hm ... it just struck me that I was reading '50s SF magazines, but comic books were not allowed (except for Junior Illustrated Classics). My father also had various ER Burroughs books, E.E. "Doc" Smith, the Conan books, Ace SF Doubles ... all of which I was reading. But no comics.

But no comics.

Blame Fredric Wertham.

connie and David are me. Daybreak 2250 AD was my maiden voyage, quickly followed by several years' collections of The Year's Best Science Fiction, plus Analog. Asimov, Heinlein, Sturgeon, Bradbury, Ellison, E.E. "Doc" Smith, so much social commentary at a time my social conscience and consciousness was burgeoning. I don't think I read outside the SF/F genres for several years, only branching into gothics as an offshoot of some of the more romantic fantasies. And from thence into historical romance, always with one foot firmly in space/otherworld. It wasn't until my late thirties that non-fiction even registered on my radar.

At twelve, I read Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, and some of my mother's procedurals when I thought she wasn't looking.

Poul Anderson, Alfred K. Bester, Herbert, Brian Aldiss, Alan Dean Foster, Niven, Gordon Dickson, Delaney, Zelazny, Clarke, the list is endless.

Oh, I'd forgotten, I also devoured Christie, Allingham, Dorothy Sayers, PD James, Ellis Peters/Edith Pargeter, Barbara Michaels(Mertz)/Elizabeth Peters, the last two being mystery-romance-fantasy crossovers or "fusion" as the kids are calling it these days.

I haven't had the same sense of discovery with authors or genres as I had discovering all these people. You think this means maybe I'm jaded?

I was reading SF almost as soon as I could read, but could never get into Foundation for some reason.

Jessica is me. I've read Foundation, but it wasn't my first, and I never caught the bug of it.

Did the Tolkien fans know there was a Shire Radio on Live365 that plays nothing by Tolkien inspired tracks?

YES.

However, streaming media is verboten at work, and at home...I own almost all of it. (hands head in shame)

heh ... we've been TOLD not to link to any streaming media, but I think that depends on who you are. The woman in the office next to mine tends to link to an online radio site and leave it going all day ... sometimes for several days.

I was more taken with Grand Concepts like Foundation when I was younger. I don't know whether I'm more pessimistic about the long-term success of Grand Concepts or my attention span is just shorter.

My discovery of SF is one of those crystal memories like the moon landing. I spent the years until I could drive in a constant scramble for books. My mother would only drive me to the library every two weeks and I could only get something like seven books at a time. We had library at elementary school once a week and could get two books. I was burning through about a book a day, so there was always a shortfall. My parents were not really readers, but they had the standard '50s assortment of books, so as a last resort I read things like Keys to the Kingdom and Forever Amber. It was therefore crucial to get two books from the school library, but that day I couldn't find anything I wanted. At the end of the period, I grabbed a book pretty much at random. It was Robert Heinlein's Time for the Stars.

I haven't had the same sense of discovery with authors or genres as I had discovering all these people.

It's been a long time for me, but my neighbor kept recommending C.J. Sansom to me. I just finished the fourth one he's written set it Tudor London and I want more. Many more. Now.