Can You Remember Your First Science Fiction Novel?

Chocky by John Wyndham. Given to me by my father to introduce me to SF.
I have always assumed he chose that book because Matthew (The hero) and I were more or less the same age, but maybe it was that (on the first level at least) its not too challenging for a young lad.
I reread it recently and found lots of stuff in it that I hadn't understood when I was 10. :)
 
"Way Station" by Clifford D Simak was the 1st novel I read, I think I was 8 or 9 at the time.
This was closely followed by "A Fall Of Moondust" & "The Sands Of Mars" both by Arthur C Clarke then "The Demolished Man" by Alfred Bester.
There all very good books to this day if somewhat dated.
The 1st collection I read was "The Best SF 3" published by Faber & edited by Edmund Crispin.
This contained one of my all time favourite stories "The Game Of Rat And Dragon" by Cordwainer Smith, it blow my socks off when I 1st read it, look it up on Wiki.
I soon read volumes 1 & 2 in the series which contained such gems as "Dormant" by A E Van Vogt, "The Wobbler" by Murray Lienster & "Angels Egg" by Edgar Pangborn.
I also started to "The Best Of F & SF" series, all good stuff.
 
Around 1972 or 73 found a trashbag in my grandfathers attic full of westerns and science fiction books. The sci-fi book covers were way cooler and the best one was "Space Viking" by H. Beam Piper, quickly followed by "Cosmic Computer" and Andersons "Ensign Flandry", I've been addicted ever since.
 
Extollager said:
I'm unable to name the very first sf novel that I read -- though I enjoy this kind of discussion question.

Some of the earliest would probably be Wells's War of the Worlds (Whitman Classic edition), and, from the public library, del Rey's Outpost of Jupiter, Silverberg's Time of the Great Freeze and Conquerors from the Darkness, Capon's Lost: A Moon!, and Wollheim's captivating Secret of the Ninth Planet.
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I should mention also the John Christopher "White Mountains" books. They might not have been my first sf novels, but they were early reads in the genre.
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Addendum: I see these appeared in 1967, 1968, 1969 -- I doubt that The White Mountains was the first sf novel I read, and the others certainly would have appeared after I had begun to explore sf. They were "early," but not the first sf I read.
 
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Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. School assignment. I liked it but didn't know what to make of it.
 
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Extollager said:
I should mention also the John Christopher "White Mountains" books. They might not have been my first sf novels, but they were early reads in the genre.
white1.jpg
2614343341_5f9f4f0db9.jpg
1842761.jpg


Addendum: I see these appeared in 1967, 1968, 1969 -- I doubt that The White Mountains was the first sf novel I read, and the others certainly would have appeared after I had begun to explore sf. They were "early," but not the first sf I read.
Click to expand...
Fantastic books. Not my first, but memorable early SF. Christopher's The Lotus Caves and Empty World are also worth checking out: really haunting YA stuff.
 
hitmouse said:
Fantastic books. Not my first, but memorable early SF. Christopher's The Lotus Caves and Empty World are also worth checking out: really haunting YA stuff.
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I read The Empty World a few years ago and was a bit surprised (given it's a YA novel from some years ago) by the anti-Christian feeling -- when the protagonist contemptuously throws something to break a church window, like: "That's over, and good riddance." That wouldn't surprise me in a book published in the past 15 years or so, but for a book from 1977, it did.
 
Extollager said:
I should mention also the John Christopher "White Mountains" books. They might not have been my first sf novels, but they were early reads in the genre.
white1.jpg
2614343341_5f9f4f0db9.jpg
1842761.jpg


Addendum: I see these appeared in 1967, 1968, 1969 -- I doubt that The White Mountains was the first sf novel I read, and the others certainly would have appeared after I had begun to explore sf. They were "early," but not the first sf I read.
Click to expand...

I read those in college , terrific books. He later wrote a prequel novel , haven't read that .
 
The irony is that the reason I found and joined this website is I was trying to find the title of the first sci fi book I read. It was a pocket book from the 50s I purchased for less than a dollar at a garage sale. So my answer is no I cant remember!
 
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (New English Library Edition, 1972)

Up till then it was American Comics all the way (DC not Marvel), but after reading that book my eyes were truly opened to the wonders of science fiction/fantasy, it remains still to this day one of my favorite's
 
Hello from a new member. I vividly remember my first,which I read over and over.....Prisoners of Saturn by Douglas Suddaby. I got it from the local library, and recently tried to trace a copy which proved almost impossible, sadly.
 
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Found out after seeing Blade Runner a few times about the book. Both brilliant.
 
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