Those were great! These were merely my first

❤️

Well, it’s not for everyone, and thats ok!

The Hobbit! My babysitter was reading it to me a chapter at a time and I got so enthralled I started reading ahead.

Silk is my boy Hook? Idk pops read me the black cauldron books when I was a lad and did voices for all the characters Then I read C.S Lewis and Tolkien as soon as I could like 2nd grade or so 🥃

Don't remember exactly but it was probably this one.

The Elric, Hawkmoon, and Corum series by Moorcock.

Scholastic book club pick. Though honestly the basic set is what set me off at age 5. But for novels the above. Then the endless quest books and Robert Asprin myth series. Then it was everything I could get my hands on.

Seeing this (at my local library) in 1977 made me grab the book on the spot....have not looked back since.

The Hobbit. Followed by Lord of the Rings later. Translations as my English wasn't up to the task at the time.

In terms of novels, I can't recall tbh but I had this version of the Hobbit and it was dog eared before it was lost. So file me under 'basic bitch' in terms of how I got into fantasy reading.

This:

It was the Conan paperback series by Ace that got me going. That opened the door to a lot of my favorite books and also to D&D.

ERB's John Carter of Mars, book #8 specifically which was the first one I got my hands on. Eddings came a little later. Coincidentally, I am re-reading the Belgariad right now!

The 1970 boxed set edition. I still have it.

So much so that my son is named after the lead character. Tolkein was next but then I found Dragonlance and Eddings, Feist and Hobb followed quickly with Pratchett sprinkled liberally throughout.

After the original Hobbit that made me question what other non-Arthurian fantasy was out there had to be the Swords Trilogy by Moorkcock.

My true first fantasy hook was D&D and the TTRPG hobby, starting with the OG Dark Sun boxset. I never read anything not school related before the then. My first novel was The Verdant Passage (book 1 of the Prism Pentad). From that I went on to read other D&D novels and beyond.

I had these as a kid, and should have kept them.

These were among my long-time favorites with quite a few re-reads, but Terry Brooks got to me a few years prior to my discovery of them.

Piers Anthony 'Source of Magic.'

1985 - 89 had these with me most days in high school.

Before I was reading series it was mythology. This one I had but my background was different, like a golden sun.

Since I was reading full novels by the time I turned 4, I didn't know about genres as such. I just liked reading books that were fun and exciting. Among the first "books without pictures" I read were Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, The City and the Stars, and Men of Iron. Those had all been checked out from the library, but my dad scraped together a bunch of green stamps out of our kitchen drawer and a few bucks and got me these books to own. Owning them, I could reread them whenever I liked, which made them especially important as bases for my further reading.

Oh it was The Hobbit for sure. But that was a looooong time ago. And pre mouse balls by a decade

Tolkien was my introduction, but I was young and didn’t read as much. Donaldson was my gateway to fantasy.

It was this box set. A little corner of the local grocery store we frequented had a nice selection of books. Luckily my mom never had a problem spending on books or comics. 🐙😈🤘

I started with sci-fi in my early tweens and drifted to fantasy by high school. Borrowed my older brother's LOTR and then began branching out on my own. One of the earliest fantasy novels I read was Master of The Five Magics (1980). Just look at that cover!

This was my intro.