# First SF stories Read **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2002, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-sf-stories-read/141059 "2002-12-07T00:38:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-sf-stories-read/141059/41 "2002-12-10T04:14:36Z")
**Shoshana** , _ahovah_, I wouldn’t call _The Hobbit_ science fiction, but rather fantasy. However, did find out about it in 5th grade from a passing mention in a juvenile science fiction book: _Danny Dunn and the Voice from Space_, by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin. I have them to thank for turning me into a Tolkien geek, just from the phrase “That great book, _The Hobbit_…” I put down Danny Dunn, asking “What the heck is a hobbit?” and my life was never the same again. I immediately devoured _The Lord of the Rings_, and went back to the bookstore asking for _The Silmarillion_. But this was 1969: too early for the _Silmarillion_. The bookstore clerk, bless her, was knowledgeable on Middle-Earth matters and informed me that _The Silmarillion_ would not appear until after Tolkien died, because he could never quite get it finished. When it was about to be published in 1977, I had my name on the waiting list. The earliest science fiction book I read whose title I can remember was _The Runaway Robot_ by Lester Del Ray. I’m pretty sure there were earlier ones, but I can’t remember their titles. (But the best Lester Del Ray book was definitely _The Infinite Worlds of Maybe_, a great mind-stretcher.) Early on, I read a lot of Asimov, H. G. Wells, and Jules Verne. Eleanor Cameron took me on several trips to the Mushroom Planet. Years later, in college, I took some “trips” of my own to the Mushroom Planet. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-sf-stories-read/141059/42 "2002-12-10T07:29:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > \*\*Mrs. Pickerell. > > … > And does anyone else remember **The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet**? > > Fenris \*\* Wow. That takes me back. How far back I don’t know, but waaaaay back. That’s the first time I’ve thought of those for many, many years. I don’t even remember anything about the plot - something about a couple of kids with a weird neighbor with a bunch of mushrooms in his basement. And I may be remembering wrong. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Banger_ > **Oops, I forgot another sci-fi series: The Tripods trilogy by John Christopher…** I remeber being very excited a couple of years ago when I picked up the second and third book in that series used someplace (I was given the first book as a gift as a kid, and had borrowed the sequels from the library to read them). However, that wasn’t the first John Christopher book I ever read - the first was The Lotus Eaters Has anyone ever re-read any of their childhood favorites as adults? How did you react? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-sf-stories-read/141059/43 "2002-12-10T11:01:16Z")
I remember Danny Dunn and John Christopher, but, like many British SF nuts of a certain age, my first introduction to the genre came from Hugh Walters - I think _Mission to Mercury_ was the first of his I read. (Walters’ international team of young astronauts managed to cover pretty much the whole of the solar system during their career). I still look back on those books fondly. They’re almost unobtainable now - most British libraries apparently disposed of their copies long ago. I actually own copies of _Blast Off at Woomera_ (the very first book) and _Expedition Venus_, and I am _not_ parting with them. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-sf-stories-read/141059/44 "2002-12-10T13:17:57Z")
When I was in the 3rd grade, I read a book titled “The 7 Science-Fiction Novels of H.G. Wells”, which included: War of the Worlds Time Machine Island of Dr. Moreau Invisible Man Food of the Gods Empire of the Ants and one other that I can’t remember, but will try while typing this… Reading HG Wells at such an early age taught me the valuable skill of skimming, where you breeze through passages of crap that you don’t care about (like 19th century visions of Socialist Utopias/Dystopias) to get to the good stuff (the science, the machines, the action). I then probably read a lot of juvenalia (sp?) - at least, I don’t remember much of it. My next science fiction novel was Dune, which I read in high school and is probably the start of my thing with space operas. I can’t remember that last Wells novel, just that I know it wasn’t “The Star” or the one about the army of ants. ---
**Author:** ![Osakadave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@Osakadave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osakadave)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-sf-stories-read/141059/45 "2002-12-10T13:44:40Z")
The first sf story I clearly remember reading was The Caves of Steel (hope I remember that correctly it’ been many years?) by Asamov around fifth or sixth grade. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-sf-stories-read/141059/46 "2002-12-10T18:58:54Z")
**Jomo Mojo** and other _Danny Dunn_ fans, do you remember a book by Williams and Abrashkin called _The Hero from Otherwise_? It was about two kids who somehow got sucked into another world where magic was real and they had to work together and learn valuable lessons…etc. I had a copy of this for years but have never ran into anyone else who read it. I didn’t even remember who wrote it until I saw **Jomo Mojo’s** post. Anyways, my first foray into Sci-Fi was probably Jules Verne. Before that, I read a lot of Ruth Chew but I think that she was more fantasy than SF. After Verne I started on Arthur C. Clarke and the Dune series. I have only recently moved back into the genre, reading some things that have come highly recommended by others. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-sf-stories-read/141059/47 "2002-12-10T19:29:40Z")
My very first was probably the Classics Illustrated version of _The Time Machine_. A lot of the Danny Dunn books. A lot of Edgar Rice Burroughs. A few of the Miss Pickerells. A couple of the Mushroom Planets. A lot of short stories which I later learned were all by Isaac Asimov. _Enchantress from the Stars_ and its sequels. _The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek_ _The Mad Scientists’ Club_ Somewhere along the way I got hooked on Andre Norton and Robert Heinlein. Sometime later I got a copy of _Logan’s Run_. Everyone should read that one twice: once when you are a very young teenager, and again when you are over 21. ---
**Author:** ![moonchilde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3e96dc/32.png) [@moonchilde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonchilde)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-sf-stories-read/141059/48 "2002-12-11T02:54:40Z")
“The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek” WOW! another blast from the deep past! thanks for sharing that one. i had plum forgotten. mc ---
**Author:** ![Scotticher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Scotticher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scotticher)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-sf-stories-read/141059/49 "2002-12-15T03:20:33Z")
You consider “Shy Stegosaurus” to be science fiction? Wow, one of my favorite books as a child, and I have always thought that I was not a SF fan. I DID love “A Wrinkle in Time”, though, so maybe I am a closet SF’r. Not that I need any more genre obsessions, but I will have to check out some books and give it a shot. [sub]Hi **moonchilde** honey…congrats on your first thread! I think MY first was something about childhood nicknames. :Sigh: It was pretty lame. [/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-sf-stories-read/141059/50 "2002-12-15T05:35:11Z")
[nitpick] _Invisible Man_ (not SF) is by Ralph Ellison. _ **The** Invisible Man_ (SF) is by H. G. Wells. [/nitpick] Wow, I’m surprised to see so many people mentioning Danny Dunn. I had forgotten about him, and he must not have made that big an impression because I don’t really remember anything about him, but I did read at least a couple Danny Dunn books at some point in my childhood. ---
**Author:** ![Daylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@Daylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylon)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-sf-stories-read/141059/51 "2002-12-17T05:32:42Z")
Hmm… I think the first ones I read (in no particular order) Lensmen Series - by E.E. Doc Smith (probably one of the greatest sci-fi series ever IMHO) Went back and bought the whole collection of paperbacks off of eBay last summer and re-read them - it’s still a great great series. David Eddings - the Belgariad Series I remember a book that was part of a series called “Riders of the Sidhe”…had a bunch of nordic gods as characters, (i.e. Mannan MacLir, Morrigan)…they were fighting some evil robot / cyborg guy with a single lazer for an eye… Ahh…found it on google… Kenneth Flint - it’s book one of a series of Celtic myth rolled into a sci-fi / fantasy setting. Seriously good reading - I highly recommend it. Favorite Heinlein - Friday and the Cat who Walks Through Walls ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-sf-stories-read/141059/52 "2002-12-17T07:20:49Z")
**Jomo Mojo** – Okay, if we’re distinguishing fantasy from science fiction, Silverberg’s anthology _Mind to Mind_, or possibly Asimov’s wonderful anthology _Tomorrow’s Children_. By the end of middle school I think I’d read all the Blish Star Trek books and all the Heinlein available; anyway, I’d amassed a couple hundred paperback science fiction volumes by the beginning of high school. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-sf-stories-read/141059.md?page=2)