Can You Remember Your First Science Fiction Novel?

[Quokka]

It was almost certainly a book I posted in the search thread a little while ago. As far as I have been able to find out it was Earth 2 (1955) by Vargo Statten, which is a pen name for John Russell Fearn. Although I haven't been able to find any description of the story or cover so if anyone knows of a site that might be helpful (I've tried fantasticfiction and all their links) it'd be much appreciated.

John Cristopher's Tripod series would also have been amongst the first.

[iansales]

My parents bought me a Doctor Who novelisation one Christmas - I think I was about 8 or 9. It was Doctor Who and the Zarbi. But I didn't read my first "real" sf book until a year or two later.

Unfortunately, I can't say categorically which was the first. It may have been one lent me by a friend at school - either Robert Heinlein's Starman Jones, or something by EE Doc Smith, possibly Subspace Explorers. I also remember reading Arthur C Clarke's Of Time and Stars, and Clifford Simak's Time and Again around that time.

[Ragnar]

War of the Worlds around 1978, aged 11 (after hearing the awesome Jeff Wayne musical) .....


....unless Charlie & the Chocolate Factory counts?

[steve12553]

It was either Revolt on Alpha C by Robert Silverberg, Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert Heinlein or The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek by Evelyn Sibley Lampman. I read all three of those in the early sixties/ late fifties and remember them distinctly. The Heinlein book I borrowed from the library and the other two I bought from a school book club for probably $.35 each and had to scrape for that.

[Connavar]

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


A huge omnibus with the hole series which i read in the two hour trip to school everyday in 2002.


It was the funniest week i have had with a book. I kept laughing out loud that people looked at me like i was crazy

[Briareus Delta]

Originally Posted by tangaloomababe

Yes I can. The very first Sci Fi book I read was John Wyndham's Day of the Triffids. Loved it then and still love it now.

My first sci-fi novel was also a John Wyndham book, because he was on our reading list at school. I can't remember whether it was Chocky or The Chrysalids (so long ago). I read them both in quick succession and, yes, I do still love then today and still re-read them from time.

[Tillane]

My first was (I think) William Gibson's Neuromancer. Still a favourite, too...

[DMFW]

It's really hard to remember exactly what was my first taste of written science fiction but it would have been in the early 70's at the age of nine or ten I think, and was very likely one of the Hugh Walters series of juvenile space adventures which systematically covered the solar system in a series of alliteratively titled adventures with names like "Spaceship to Saturn", "Journey to Jupiter", "Nearly Neptune" etc...

I only remember the details of one which I was sure should have been called "Voyage to Venus" but for some reason (having just done a quick internet search) I find was actually called "Expedition Venus". In this story, an unmanned probe has recovered the spores of a voracious grey mould from the Venusian atmosphere which are accidentally released on Earth. The mould grows uncontrollably killing everything it touches and a mission has to be mounted to try to find a natural predator that can be brought back to Earth to kill it.

Haven't thought about these books for more than thirty years until this thread made me cast my mind back (and I didn't even know who wrote them until I did my Google serach just now) but I do remember enjoying them greatly...

Anyone else recall these books?

John Christopher's "Tripods" trilogy was also amongst my very early reading with "The City of Gold and Lead" leaving a particularly strong impression on me.

I know I also read a collection of Ray Bradbury short stories called "R is for Rocket" when I was far too young for them and they half scared me to death. Put me off Bradbury for many years although he eventually became one of my favourite authors!

Juvenile Heinlein came a bit later and then Issac Asimov when I was in my teens. After that I was hooked...

[Giovanna Clairval]

Your question has brought back wonderful memories of reading

I, Robot by Isaac Azimov, when I was sixteen (it's late, I know, in comparison with a few people here. Guys, you were lucky!).

I never re-read it, but still have a vivid impression of that book.

Thank you!

[Patrick Mahon]

For me, it was "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel", by Robert Heinlein. My elder brother lent it to me to read, aged about 12 or 13, and I was completely transfixed. Strangely, my interest in physics dates from shortly thereafter...

[GOLLUM]

HMM..first SF book is hard for me being predominatly a Fantasy junkie but if Silverberg's sciecne fantasy series on Majipoor counts then early 1980s with Lord Valentine's Castle.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Sadly, I think my first was The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet.

Well, at least I started early.

After that series, I don't remember if my next venture into science fiction (some years later, naturally) was Andre Norton's Moon of Three Rings, or John Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos, or You Shall Know Them, by Vercors. I wasn't looking for science fiction specifically, just grabbing whatever looked interesting in the high school library.

[Dusk]

Quakko wrote:

"As far as I have been able to find out it was Earth 2 (1955) by Vargo Statten, which is a pen name for John Russell Fearn. Although I haven't been able to find any description of the story or cover"

Here's one of the covers, if that helps.

"Can You Remember Your First Science Fiction Novel?"

Oh, good lord, no. This was the early 1970s; the children's section of the public library was flooded with sort-of-SF books. There was The Wonderful Flight to Mushroom Planet, Freddy and the Men from Mars, Matthew Looney's Voyage to Earth (those wonderful illustrations by Gahan Wilson!), the classic Doctor Dolittle in the Moon (in, not on) . . .

The book that really launched me into science fiction I discovered at age ten: Rocket Jockey, by Philip St. John AKA Lester del Rey. It was about a space race within the solar system; each planet and its inhabitants were given their own character. (The inhabitants of Mars were clearly Soviets; it was a Cold War novel, but one that had a happy ending.) The most striking chapter is where the spaceship must skim close to the sun. The entire chapter consists of the characters waiting, in slow agony, to see whether they will die of the heat. It was such an incredible contrast in suspense to the hectic danger of TV that it helped to make me fall in love with science fiction.

Two other books that proved to be turning points for me were Robert A. Heinlein's Have Space Suit, Will Travel and James Gunn's The Listeners. Then I discovered Isaac Asimov's short story collections, with all his chatty introductions about the history of science fiction (well, actually about the history of him, but he mentioned other authors too), and I was hooked.

steve12553 wrote:

"The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek by Evelyn Sibley Lampman"

Yes! Another fun quasi-SF writer! Does anyone besides me remember Rusty's Space Ship? I especially loved this illustration. Oh, for the days when all you needed to go exploring on strange planets was goggles and a clothespin over your nose.

DMFW:

"It's really hard to remember exactly what was my first taste of written science fiction but it would have been in the early 70's at the age of nine or ten I think, and was very likely one of the Hugh Walters series of juvenile space adventures which systematically covered the solar system in a series of alliteratively titled adventures with names like 'Spaceship to Saturn', 'Journey to Jupiter', 'Nearly Neptune' etc..."

Yes, yes, yes! I read a lot of those in the Library of Congress (hey, there are advantages to having a father who's a scholar) because, them being British books, my public library didn't have the full set. I grabbed a couple of the titles when my public library purged most of its children's collection when I was in college. Expedition Venus 's ever-expanding mold reminded me vividly of another children's book.

[Ian Whates]

My first SF novel was John Wyndham's The Chrysalids, initially heard as a BBC radio 4 dramatisation, then borrowed from the library and avidly read. That must have been about 1969 (?) at the tender age of 10.

I'd read fantasy before, notable Andre Norton, but never SF. My second SF book was a short story collection called Through a Glass Clearly by a certain Isaac Asimov... I've never looked back since!

[bruno-1012]

For me it would probably have been any of the Tom Swift jnr books that were available in our small local library when I was about 9/10.

The first one I bought for myself was Ben Bova - The Duelling Machine when I was about 12 from a book catalogue handed out during english lessons at school. I still have this (very dog-eared) in my library although I tend to reread it from a newish copy combined with Star Watchman.