So who/what made you a fantasy fan?

[Hagelrat]

Geek Monkey posted on this at unbound and I like rthe subject.
Who were the authors and what were the books that first drew you into fantasy?
For me as a child I started with the usual, CS Lewis and otherwise wasn;t much into fantasy until I was about 13 and got introduced to Clive Barker. When I came across Weaveworld I was hooked and my reading habits changed forever.
More recently I borrowed the first Kelley Armstrong "otherworld" novel and got drawn into Urban Fantasy. Essentially though, my reading habits have changed little int he last 17 years.
How about you?

[BlueNinja]

It probably sounds odd, but I sort of got into sci-fi/fantasy reading because it's what my dad read. So I saw the covers, then went looking for stuff like it. A lot of little-kids books are fantasy (tell me Clifford the Big Red Dog isn't a magical creature ;) ) and I loved those.

I don't remember specifically what my first fantasy influences were; I think it might really have been the Chronicles of Amber that I read in 7th grade. I followed those up with some of Mercedes Lackey - Diana Tregarde and SERRAted Edge. The earliest sci-fi I remember reading was Asimov's "Norby the Robot" books, which I tore through in 4th-5th grade. And let me add the Stranger in a Strange Land is not a good book to be reading in 8th grade, even if you're smart enough to grok most of the words. :D

[Imaginos]

Aside from liking Star Wars in 1977 when it was in the theater (and I was 6), I collected comic books. Not heavy collecting, just buying an issue here and there and wearing it out. Though I did have all of the old Star Wars comics. Skip forward to the summer between 4th and 5th grade, and my mom took me to the community college library and I checked out Doctor Dolittle. That was probably my first fantasy/sci fi book. From there, CS Lewis, Jules Verne, and then I started reading my brothers' book collections. John Carter of Mars, Tarzan, wasn't allowed to read the Piers Anthony at that age though.

[Brother Brian]

For me it started with CS Lewis and Lloyd Alexander. I devoured the tales, and went looking for more. Dragonlance was part, as was Eddings.

I don't recall any concious decisions to be into fantasy.

As for urban fantasy, one of my favorite series of books is Robert B. Parker's Spenser mysteries. Combining that with Fantasy, (assuming it was done well), was a sure win.

[Chimaera]

For me? Comics and Greek mythology. I learned to read from Asterix books and the first real books I read were about Greek mythology -- I was big fan of Robert Graves, in particular.

[Mouser]

My grammar school had a complete Bullfinch's Mythology, but it was for reference only.

I would go in, sit down and read it at one of the tables at every free moment until I finished it.

[BattleNymph]

I'm Irish and was raised from infanthood on stories of the fey and ancient Ireland. It was an easy step from there.

[Starhawk]

I was a very, very precocious reader and raided my dad's bookshelf early.

I read The Hobbit and LOTR at around six years old. It only got worse from there. :)

[Baelfyre]

I started with Hardy boys and Nancy Drew. That led inevitably to Tom Swift, the Three Investigators, and the Skylark series..


Then came Perry Rhodan.

[Kalzazz]

My father, upon discovering the happy news that his first grade kid had learned to read (I notably was soundly failing all the first grade reading activities until that point) dug out his copy of Tolkien's Trilogy and gave it to me to read

This did take rather a while (well into the summer) to successfully happen

[Hagelrat]

I first read LOTR when I left uni and was briefly unemployed. Took me three days and I don't remember doing anything except reading and occasionally getting a couple of hours sleep. :)

[Harper]

I'd have a hard time being certain which was the first SF/F book I ever had contact with, but I remember being read The Odyssey, My Father's Dragon, The Hobbit, The Wind in the Willows, A Wrinkle in Time, and all the Narnia books perched on my dad's knee and barely able to follow the words on the page as he read them. I know I was a precocious reader and started about age 3 but I don't really remember when he read us which books. I recall that we begged for "read aloud" books until we were really much too old for it (like, 10 and 12 I think) and then got to read to our little brother a few years later. So it's been a tradition in the family to read Fantasy books aloud to each other for as long as I can remember.

[Thing One]

My mother read us fairytales and mythology from around the world.
But I got hooked on mysteries early and didn't get back to fantasy until Middle School.
Then it was the Hobbit, and Dragonsong, Dragonsinger and Dragondrums by Anne McCaffery!

In the last seven years, while I have been disabled and unable to watch movies or television (and had to give up computers until 3 years ago) reading saved my sanity. Specifically Terry Pratchett on audio. I think I have read every Discworld book at LEAST 20 times and some more than that!

Congratualtions to Sir Terry Pratchett - newly knighted! How cool is that?

[Harper]

That is beyond cool. I was super-pleased to hear it.

[Archaelos]

My mother loved watching anything with supernatural elements, so I grew up with Twilight Zone and Outer Limits, lots of horror movies and ghost stories. My oldest books are like that too, a bit fantasyish (The King with Six Friends) and several children's ghost story books. She read lots of fairy tales and Greek myths to us, and I remember reading through several collections of mythologies geared for young adults by the time I was ten. I guess that set the groundwork.

My first real fantasy series was Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books. I loved them, and scoured the library shelves for any book with the "Sci-Fi" red sticker on them. I read Asimov, Bova, Clarke, and Niven before moving on to Tolkien and Donaldson. By the time I had finished Donaldson's Covenant series (the first one...I was twelve or thirteen, I think), I was permanently hooked on the fantasy side, and haven't looked back since then.

[Magnus Bergqvist]

I think my first ones were C.S. Lewis with his Narnia Chronicles. I was about 10. Then J.R.R. Tolkiens LotR and Bilbo. Ursula K. Leguin with the first 3 books of the Earthsea-series (have later read book 4 and I hated that book). Stephen Donaldson was quite early as well. Then started playing rpg's and then got hooked on the various books about Gord the Rogue, Drizzt do Urden etc...

/Magnus

[IYamVixen]

I'm trying to remember exactly when I became enamoured with sci fi, fantasy, paranormal, urban fantasy....they all blend together. I subscribed to a sci fi book a month club for a long while, got tired of it, moved on to fantasy with King Arthur being the primary focus. After seeing the movie Excalibur, I became addicted to Arthurian legend. Can't remember exactly when I found paranormal, but I haven't looked back. It's my primary genre of choice.

[Detritus]

I'm trying to remember exactly when I became enamoured with sci fi, fantasy, paranormal, urban fantasy....they all blend together. I subscribed to a sci fi book a month club for a long while, got tired of it, moved on to fantasy with King Arthur being the primary focus. After seeing the movie Excalibur, I became addicted to Arthurian legend. Can't remember exactly when I found paranormal, but I haven't looked back. It's my primary genre of choice.
I'm surprised it took this many posts for someone to mention the Arthurian stuff.

I'm trying to remember as far back as I can, I think this is the rough order of authors/books that I can recall:

Roald Dahl -1st/2nd grade

C.S. Lewis - 4th/5th grade

Choose Your Own Adventure books - Middle School

Greek Mythology/Arthurian Legend - High School

I also seem to recall reading a lot about sports and WWII in my childhood and adolescence. I didn't read LOTR until I was in grad school.

[BlueNinja]

Roald Dahl -1st/2nd grade

C.S. Lewis - 4th/5th grade You know, I had forgotten, but I did read a bunch of the Roald Dahl books in grade school also. I do remember not liking them all that much, now that I think back on it. :)

[Sakutian]

I still remember the first ever fantsy book that I read to this day, it was The Legend of Huma which I bought second hand at a street fair. That book sucked me into the world of fantsy and from then on I was hooked. I guess I should also give credit to the animated Hobbit too, I loved that movie when I was a child.

[Ladyfyreyes]

I've always read fast. When entering Middleschool I started on the biography and history books after finishing all of them I moved to fiction and picked up a book called "The Golden One" by Alexander Keyes. I was hooked after that I moved thru the shelves starting at A or Asimov.

[Harper]

Hey, Sakutian, I don't think I've ever heard of The Legend of Huma.... What's it about?

And you can never go wrong starting at A for Asimov. Good stuff!

[Sakutian]

I'm excited to be describing the book but how to do it? In it's purest form Huma is the story of a young and noble knight rising up to face circumstances far beyond his measure, and the role he played in a horrific war. He's a hero, a legend, a myth and this book explains the deeds that made him so.

Essentially it is Huma's one story in which he meets Kaz the minotaur, faces down gods, undead wolves, dragons, and the gods themselves while managing to find a long lost weapon and turn the tide in the seemingly endless war of the lance.

I'm doing a poor job of describing it really but it's excellent and very much worth looking at if you have the opportunity. Easily the best thing to ever come out of the Dragonlance series.

[Harper]

No, no. That's good. It's a Dragonlance book? Neat. So does it feel more like a fairytale or more like an epic?

[Sakutian]

Haha well I always say it's THE Dragonlance book, the only thing that comes close to it are the following Kaz stories, but even they aren't quite as good. I'd definitely say it has an epic feel there is a sprinkling of fairytale as well though I suppose. Just enough to give it some zing without making you choke.

[Harper]

Ah-hah! Cool. I find the series very uneven, so I've never stuck with it. I missed that arc completely.

[Sakutian]

Yeah the series is very flighty, it's like a wild animal that you feed sort of. Some days it will be friendly and cuddle you a bit while it munches on whatever treats you offer(your money) and other days it will bite you without cause(stink like a paper mill). I fade in and out, doubt I've read a quarter of what's been written for it. The Huma story is only one book though so it's good, he didn't even get a whole arc for himself.

[Thing One]

About Arthurian legends
I only really liked the Crystal Cave and the Hollow Hills by
Mary Stewart. That and EE White's The Once and Future King.

The rest just doesn't make me happy. I won't read anything now that has even
hints of Arthur. I think he should have booted Lancelot and Gueniviere and said
SEE YA!

[Ginger Lewis]

I was always a precocious reader as a child but I didn't get into fantasy until I was in my late teens. Someone gave me a copy of Roger Zelazney's "Nine Princes in Amber" and said that I really HAD to read it. I did, loved it and went on to read the entire series. 25 years later, and fantasy is still my favourite genre. Coincidentally (or not) my childhood reading comprised mainly the mystery/detective genre which still comes a close second.

[ImzadiDragonfly]

I grew up watching sci-fi and fantasy with my dad. When I was six or seven (maybe younger) we had The Hobit on LP and I would play that over and over again. As for books it started with a couple of Andre Norton's Magic series given to me by my grandmother. Followed up by Margaret J. Anderson, Ray Bradbury and Ursula K. Le Guin. I found Lackey's Tregarde and Valdemar series and I was done for.

[Hagelrat]

Imzadi, good point, I always think of the books that got me into Sci fi and Fantasy but the films and shows I watched growing up (star Trek, The Dark Crystal, The Princess Bride) were hugely influential too. Especially in terms of Sci Fi, even now I watch more sci fi than I read, I read more horror and I consume fnatasy anyway I can get it.

[Sakutian]

The Princess Bride movie probably had a hand in making me a little fantasy nut for the rest of my life. I loved that movie! What's reall ynice is that it holds up when you watch it years and years later too. My favorite character was always Inigo which isn't surprising for me. I read the book a few years ago just to see how close it was to the movie and I absolutely adored it, it's probably better than the movie which is really astounding considering how good they each are in their own right.

Apologies for the thread detour, I couldn't resist a chance to sing the praises of The Princess Bride.

Did anyone else read the Seventh Tower series by Garth Nix by any chance?

[Hagelrat]

I love Garth Nix but i've not read this, it was reviewed recently over on Pizza's book discussion.

[Lightning Lord]

Well when I was a kid I read the typical fantasy stuff (The Hobbit, etc) and was a fan but around like 12 years old I started to totally reverse my thinking, wanted to read "real lit", etc. I was into mythology, still, though, but I considered fantasy to be nothing but derivative drivel.

But then I discovered Michael Moorcock, and I saw all the stuff brimming below the surface, and I realized that he was talking about real life as well, not just a made up kingdom. So I'd say that despite all the different authors I love, Michael Moorcock is the one who made me realize that sci-fi and fantasy are just as cromulent as anything else. Neil Gaiman did the same thing for me with comics, via the Sandman and the Books of Magic.

Oh, and I also used to watch Star Trek: TNG, Hercules and Xena with my Dad, then on my own. Those are some of my fondest memories, and if I could have any TV show back, it would be the last two.

BTW, isn't urban fantasy stuff like Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser? Greywalker and the Dresden Files, etc are modern fantasy, right? Sub-genre stuff is confusing.

The Legend of Huma

Yeah, I'd say that the Legend of Huma and Kaz the Minotaur are the only two books worth reading in the whole DragonLance series. They're fun and not nauseatingly written. Some day I plan to compile a list of D&D books worth reading. It'll be short, and not have Drizzt on it ;-)

[Harper]

Well... at the moment "Urban Fantasy" is a marketing term for "has cross genre appeal, dark fantasy elements, and a modern/contemporary setting". At least as far as I can tell. I'm not sure what they're doing with the old "Contemporary Fantasy" tag.

Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser I think of as traditional fantasy with a city setting--like Scott Lynch's books, they have all the standard traditional fantasy stuff going on and the setting doesn't really change the essential fantasy feel. Strictly My Opinion. (*YMMV)

[Magnus Bergqvist]

Yeah, I'd say that the Legend of Huma and Kaz the Minotaur are the only two books worth reading in the whole DragonLance series. They're fun and not nauseatingly written. Some day I plan to compile a list of D&D books worth reading. It'll be short, and not have Drizzt on it ;-)

Personally I don't agree. Haven't read Kaz the minotaur (as far as I recall), But I do recall Huma being a bit boring. I think the first trilogy was the best.

There are some good D&D-books. Azure Bonds, Spellfire and the first books about Gord the Rogue are quite good as far as I recall.

/Magnus

[Sakutian]

Yeah, I'd say that the Legend of Huma and Kaz the Minotaur are the only two books worth reading in the whole DragonLance series. They're fun and not nauseatingly written. Some day I plan to compile a list of D&D books worth reading. It'll be short, and not have Drizzt on it ;-)


*Thumbs up*
I hope it will have The Middle of Nowhere, and The Sentinels of Magic too. Those were a few of my other favorties from teh Dragonlance stories. Amber and Ashes has been pretty good too but I haven't finished the last chapter yet so we'll see how that ends up.

I liked one of the Drizzt stories...Icewind Dale I think that was it. Although that's the only one I ever read all the way through other than that I'll pass on it.

[Empress Che]

Jumping in...
Like a few of you...C.S. Lewis was my major push into the fantasy genre....much to my community's chagrin.
Fantasy/Sci-Fi are my favourites...though I latch onto mysteries when I come across one..
I stayed away from horror, though it seems that much paranormal is labelled as horror in some of the book stores I frequent...
Love Vampire novels (except Anne Rice), though the last couple of months it's been Werewolf novels. I'll segue into witch novels soon, if my Amazon list is any indication....

[whitetrash]

Terry brooks made me the fantasy nut I am.:dance5: