior high school library didn't have any Avalon books. I had to pay
attention to authors finally, like Herbert, Asimov, and Heinlein.
Looking back at Avalon's list of books
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalon_Books
it's now clear that the attraction of the Avalon books for me was that they
were adult science fiction rather than good science fiction - Avalon
was definitely a second tier SF publisher.
Chris

Hmm, looking at the list I see a lot of reprints, and a lot of stuff
I've never read, but also Anderson, Vance, de Camp, Harness & Russell.

--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

Jonathan

2021-06-26 12:41:11 UTC

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.
By the definition of SF used there, some Seuss would qualify
so I suspect it was one of the Bartholomew Cubbins books for me.
After that it's hard to say, but I would guess it was
_Tom Swift & His Flying Lab_ because I'm pretty sure I recall trying
to puzzle my way through a lot of the words as I was just starting to
read.
I certainly did read the Mushroom Planet books, but a good bit later.

I was forced to read The Hobbit in jr high lit class.

It was like I was sentenced to a slow agonizing death
that went on and on and on with no end in sight.

--
https://twitter.com/Non_Linear1

Paul S Person

2021-06-26 16:39:07 UTC

Post by Jonathan

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.
By the definition of SF used there, some Seuss would qualify
so I suspect it was one of the Bartholomew Cubbins books for me.
After that it's hard to say, but I would guess it was
_Tom Swift & His Flying Lab_ because I'm pretty sure I recall trying
to puzzle my way through a lot of the words as I was just starting to
read.
I certainly did read the Mushroom Planet books, but a good bit later.

I was forced to read The Hobbit in jr high lit class.
It was like I was sentenced to a slow agonizing death
that went on and on and on with no end in sight.

You were lucky -- it /could/ have been /LOTR/.

Of course, that was then. Tastes change.

--
"I begin to envy Petronius."
"I have envied him long since."

Dorothy J Heydt

2021-06-26 17:51:09 UTC

Post by Jonathan

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.
By the definition of SF used there, some Seuss would qualify
so I suspect it was one of the Bartholomew Cubbins books for me.
After that it's hard to say, but I would guess it was
_Tom Swift & His Flying Lab_ because I'm pretty sure I recall trying
to puzzle my way through a lot of the words as I was just starting to
read.
I certainly did read the Mushroom Planet books, but a good bit later.

I was forced to read The Hobbit in jr high lit class.

You bettah off. In the same level lit class, *I* was made to
read Willa Cather and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Post by Jonathan
It was like I was sentenced to a slow agonizing death
that went on and on and on with no end in sight.

Hmmm. Tastes, of course, differ. As the apocryphal Scotsman is
supposed to have said, "It's good that we don't all like the same
things, or think what an oatmeal shortage there would be!"

And, of course, _The Hobbit_ *is* a children's book. It's based
on the stories Tolkien told his children while working on the
huge mass of material, some of which would eventually become _The
Silmarillion._ And when he submitted it to the publishers,
Unwin's young son gave a very positive review of it *as a
children's book,* which got it published.

Which may be part of the reason why I found not only _The Hobbit_
but also _The Lord of the Rings_ in the "Children's Books"
section of the Education/Psychology Library on the UC Berkeley
Campus.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

Jonathan

2021-06-27 15:18:56 UTC

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Jonathan

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.
By the definition of SF used there, some Seuss would qualify
so I suspect it was one of the Bartholomew Cubbins books for me.
After that it's hard to say, but I would guess it was
_Tom Swift & His Flying Lab_ because I'm pretty sure I recall trying
to puzzle my way through a lot of the words as I was just starting to
read.
I certainly did read the Mushroom Planet books, but a good bit later.

I was forced to read The Hobbit in jr high lit class.

You bettah off. In the same level lit class, *I* was made to
read Willa Cather and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Post by Jonathan
It was like I was sentenced to a slow agonizing death
that went on and on and on with no end in sight.

Hmmm. Tastes, of course, differ. As the apocryphal Scotsman is
supposed to have said, "It's good that we don't all like the same
things, or think what an oatmeal shortage there would be!"

Or as Charles de Gaulle said...

"How can anyone govern a nation that has
two hundred and forty-six different kinds
of cheese?

Post by Dorothy J Heydt
And, of course, _The Hobbit_ *is* a children's book. It's based
on the stories Tolkien told his children while working on the
huge mass of material, some of which would eventually become _The
Silmarillion._ And when he submitted it to the publishers,
Unwin's young son gave a very positive review of it *as a
children's book,* which got it published.
Which may be part of the reason why I found not only _The Hobbit_
but also _The Lord of the Rings_ in the "Children's Books"
section of the Education/Psychology Library on the UC Berkeley
Campus.

I wonder is that early experience with literature
still has effects? Think so, anything involving
fantasy just repels me. As Emily said...

"But I, grown shrewder - scan the skies
With a suspicious air
As children - swindled for the first
All swindlers - be - infer."

--
https://twitter.com/Non_Linear1

Michael F. Stemper

2021-06-28 19:34:17 UTC

Post by Glenn P.,
What was the first Sci-Fi you ever read?

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.

It depends upon what you mean by "science fiction", of course.
I assume that fairy tales don't count.

When I was 7, I got a library card and devoured all of the Doctor
Dolittle that our library had, along with all of the Freddy the
Pig books. Then, I got permission to use the adult section, and
read all of their Andre Norton books. She was the first author
that I ever sought out by name.

Meanwhile, at my grade school library, I read all of Lang, and
Travers (well, all that they had). And, of course, Danny Dunn,
Miss Pickerell, and the Mushroom Planet stuff.

--
Michael F. Stemper
A preposition is something you should never end a sentence with.

Dorothy J Heydt

2021-06-28 20:24:59 UTC

Post by Glenn P.,
What was the first Sci-Fi you ever read?

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.

It depends upon what you mean by "science fiction", of course.
I assume that fairy tales don't count.

The ".sf" tag is agreed upon by this group to mean "speculative
fiction," including hard science fiction, soft and squishy
science fiction (Darkover, e.g.), and all the flavors of fantasy.

Sometimes in text, we use the abbreviation "SFF", meaning science
fiction and fantasy, in all their various varieties.

No single reader's idea of where the lines between these various
categories are drawn, will agree with any other reader's. And I
haven't even gotten near "dark fantasy" (verging on horror) or
"paranormal romance" (verging on Harlequin).

Once upon a time there was a long discussion of just what
subgroup was included in what supergroups, and it got rather
heated, and the word "lambasting" was used.

So I said,

Post by Michael F. Stemper
[T]here would appear to be a middle-of-the
road definition of any term that is generally accepted by
group, and definitions further out in one direction or another
that are held by a few, and this will generate discussion. The
discussion can stop short of "lambasting" if both sides try to
keep their language moderate and their tone polite, as, "Well,
I just don't consider x an example of Y," and "Well, you're going
to get a fair amount of disagreement then, because most of us
do."

The subject under discussion was whether sword-and-sorcery was
included under fantasy.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

Dimensional Traveler

2021-06-29 00:22:42 UTC

I don't remember but probably it was the original Baum 'Oz' books.

--
Troll, troll, troll your post gently down the thread
Angrily, angrily, angrily, the net's a nut's scream.

Michael F. Stemper

2021-06-29 13:12:55 UTC

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Glenn P.,
What was the first Sci-Fi you ever read?

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.

It depends upon what you mean by "science fiction", of course.
I assume that fairy tales don't count.

The ".sf" tag is agreed upon by this group to mean "speculative
fiction," including hard science fiction, soft and squishy
science fiction (Darkover, e.g.), and all the flavors of fantasy.

I was addressing the original post, which specifically said "Sci-Fi",
not "sf". So I limited my response to Sci-Fi and neglected all of the
fantasy that I was reading at the same time.

--
Michael F. Stemper
87.3% of all statistics are made up by the person giving them.

Dorothy J Heydt

2021-06-29 14:16:47 UTC

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Glenn P.,
What was the first Sci-Fi you ever read?

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.

It depends upon what you mean by "science fiction", of course.
I assume that fairy tales don't count.

The ".sf" tag is agreed upon by this group to mean "speculative
fiction," including hard science fiction, soft and squishy
science fiction (Darkover, e.g.), and all the flavors of fantasy.

I was addressing the original post, which specifically said "Sci-Fi",
not "sf". So I limited my response to Sci-Fi and neglected all of the
fantasy that I was reading at the same time.

Okay, I'll accept that. Reluctantly.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

Paul S Person

2021-06-29 17:42:19 UTC

On Mon, 28 Jun 2021 14:34:17 -0500, "Michael F. Stemper"

Post by Glenn P.,
What was the first Sci-Fi you ever read?

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.

Lucky you.

My local branch library would not let me into the next higher section
even though I had read everything in the kiddie section.

That's when I discovered second-hand bookstores. Who were willing to
sell a kid as much classic science fiction as he wanted to buy. And
why not? It was about as sex-free as it could get.

Post by Michael F. Stemper
Meanwhile, at my grade school library, I read all of Lang, and
Travers (well, all that they had). And, of course, Danny Dunn,
Miss Pickerell, and the Mushroom Planet stuff.

--
"I begin to envy Petronius."
"I have envied him long since."

Dorothy J Heydt

2021-06-29 18:55:20 UTC

Post by Paul S Person
On Mon, 28 Jun 2021 14:34:17 -0500, "Michael F. Stemper"

Post by Glenn P.,
What was the first Sci-Fi you ever read?

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.

Lucky you.
My local branch library would not let me into the next higher section
even though I had read everything in the kiddie section.
That's when I discovered second-hand bookstores. Who were willing to
sell a kid as much classic science fiction as he wanted to buy. And
why not? It was about as sex-free as it could get.

Yeah, particularly in the days when Kay Tarrant was Campbell's
assistant at _Astounding_. Authors schemed to get something past
her that she would've vetoed if she'd noticed it; cf. Damon
Knight's "Cabin Boy." (Of course, in order to have vetoed that
one, she would've had to be familiar with the song it was
parodying, Thank you, Oscar Brand.)

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

Michael F. Stemper

2021-06-30 15:11:44 UTC

Post by Paul S Person
On Mon, 28 Jun 2021 14:34:17 -0500, "Michael F. Stemper"

Post by Glenn P.,
What was the first Sci-Fi you ever read?

I'm adding rec.arts.sf.written, which is a more active group.

Lucky you.
My local branch library would not let me into the next higher section
even though I had read everything in the kiddie section.
That's when I discovered second-hand bookstores.

Lucky you. I didn't know that such things existed until after I
graduated from college. In fact, before that time, I never even
saw a bookstore other than the kind where you buy textbooks.

On the other hand, there were four different places with wire racks
in the small city (under 7,000) where I grew up. Back in the days
of independent distributors.

--
Michael F. Stemper
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him talk like Mr. Ed
by rubbing peanut butter on his gums.

Chrysi Cat

2021-07-02 19:38:12 UTC