The Beginnings

The first proper Science Fiction Author that got me into Sci Fi was John Wyndham.

I am fond of the post-apocalyptic British science fiction Sub Genre.

The First book of his I read was The Day of the Triffids which I loved and find highly influential to this Day.

Then I read The Midwich Cuckoos which is totaly out of this world it has been made into a film called Village of the Damned a couple of times.

Science fiction has certainly moved on since the 1950's but i still find Wyndhams book's accessable even now wheras some more recent book's ie EON by Greg Bear seem kind of dated but i suppose that is because the Cold War is the Backdrop of EON.

If you havent read anything by John Wyndham be sure to check him out.

I've never been much of a reader of fiction. I guess all of my exposure to sci fi has been TV and film.
I remember my Dad really liked Arthur C Clarke's Rama, and when I decided to start reading sci fi this year that is what I began with. I really liked it, but abhorred the sequel which he wrote with a co-author.

Then recently I began reading Alastair Reynold's stuff. He's a British astronomer who wrote a trilogy starting with Revelation Space.I didn't know about this sub genre called "hard science fiction" but apparently he's an example of it. But he also fits into the "space opera" area too. Anyway, I am fascinated with him. I read his trilogy and now am reading a stand alone novel in the same universe called "Chasm City".

Anyone else know him?

I might suggest reading Chasm City before the Revelation Space trilogy. I think it gives more background to his universe than the first book of the trilogy. I started with the trilogy first and felt pretty disoriented. Not only are you trying to understand the setting(s) you also have to cope with Reynolds' favorite way to write a book: writing three different stories happening in 3 different decades and bring them together later on.

Comic books. But my first novel was "A Wrinkle In Time". Later Ray Bradbury and Robert Heinlein became my favorites. Then Larry Niven.

I guess the first things I got my grubby little hands on were comics.
Not the ones produced here in the UK like Dandy and Beano. I was always drawn to
the American ones from Marvel and DC.

I think it was the glossy covers and fantastic cover art that grabbed me.

My absolute and all time favourite hero was "Dr Strange".
He wasn't the usual muscle man type, though he was on occasion depicted as pretty ripped.
His platform of combat was often set in other dimensions, and he used a mixture of
ancient spells and artifacts to do his thing.

Not sure if Marvel still produce any comics with the dear old Doc but I would strongly recommend you check him out if ever you get the chance.
I still have about a hundred Dr Strange comics up in the loft and I could never part with them.

My introduction to true sci-fi was with Arthur C Clarkes books,

Rendezvous with Rama
Childhoods end
2001

And lots of others. Shame Arthurs no longer with us, a true insightful man.
I too liked Day of the Triffids (John Wyndham) and I also read some Micheal Moorcroft
books, something about "Jerek Carnelian" or "Jerry cornelius" rings a bell but it was a long time ago. In fact I think there was a movie made with that character years ago.
Perhaps someone here could shed some light on that.

Peace,

Mark

Hi Gene thanks for the wiki tip,

I think my interest in the paranormal was in part fuelled by the Doc, at least at an early age.
As it's raining here and I have a day off, I think I will dig out all my old comics and take a trip down memory lane.

By the way another writer I enjoy is, "Rudy Rucker". If you haven't read anything by him I would recommend "White Light".
Very entertaining stuff, you might like to check him out at:

http://www.cs.sjsu.edu/faculty/rucker/index.html

Peace,

Mark

Anybody else influenced by Manly Wade Wellman's work?

The Sorcerer Supreme AKA Dr. Stephen Strange Was a Steve Ditko co-creation. The artwork was trippy as hell. My dream team for the movie would be Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. I bet Johnny could even do those signature, impossible, hand gestures Strange used to cast spells. And well, Ditko's art and Burton's eye., perfect.

http://www.manlywadewellman.com/ The stories I remember had to do with mountain folk and their encounters with magic and the paranormal.

"Writers should be readers". That's what a former english professor told me once. Hemingway had something different to say on the subject., something about life experience as a key to good writing.