What initially inspired you to get into Fantasy or Science fiction??

[Cayal]

Originally Posted by Commonmind

Ironically my fantasy obsession started with the movie "The Hobbit," a notoriously bad adaptation of the book. As a child, however, I loved the film. I don't know when I realized the movie was based on an actual piece of literature, but I do remember it being one of the first books I picked up read the entire way through. It wasn't long after that when I realized there was an entire genre of entertainment containing these similar elements; swords and sorcery; knights, elves, dwarves, gnomes and fair-maidens; malignant dark lords, etc. I quickly latched on to all things fantasy, and haven't turned back since.

My sci-fi obsession began in a very cliche fashion as well. I had seen the movies 2001 and Star Wars. I had fallen in love with Buck Rodgers, Battlestar Galactica and V at an early age. When one of my aunts found out I loved sci-fi movies and television programs she thrust Ender's Game, Ranma, Starship Troopers (which I shouldn't have been reading in my tender youth) and the 2001 series into my hands. Not long after I had finished them all she gave me two entirely too-large boxes filled to the brim with sci-fi novels; which I utterly devoured.

Was that the cartoon version of the Hobbit?

[Commonmind]

Yes sir.

[Cayal]

I liked that. Don't know if it is anything like the book but I really liked the cartoon and the singing Goblins.

[grave999]

Initially...that might be Jules Verne's book <The Island>,the first sci-fi novel I've read.
Then, by nature, I get to love the world of Science Fiction.

[malfunkshun]

Nothing really 'inspired' me to get into sci fi or fantasy... that would assume that there was a time in my life when I WASN'T into sci fi or fantasy. It's just a natural thing for me. I've always been a sci fi fan. And fantasy also, to a lesser extent.

[Kettricken]

My dad used to read me fairytales, I think that was the first influence. Loving it, I used to pretend-play with my friends we were witches and made potions of shampoo, mud, crushed leaves, etc. A few years later I read 'the Hobbit' and loved it; again a few years later I read LOTR. I had no idea there was a whole genre of fantasybooks until much later. A shame, I think I would have read more if I had known sooner... Fortunately, after reading the compulsory literature for school, I discovered fantasy again with Robin Hobb!

[tarifa]

i have no idea! My parents had one shelf of books in the house, one of which wwas a complete Lord of the Rings, I read that very young, remember struggling with it but loved it, but the first sci-fi book i read? Its wierd but can't remember it feels like its just always been one of my things

[Rahl Windsong]

It all started for me because of the online game Ultima Online. I had been playing that game for about a year and that is all I was doing, playing a game. Then one day I joined a guild and suddenly I had this character that lived in this virtual world that was Ultima Online.

After a few years Rp'ing in my guild I found out about a volunteer program that allowed players to become dungeon masters in the game, they were known as Seer's in UO.

I took the online interview and I passed their tests and became a Seer. As a Seer I was given a special account that could do things like teleport around the game world and be invisible to the players, even take on the form of any monster in the game and make it seem intelligent to the players. We could do pretty much anything we needed to do in order to be a dungeon master in the game.

So now that I was a Seer I needed ideas for my stories and up until then I had read The Hobbit once and maybe started to read Lord of the Rings never finishing it. So I started reading any fantasy I could get my hands on just to fill my head with ideas for in game stories. I never copied anything from the stories I just used the ideas I found in them to help me to come up with stories that would fit into the world of Ultima Online.

The first book I read to get ideas was the Memory, Sorrow, Thorn series by Tad Williams and to this day it remains one of my all time favorite stories.

Up until all that took place I mostly read Science Fiction but since then I have hardly read any of that...

[Jamfke]

I'm a Star Wars baby. It was the first movie I remember watching that really grabbed hold of my imagination when I was about six years old and it hasn't left me yet.

My first fantasy hook? I suppose it was a story book in the library when I was in the fourth grade that had fairy tales and legends in it. Beowulf was the first one I read and I fell in love with it instantly. I actually bought that book and have it lying around here somewhere.

[Alurny]

Originally I'd assume TV programmes such as HE:MAN , Thundercats and Knightmare inspired my imagination along with other classics such as Maid Marian and her merry men and a programme I think was called the odyssey or Ulysses.


Star Wars got me interested in Space and all things similar which was further fueled by Farscape, which really captured my imagination.

My first fantasy reads were the Redwall books, at about age 10 and from there borrowing Star Wars/Star Trek books from the library.

My major influence on reading however was an absolutely fantastic year seven english teacher, who, in his first lesson, read an extract of Lord of the Rings which led to my borrowing of the book and the fantasy I have read to date.

[VionesspXmoone]

Originally Posted by Aniri

Piers Anthony. Having an older brother (6 years my senior), I emulated him as much as I could. When he was not around, I would sneak peeks at his book shelves, and then eventually started reading the books he had myself. I remember the cover of On A Pale Horse striking my fancy.
David Eddings as well, turned me onto fantasy. Sparkhawk is forever burned into my memory.

I exchanged letters with Piers Anthony a long, long, long time ago. Still have them some where in storage...as yellow as they are now

ETA: Anne Rice was another that I started sneaking from big bro's book shelf.

Piers Anthony for me too, it's awesome you corresponded with him!

[Creabots]

This is probably going to sound strange, but I think it was video games that got me into SFF, especially the Final Fantasy series. Before I was into books, I was into video games. I didn't read considerably until middle-school, when I found books that more resembled what I'd find in the video games I liked. I don't play video games much anymore, though. Some of the first SFF series I read were books by Lloyd Alexander, Diana Wynne Jones, and the animorphs. I had the Chronicles of Narnia series since elementry, but for some reason I'd start but wouldn't finish them.

[Junomidge]

In grade 6 we had to read a number of books and write a number of book reports. I read all the books and wrote none of the book reports. At that time I read anything about animals, Gentle Ben, everything by Marguerite Henry, Watership Down, Call of the Wild... but one of the books in the book cupboard was A Fall of Moondust. I read it and was completely hooked. After that my mom started buying us novels for stocking stuffers, and she bought me The White Dragon one Christmas because of the cool cover by Michael Whelan, and that hooked me on Pern. The next Christmas it was Dragon on Pedestal by DK Sweet, and I was hooked on Xanth. Both series have since disappointed me, but I am still a rabid Sci-Fi/Fantasy fan

[Junomidge]

Originally Posted by VionesspXmoone

Piers Anthony for me too, it's awesome you corresponded with him!

That's interesting, I corresponded with Anne McCaffery for a while too. I had an interest in Maine Coone cats and her fiction so we sent a few emails back and forth. I have also emailed Sydney J. Van Scyoc and received a reply, but I believe she no longer writes. I was quite enthralled by Starsilk and her others way back when.

[Lady of Winterfell]

As a kid I really enjoyed the movie The Last Unicorn. There was also a movie about dragons that I can't remember much about now, but I really enjoyed that one. You think I'd remember that. Then when I was in middle school I decided to go to my local library and find a book about dragons where they weren't the bad guy. I found dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey and I've been reading Fantasy ever since.