What got you hooked on the fantasy genre?

[Richards]

It was the John Carter of Mars series for me as well. I was about 9 or 10 when I first read A Princess of Mars, and there was no turning back. I'm still a big fan of the books; in fact, in high school, I built myself a jetan set (Barsoomian chess, as featured in The Chessmen of Mars) and taught my immediate family how to play. Both my sons play jetan as well, and my youngest is reading the John Carter series.

Johnathan

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Many factors:

My dad reading me the Hobbit (and then me later reading LotR by myself)

My older brother (I'm 23, one brother is now 36, the other 40) both played D&D and they introduced me.

Narnia, and other great books.

Basically, I read a lot as a child in a house that seemed to be full of books, and so I read a lot of fantasy books, since they were around, and thusly...you see?

 

[Oni]

When I was a very little child the bedtime stories my father read me were Arthurian legends, Robin Hood and The Hobbit. My parents started in on reading Elfquest when I still needed help reading. I started in on the Lord of the Rings in the 3rd grade, my dad gave it to me to read because I liked The Hobbit so much.

My parents also used to put me to sleep with aerosmith....come to think if it my taste in books and music were formed very early on.

 

[Kesh]

I honestly don't know. I started reading at such a young age, it's all a blur.

If anything, I'd have to say it was Dr. Suess' books. If those aren't pure fantasy, I don't know what is!

 

[Olive]

i read the hobbit when iwas a kid... maybe 7 years old. i read it in a week. out primary school used to got he the library once a week, i borrowed it one week, and returned it the next and the librarian didn't believe that i'd finished it, so she quizzed me...

i played the Fighting Fantasy books, read my friend's older brothers DnD books, read dragonlance stuff, narnia... all sorts. i've always liked fantasy and games... i'm just a big nerd and that's the way i am.

 

[Sulimo]

The Hobbit.

 

[Suldulin]

3rd grade Dragonlance Dragons of Autumn Twilight was the true beginning of the hook for me

 

[Ravellion]

The actual hook was Dragons of Autumn twilight at age 18 I think. Before that I had already become a tournament magic player, but fantasy had little to nothin to do with it.

Rav

 

[Guilt Puppy]

Agamon/Oni: Elfquest, yes! I was sitting here thinking "gee, that's funny, I never read any fantasy when I was a kid!" But I must have read that whole series (first 8 graphic novels) 20 or so times... If anyone here hasn't checked them out, do so. The art is absolutely beautiful, and the characters are extremely well-realized. If you have a lot of preconceptions about "how a fantasy world should be" you might have some trouble with it ("trolls" are basically green dwarves, and a little meaner.)

How did I pick that much up? Well, my parents were both Fantasy/Sci-Fi fans, my Dad played D&D, so I kind of naturally picked it up from them... Best way of putting it: In elementary school we were asked to interpret the phrase "beauty lies in the eye of the beholder," and I just assumed they were talking about the creature from the monster manual, and answered accordingly

That said, I wouldn't say I'm "hooked on" the fantasy genre. I don't read fantasy books any differently than I read other books: Kurt Vonnegut trained me out of that

Although, I must give credit to the LotR movies for renewing my interest in high fantasy as of late... Never read the books, might do so after seeing the movies.

 

[cbatt]

Chronicles of Narnia was first for me. In fact, my favourite bedtime story back when I was still in diapers was an excerpt from the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. But to be honest, I wasn't particularly taken with "fantasy" back then... when I was in kindergarten I read anything I could that was about "the future" (robots, computers, and weapons of mass destruction in particular (no joke)).

What got me hooked on fantasy was "The Mountain of Mirrors", the second TSR Endless Quest book. After that I borrowed a copy of the DnD basic set and then it was on to the Lord of the Rings when I was 7 going on 8.

Yikes... I'm getting long in the tooth.