Counterpoint- the stories in The Hall of Fame of Science Fiction Volume 1 were already ancient circa 1990 when I stumbled upon them and I was never the same again.
Replies
The first science fiction I remember was an old copy of Hugo Winners edited by Asimov and the first story I read was “The Star.” I was hooked. That story was written more than a decade before I was born. I disagree with Mr Scalzi. Give the kid Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.”
aug 11, 2025, 8:11 pm • 0 0 • view
My copy looks exactly like that—well-worn and well-loved!
aug 11, 2025, 12:09 pm • 1 0 • view
Had to read that in college. Copy looks like that, agreed.
aug 11, 2025, 4:15 am • 3 0 • view
Where I, an adult, went through the first half with various levels of meh to mild enjoyment but never bothered replacing it when it was destroyed by a sink accident. The age showed in every single one.
aug 11, 2025, 12:50 pm • 4 0 • view
I had the three book set in the box (got destroyed in a flood 😭) and it was life changing. They've reprinted it now! I recommend volume 1 to everyone...just like you, it changed how I experience the world. So glad to see someone the same!
aug 11, 2025, 3:50 pm • 1 0 • view
This kinda made my day. I have a 5 year old, she’s a pretty solid reader and I am just SO EXCITED for her world to grow exponentially once she really starts diving into books.
aug 11, 2025, 4:07 pm • 1 0 • view
You'regoing to have so much fun! My kids are 10 and 12 and getting into this stuff and it really is SO EXCITING. My son's favourite of all time is The Martian. Wishing you joyful book years with your book colleague! ❤️
aug 11, 2025, 4:22 pm • 1 0 • view
Oh man…I still have a copy!
aug 12, 2025, 3:00 am • 2 0 • view
I treasure mine!
aug 12, 2025, 3:12 am • 2 0 • view
Another counterpoint. I don't possess a time machine so I have no idea what books from today that me aged 8 would like. I can only talk about the gateway books that led me to SF&F back then.
aug 11, 2025, 7:21 am • 1 0 • view
Truly mind-opening stories.
aug 11, 2025, 4:41 am • 2 0 • view
Still amazed that Surface Tension has never been turned into a film.
aug 11, 2025, 11:42 am • 1 0 • view
I've got volumes I and II in similar condition. Many of the stories don't land any more but that's partly because they often have a twist or angle which was surprising at the time but has become cliche since then because everybody else copied it
aug 11, 2025, 4:33 pm • 2 0 • view
My copy still looks like that.
aug 11, 2025, 6:42 am • 1 0 • view
Some of them were quite good, but they’re not something that I would assume would hook younger readers.
aug 11, 2025, 12:44 pm • 0 0 • view
What? No way! Both Microcosmic God and Surface Tension are timeless and amazing stories. Read just as well today as they did 75 years ago.
aug 11, 2025, 1:10 pm • 0 0 • view
.... do they.
aug 11, 2025, 4:16 pm • 1 0 • view
I guess. But two stories don’t justify an entire short story collection, unless you’re already hooked on the genre. There’s a ton of clunky writing in there.
aug 11, 2025, 1:14 pm • 1 0 • view
Not sure if you get off on being contrarian or something, but it’s literally a murderer’s row of outstanding, timeless stories.
aug 11, 2025, 1:47 pm • 0 0 • view
I guess. Many of them struck me as quite clunky. I think most modern readers are going to be pulled in by Exhaulation more than they are from A Martian Odyssey, for example.
aug 11, 2025, 2:22 pm • 1 0 • view
… and Exhalation is a decade old at this point, so I probably shouldn’t recommend it to newer readers either.
aug 11, 2025, 4:33 pm • 0 0 • view
My copy looked like that, about a decade earlier.
aug 11, 2025, 3:45 am • 16 0 • view
Keeping in mind that even then, that collection was intended to recognize great works from before the Nebulas were created. But man, there is great stuff in there.
aug 11, 2025, 3:53 am • 30 0 • view
Great stuff almost all written by cishet white men, voted on by their peers. I don’t want that to be any current human’s intro to the world of SF. (Context - I read my copy over and over until the pages fell out).
aug 11, 2025, 5:38 pm • 17 0 • view
This part. And I say this as a white man.
aug 13, 2025, 11:50 pm • 2 0 • view
Agreed. See the other branches around here. bsky.app/profile/rdvq...
aug 14, 2025, 12:05 am • 1 0 • view
Excellent!
aug 14, 2025, 12:06 am • 2 0 • view
*groan*
aug 11, 2025, 6:06 pm • 1 0 • view
100% agree. And I agree with our host that there doesn't need to be a canon. Intro should be something fun, that the reader will enjoy, and that should be tuned to the individual. This might be an interesting place for some: www.amazon.com/New-Suns-Ori...
aug 11, 2025, 8:04 pm • 2 0 • view
Very much this. Find out what a new reader is drawn to and then find a great SF example. Becky Chambers is my absolute fave, but even she isn’t the right gateway book/author for everyone.
aug 11, 2025, 8:40 pm • 1 0 • view
I found Small, Angry Planet not entirely to my taste, but loved Psalm for the Wild-built. Either could be a good entry for a lot of people.
aug 12, 2025, 12:32 am • 1 0 • view
My favorite working authors are Ann Leckie, NK Jemisin, Arkady Martine, Cixin Liu, Ken Liu, Ted Chiang, Enjoe Toh, Nnedi Okorafor, Martha Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, P. Djeli Clark, Aliette de Bodard. Not a cishet white male American or British author until I get to our host, John Scalzi himself.
aug 12, 2025, 3:52 am • 3 0 • view
That’s a fantastic list!
aug 12, 2025, 4:14 am • 1 0 • view
About fifteen years ago I made a conscious decision to search out non-cishet white male American authors. But the thing is, all of those were EASY to find. Popular, award-winning, and mostly accessible. Just a little effort broadens the perspective so much.
aug 12, 2025, 3:55 am • 0 0 • view
Absolutely! There’s some really fantastic diversity easily available. Lots of midlist authors as well, and they take a little more seeking, but thus has always been the reality of being a SF reader.
aug 12, 2025, 4:18 am • 1 0 • view
Have you read Sayaka Murata? Speculative rather than science fiction. Life Ceremony and Other Stories, wow, but I had to take it in small doses.
aug 12, 2025, 4:24 am • 0 0 • view
Oh, geez, forgot Daniel Suarez.
aug 12, 2025, 4:06 am • 0 0 • view
And China Mieville and Hank Green. R.F. Kuang, hmmm... And Sayaka Murata, hmm, but for very different reasons...
aug 12, 2025, 4:23 am • 0 0 • view
And a couple of years ago I gifted Jemisin's short story collection to my niece, an avid reader but not much of an SFer. She is in her 20s, though. www.amazon.com/How-Long-Bla...
aug 11, 2025, 8:07 pm • 2 0 • view
One and a half stories by women (C.L. Moore was half of Lewis Padgett) and one by a then-closeted gay man, all of them (so far as I know) white; you have a point. Finding anything else from before 1965 is going to be challenging, though. (Andre Norton and Leigh Brackett should be in there.)
aug 11, 2025, 8:24 pm • 13 0 • view
Who was the then-closeted gay man? This book was my main entry point into SF after having found some book club editions of novels from my father's own high school days. Looking over the list, though, I've forgotten most of them. Time for a reread... share.google/lL3G7ebCVRbn...
aug 12, 2025, 1:53 pm • 1 0 • view
Arthur C. Clarke, of course.
aug 12, 2025, 3:59 pm • 4 0 • view
Roger, should have thought of him! And this morning, this: reactormag.com/women-have-a...
aug 13, 2025, 9:20 pm • 1 0 • view
I had this
aug 11, 2025, 6:57 pm • 1 0 • view
I think there's a difference between organically finding something and having An Old give it to you. I found, and fell in love with, Vance a absurdly young...but bounced off his contemporaries recommended by adults.
aug 11, 2025, 5:00 am • 7 0 • view