SF/F that you read growing up

The more I write my own work, the more I realized how the earliest stories that I love affected me.

The very first true SF that I loved was Robert Heinlein's Future History stories, especially the Green Hills of Earth. Heinlein veered in some strange directions later in his career but his short stories are still wonderful.

I also found Isaac Asimov in my high school library and while I didn't connect to his Foundation series, I loved the Robot stories and still do. That led me to getting a subscription to Asimov's magazine, truly a gold-mine for a kid growing up in rural New England. I first read David Brin's The Postman short stories in Asimov, first read Connie Willis there, and loved S.P. Somtow's time travel and then alternate Roman history stories with Aquila.

On the less scientific side, I got a copy of Anne McCaffrey's The Dragonriders of Pern omnibus when I joined the old SF mail order book club. It still has the Cheetos stains on it.

And on the fantasy side, there was, of course, The Lord of the Rings, which inspired my first fan fiction, before it was called fan fiction. There was also Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy, a story so good that it influences Arthurian fiction today.

What are your favorites?

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Permalink Reply by Dominic Hamon on June 21, 2012 at 11:01am

Going to the book store with my parents was always a big event, and I still remember the first time I came across Chronicles in a large white paperback volume. It made a far greater impression on me than Lord of the Rings, possibly due to the more accessible style, and lack of songs.

Over the course of many moves I've lost books here and there, and my Dragonlance collection is among the fallen. I still mourn for them.

Thank you for the reminder to replace them for the child to discover on the bookshelf.

Permalink Reply by David Brunton on November 10, 2009 at 2:41pm
My parents read aloud from Tolkein, CS Lewis, Madeline L'Engle. It's funny that it never occurred to me they were nerds.
Permalink Reply by Jenny Williams on November 17, 2009 at 10:20pm
I, too, loved Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber.
Permalink Reply by Brian Dichter on March 17, 2012 at 2:27pm

I was quite enamored with The Hobbit and then, eventually, Lord of the Rings and the Thomas Covenant Chronicles. Working through a lot of Asimov (Foundation and Robot series), some Heinlein (Stranger in a Strange Land!) and van Vogt (Slan was terrific), I eventually discovered what is probably my ultimate favorite sci-fi work: The Lathe of Heaven by Le Guin. This work in particular seems to fit well with my philosophy-bent. 8-)

Permalink Reply by Chuck Lawton on November 10, 2009 at 9:48pm
Funny; I can't remember any distinctly classic scifi I read growing up, but that's not to say I didn't appreciate the genre in its non-literary forms. While I was an avid reader, it unfortunately was mostly Michael Crichton and Stephen King fair.

It wasn't until the LotR films were announced did I finally read the source material. (I subsequently picked up the 50th anniversary limited edition print.) And I've since been reading Neal Stephenson, Asimov, and Iain M. Banks. And Arthur C. Clarke's Rama series was phenomenal!

But looking back, I really wonder what took me so long...
Permalink Reply by Hugh Howey on March 14, 2012 at 2:04pm

Ender's Game, I, Robot, the Foundation saga, and LOTR were my favorites as a kid.

Permalink Reply by Kara on March 14, 2012 at 2:49pm

Fantasy was my first love, which makes it difficult to pinpoint what I first read. The usuals, I guess: Narnia, LOTR, Lloyd Alexander, Robin McKinley, Redwall.

My dad introduced my to science fiction by starting me on Asimov's Robots. I fell in love. I'm not attached to any of his other writing, but the Robot stories remain favorites. Fahrenheit 451, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Terry Brooks' Shannara series all rounded out my SF reading. More recently, Timothy Zahn, both his Star Wars series and everything else. Also Ender's Game, which was terrific. I read L'Engle, but simply never connected.

Permalink Reply by Corrina Lawson on March 14, 2012 at 2:55pm

The  Robots! I always loved the Robots. Less so the Foundations series. But someone should make a good movie about Lije Bailey and R. Daneel. 

Permalink Reply by Kara on March 14, 2012 at 2:58pm

Very true. I, Robot was made into a movie, but from my understanding, differs greatly from the original. To me, the true fascination of Asimov's writing was the logic and psychology involved. I had never read anything that made so much sense, like a puzzle where all the pieces come together perfectly.

Permalink Reply by Corrina Lawson on March 14, 2012 at 4:37pm

I've seen I,Robot the movie. It's only loosely based on Asimov's stories but I thought the ending was true to the vision in his work. 

Permalink Reply by Steve Daly on March 14, 2012 at 5:37pm

As an author myself, I agree that what I've read in my past affect my current works.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy plus The Hobbit was a truly inspirational story and lesson in world-building.

Star Trek novels as well as all of the math and physics books from college helped shape my writing today.

Permalink Reply by GeekDad on March 14, 2012 at 6:06pm

As a good SF/F geek, there are too many to count (or remember). Most all of the work of Arthur C. Clarke. Riverworld, Xanth (I love puns), Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, The Mars trilogy, Anything from the Elric series, ST:TOS books (I used to eagerly await the new one each month), Melanie Rawn's Dragon series, Crystalsinger, and so on, and so on..

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