The Sword and Laser discussion

Goodnight Moon - It was both a thrilling story and powerfully character driven

The first thing i ever read was The Steadfast tin Soldier, from Hans Christian Andersen - my all time fav fairytale, but only cause Lion King doesn't count (it's like saying that your favorite fairytale is Hamlet).

The book that hooked me to literature in general was Harry Potter. I think it's a general answer for my generation, since many of my friends say the same. And i think that this got me envolved with the Sword part, since the Lord of the Rings movies came right after and then i read then, C.S. Lewis, etc.

For the Laser part, i think my first was the Douglas Adams series... NO, WAIT. The first ever was I, Robot. Then Neuromancer and THEN Douglas Adams.

Wait, Brave New World count as laser? If counts, then this was my first... i think.

(i could edit this, but it was funny to remember the order of the books)

The first books I remember reading on my own that I picked up at the library on my own wasThe Black Stallion and the entire series that followed. I even had to have some of the later books sent via inter-library loan (And thought that was the coolest thing EVER!)

My first fantasy book was probably Redwall and soon after I ventured into Pern... For a long time I was really into Fantasy a lot more than sci-fi but in the past two or so years I've begun picking up a lot more Sci-fi and enjoying it immensely.

First book: no idea, but there's a pretty good chance it involved The Hardy Boys or Encyclopedia Brown.

First genre book: The White Mountains. It was serialized as a comic strip in Boy's Life magazine, and I loved it there so much that I read the book. Still love it and reread it from time to time.

The first book I remember reading was Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue. I still think it is a fantastic book. I got into reading fantasy and sci-fi when I read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and then the Hobbit in close succession.

First book would be a toss up between the Bearinstein Bears (bad spelling) or the Magic School Bus (im not including ones that were read to me).
My Fantasy gateway drug? probably Anne McCaffrey's Pern books (even though those are techniquely SF)

First books would be all Dr Suess I could get my hands one.

First genre books? Actually, the space trilogy by cs Lewis (out of the silent planet, etc) got me into it.

My first children's books were Dr. Seuss. Later, since my mom was an avid Stephen King fan, I read the Shinning as my first novel. It might of been a mistake for someone so young - it scared me silly :-)

First book I ever read was Curious George (I still have the original book), the book that got me into sword and laser I read at 8 and was The Legend of Huma (A DragonLance novel that springboarded me into the genre).

What was the first book you remember reading?
The Fire Cat by Esther Averill was the first book I read by myself. Loved the illustrations too. It's still on my bookshelf.
Before that I was trucking through Word Bird like a boss.

What was the book that got you hooked on sword and laser novels?
In the Hall of the Dragon King by Stephen R. Lawhead. I snuck it from my older brother's bookshelf. I was maybe 11. My imagination was stretched beyond its borders with that book, and I was hooked for life.

The first book I remember reading was What Katy Did, my mother gave it to me, I presume to teach me a lesson.

There wasn't one, single book that got me into sword and laser novels. When I was 15 or 16, I had a friend who convinced me there was more out there than crime and mystery novels.

He graciously let me borrow his collection of George R.R. Martin, Terry Pratchett, David Gemmell, Robert Jordan, Neil Gaiman and many more, until I had no other choice but to agree with him.

I don't remember my first book; I was lucky enough to grow up surrounded by books and was reading fluently not long after starting school.

I've no clue what got me into Sword books - I remember clearly having to study A Wizard of Earthsea at about 12yo and thinking it was total old hat because I'd read a ton of wizard and dragon and magic books by then! Probably The Hobbit as I know it was definitely on our shelves at home, but I may have raided the library earlier. David Gemmel's Legend and the Shannara series come to mind, and lots of Eddings. I do know I loathed LotR!

For Laser, I know those clearly - Nicholas Fisk's Starstormers series, and Robot Revolt, pretty sure these are all OOP. I tracked down a copy of the latter a few years ago but have only been able to get the first two Starstormers. They're waiting on the shelves for my daughters to grow into. :) The BBC also made John Wyndam's Chocky for children's TV.

I don't recall the very first book I read. I do know what got me hooked on Sword and Laser books though: Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia. You might be thinking, why #2 in the Narnia series? In grade school (somewhere around 4th grade), there was a box of books in the class that we could borrow at will. In that box were both Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I never knew at the time that they were part of a larger series, I just picked them up and started reading. Once I did, I was hooked on Fantasy novels for life. I then moved on to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and then whatever else I could get my hands on!

Sci-fi came later, but I've found it equally appealing, just in a different way! The first Sci-fi book I remember reading was Ghoster. I still have it, but haven't read it in years. Hm, now that I think of it, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy might have been my first Sci-fi... if that counts as such.

Brings back memories! :)

The first book I remember reading in school is "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls which I remember fondly to this day but the first book that really got me hooked on reading is "The Gunslinger" by Steven King which definitely got me headed towards sci-fi and fantasy. The first Sci-fi book I read that absolutely launched me towards sci-fi was William Gibson's "Necromancer"

First book I remember reading was Black Beauty when I was in kindergarten. It was a 'bedtime book,' all of which my dad and I read aloud, switching back and forth with each chapter.

Clifford, the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell.
It may not have the first book I read on my own, but it's a likely candidate since I read it in kindergarten when I was 4 or 5.
The reason I remember it so well is because I still haven't returned the book to the school's library.
Good thing school libraries don't have late fees...

First book I read Fun with Dick and Jane yes really.


I think the first I bought, via scholastic books at school was a Pippi Longstocking book, of all things. Pippi in the South Seas Other than that, I'm sure I read Jules Vernes books, 20,000 Leagues and The Children of Captain Grant while I was in elementary school.

The earliest book I have in my collection is New World For Nellie I got this in Grade 5. While not the Sword Fantasy it certainly isn't a Laser. LOL

The first book I remember reading was the Hobbit. It was one of those Little Golden Books versions.

The Phantom Tollbooth got me hooked on fantasy novels.

What was the first book you remember reading?
From when I was VERY younger: We're Going on a Bear Hunt.
Some time after that... it was either Harry Potter 1 or Alice in Wonderland.

What was the book that got you hooked on sword and laser novels?
I have yet to start Sword and Laser novels, but I did go to the store this week and buy: Ender's Game, Leviathan Wakes, Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Mistborn Book 1 and A Song of Ice and Fire.

So hopefully that'll get me into the swing of S&L =]

Probably Enid Blyton but the two first books I remember reading where The Hobbit and and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix

First book was Men of Iron, by Howard Pyle. Coming of age story about a young squire in Medieval England. Good stuff.

First children's book I recall having a memory of is Where the Wild Things Are, a book I love and recommend to any parent today. First novelish book I recall reading was Incredible Journey. Not sure what ages I was, I'm have issues with time stamping memories.

First book I remember is probably the big jump by doctor Seuss. For sword and laser, it was the original dragon lance novels and later Enders game for the laser portion.

I'm guessing my first book was 'The cat in the Hat' by Dr.Seuss but I'm not really sure. I think my first SF exposure was 'The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet' by Eleanor Cameron and first serious fantasy was 'The Hobbit'.

The first book I can remember reading was The Pond. It was a very short, first reader book. I was four. I memorized it quickly. After that was thumbing through World Book encyclopedias - A for animals, F for fish, and D for dinosaurs, with P for prehistoric animals. As the elementary years came, there was the Choose Your Own Adventure books, with military technology picture books, and the Beverly Cleary books. My father turned me on to the Lucky Starr books like David Starr, Space Ranger, by Asimov. At this time I also read some Xanth books, Horatio Alger Jr. and his rags-to-riches stories.
The book that truly turned me on to scifi and these imaginative stories was A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle. I bought it at a book fair. It was so frustrating because there was a printing error and thirty pages were reprinted right in the middle of the book. I didn't have money to replace it, so I just had to skip a big section and go on.
Two books that had a big impact to my dreams were A Wind in the Door and the evil echthroi that were corrupting the worlds, and Ender's Game, with the concept of an alien race being able to watch me in my dreams. (Thanks Orson Scott Card) Such powerful stories and ideas motivated me to dream and write. I knew what I wanted to be at an early age. Thanks to influential writers, I am.

Definitely Fun with Dick and Jane was the book I learned on in 1st grade. I didn't really come into my own with reading until 2nd grade, though. I know an early one was Green Eggs and Ham, but the one I really remember from 2nd grade is Charlotte's Web.

The very first book I read is Fox in Socks. My mother got many many many laughs as I learned to read on this.

The book that got me hooked on sword was The Hobbit. In grade 6, a group of us studied this book as part of the advanced reading group.

The book that got me hooked on laser was This Alien Shore

The first book I picked out at the library all by myself and read was called Time Cat. I don't remember what all I read after that, until I discovered the Dragon Lance books-and that's when I started spending all my time in the Fantasy section of the library.

It's been over 40 years since my first book and I have no idea what it was, but the first sword and laser book would have been The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe in 5th grade. We read it out loud in class followed by The Hobbit.

The first book I remember reading?
On recollection, I'm pretty sure it was Five Little Firemen, a Little Golden Book.

The first that got me into Sword and Laser books?
Laser: One of the Tom Swift, Jr. books by "Victor Appleton II" -- I think probably Tom Swift in the Race to the Moon, followed by many others in that series. Then I discovered Star Trek in the early 70s through Sunday morning reruns on a local TV station, which led to the James Blish novelizations of the episodes, and that part of the local bookstore opened the universe to me!
Sword: The Dying Earth--I didn't read the Oz books until later! And though I'd heard of Tolkien for years, I didn't read The Hobbit until I was maybe 14 or 15, soon followed by Fellowship and the rest, and through high school, and fueled by D&D, I went on a serious fantasy jag, supplanting SF as my top "drug of choice" for a few years before falling back to a close second place. (Sorry, Sword folk!)

Ok. So I'm gonna skip any children's books - I started reading around age 4, so it would be impossible to know which one of those was truly first.

The first non-children's book I remember reading was "Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret." I was too young to be reading it - I have no idea how I got my hands on it. I felt guilty the whole time, but couldn't put it down. I was probably 7.

I starting reading for pleasure (instead of for school assignments) around age 14. I read mostly clean Regency era romance novels. I'm fairly certain one of those involved a modern day heroine traveling back in time. Though I don't remember the details, that one stands out in my memory. Though not traditional sci-fi, it does indicate a recurring theme in my life - I LOVE time travel stories.

But then another poster reminded me that my first genuine S&L book was "The Once and Future King." It was a school summer reading assignment. But I LOVED it so much that I finished it in just a couple of days - all 1100 pages. That lead me to Tennyson's "Idyll's of the King" to continue the Arthurian legend. Those are probably the only two fantasy books I've ever read. These days I'm sci-fi only.

I don't remember the first book I read since I was 3 when I learned to read. But the first sci-fi book I remember reading that got me hooked was Friday by Robert A. Heinlein. I still have a soft spot for him. I also remember my mom, brother and I reading an anthology of Stephen King short stories on a long road trip across the USA when I was 9 or 10. Then my brother and I got to reading Piers Anthony. I have been a sword and laser enthusiast ever since.

What was the first book you remember reading?
The Boxcar Children

What was the book that got you hooked on sword and laser novels? The Chronicles of Narnia

First book. No clue. I don't remember.

First fantasy book, probably The Hobbit.

First sci-fi book, it was either Ender's Game or Childhood's End.

The first book I ever read on my own would probably be
The Girl Who Owned a City. I was fascinated by the alternate reality it proposed and I was impressed with the detail the author went into to tell the story.
What got me into SF&F was actually a duology I found on a friend's bookshelf Eon andEternity. These 2 books were some of the hardest and most mind blowing sci-fi books I have ever come across and Greg Bear has since become my favorite author. I highly recommend his books starting with Songs of Earth and Power. Reading it is like slipping into a hot tub. It's a little difficult to get into but once you're in, you never want to get out.

First book I actually remember reading is the tride and true Dick and Jane. The first book that was in depth and I fell totally in love with was the Box Car Children.

Ieshadover wrote: "First book I actually remember reading is the tride and true Dick and Jane. The first book that was in depth and I fell totally in love with was the Box Car Children."

I loved the Box Car Children! I think I have a whole bunch of them in storage somewhere.

Rob wrote: "I loved the Box Car Children! I think I have a whole bunch of them in storage somewhere.."

I did read the whole series but I remember the The Boxcar Children: The Boxcar Children Mysteries #1 best. It was my first exposure to stone soup. LOL

Before I read them my mother read the The Happy Hollisters by Jerry West and The Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope to me and my bother.

First book?
It was a tiny Rand McNally book called:
The Raggedy Raggedy Goat, read it till the cover fell off.

The book that changed everything for me about reading, and sucked me into the Sword (and Laser) world was:
Riverwind the Plainsman

It's not that great a book, but in fourth grade, I went into a book store. Bought it purely based on the cover art, read it on family vacation. Then read every Dragonlance book available.

Oscar wrote: "What was the first book you remember reading?
What was the book that got you hooked on sword and laser novels?"

1. Bears in the Night.

2. Tough question, I've always been drawn to sci-fi novels. However I think it may have been a Star Trek TNG tie-in called Boogymen. It's not exactly a great book, but it showed me I could still explore that universe without having to rely on the TV show.

1. The Great Escape( the one with alligators)

2 game thrones series, I had to find info about next book and it brought me here

First book I remember reading was one of the "Little Bear" books. I'm talking 1970s, before I was in school.

First fantasy/sci-fi book that got me rolling had to be "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar," by Roald Dahl. The title story sticks in my mind to this day, even though it's been close to 30 years since I've read it. Yeah - THAT good. Definitely overdue for a re-read.

Synopsis: A gambler learns how to read minds and finds the gift is greater than the reward. A story of great virtue. Like I said, almost 30 years and clear in my mind!

The first real novel I read was The Egyptian by Mika Waltari, I almost lemmed it after two weeks of struggle to finish it.
But what got me hooked up on reading and specifically on sword and laser genre was Jurassic Park. I just knew this when it took me like three weeks to read the previous versus 3 days for the latter.

The first genre book I read was The The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. It was part of an English class in junior high.

I was terrible at finishing books for school, but this was really the first book I had to finish (the only other book I finished took 2 years. I had to repeat the class, so continued where I left off the year before).

It was what turned me on to science fiction (Lord of the Rings did it for me for fantasy).

I have no idea what my first book was... there was some Dr. Seuss and some Frog & Toad, later some babysitter's club.
The book that made me love fantasy, that one I remember. Dark Horse by Mary H. Herbert was amazing. It was fun to read and in seconds transported me to an amazing magical world, with a strong realistic female lead.
I had always read allot, but after discovering that book you couldn't pry me from novels. It is still obese of my favorite book after reading it many many times. The whole series is great.

My first book was, without a doubt, The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Man, did I love it!

Redwall, honestly, was my first intro to genre fiction. HOOKED!

The first books I can remember reading were the Danny Dunn series although I do have vague memories of now wanting to read Babar the Elephant because of the funny curvy letters. I remember my mother taking me to the library and searching for new ones to the there. These appealed to me because I have been a science nerd since grade school.

The Sword of Shanarra was the book that got me into fantasy books.