SF in one's life

[Joe Varo]

On Thu, 27 Mar 1997, Steven Maas (CUTR) wrote:

> [...]
> SF was a big part of my life for a long time, I could bore you all
> to tears with a list of such books that were important to me at some time
> (just ask!).
> [...]

Steven,

Actually, I'd be rather interested in seeing what SF works affected (or is
it effected? I can never keep those two straight) you strongly.

It seems to me, as this thread grows, that all who have said that they
sort of "outgrew" SF in fact say so with a sense of loss, almost like the
sense of loss you have when you and a close friend gradually grow apart,
take different paths, see each other only once every blue moon, and even
then, were it not for rehashing stories of the "glory days", you'd have
nothing else to say to each other.

So let's have it, all of you lapsed SF fans -- what SF works were
important to you?

For what it's worth, here's my list:

A Wrinkle in Time (L'Engle)
     This is the book that got me started reading SF in the first place.

Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein)
     This one would probably affect anyone who read it at an
     impressionable age.  I can recall using the word "grok" a hell of a
     lot and referring to close friends as "water brothers".  yeesh.

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (Donaldson)
     This fantasy double-trilogy completely blew me away to the extent
     that about ten years after having read it I *insisted* upon white
     gold wedding bands when I got hitched.

The Last Question (Asimov)
     The title may actually be The Final Question, can't remember.  This 
     is a short story about how entropy can be reversed.  I guess maybe
     this entry is the ObPynchon one.

Dhalgren (Delaney)
     This was my entry into non-standard narrative.

Lord of the Rings (Tolkein)
     Not really important to me, but I did once name a dog Frodo.


Joe