[Eventine]

Ben, 20, from Wollongong, Australia.
Probably the first adult fantasy book I read was A Wizard of Earthsea. Maybe. Can't quite remember.

Is it just me or does there seem to be a large percentage of Australians on this board considering our small percentage of actual world population?

Any of you Aussies read the Dreaming Down Under compilation?

[Shadowen]

Hello all - I'm Caitlin, 32 from Northern Ireland. I'm a librarian, living with my partner, with one step-son (yes, I'm a wicked stepmother)!

I started on fantasy when my mother read us the Hobbit as a bed time story, and progressed through CS Lewis to David Eddings and then on to slightly more complicated things.

I'm not a hige fan of Terry Brooks, as my name might suggest - I just thought Shadowen sounded cool! http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[wynterfel]

Hi there all! I'm Cat from the Philippines. I reside in this tiny little island called Cebu. Sometimes I feel like I'm the ONLY sf/f book reader over here.

What attracted me to fantasy? Hmm actually I started on sf - R. Zelazny's Nine Princes of Amber to be exact. Reading his book for the first time was an awesome experience. It was like seeing color for the first time! The way entire new universes bloomed inside my head - wow! I've been hooked on the genre ever since. Then in the late 80's I chanced upon Stephen Donaldson's Covenant series, I then added fantasy to my reading diet http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

No genre has ever captivated me like sf/f. I've tried them all: mystery, horror, suspense, classical etc. but the worlds inside these books are well...kinda black and white and two dimensional - unlike the 3-Dimensional, technicolor with sonic boom surround sound world of sf/f! http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Thoughtcriminal84]

who am I? I don't know. I have cats, and I drink coffee from france. I live in the so called Great State of Texas, which is what an ecologically minded friend of mine once called "pre-desert pub land". He was quite drunk when he said it, so I can't be certain what he meant. Because we don't have pubs. We have beer stockades.

I started reading fantasy in the womb. Read the C.S. Lewis Narnia chronicles there. My mom hated me for that, said the light kept her up at nights.

Didn't become hooked on it until later though, maybe around the third grade. That's when I knocked a kid out with a copy of Fellowship of the Ring. Hard back copy, thrown with enough force to launch it into orbit, i'm sure. I remember screaming "Frodo lives, you gnawed on piece of poo!" or something similar.

After you've seen the glazed look on a kid's face after he's been smacked with a fifteen pound masterwork of modern literature, it's hard to stop reading them. You never know when you'll need Tolkien's bulky jabbering handy to smash the consciousness from some poor bastard who's been making fun of your mother.

Fin.

[Cadfael]

Imagine how the kid felt... having the collective work of Tolkien just come crashing into his brain, I kinda think you did him a favour... I just hope he thanked you for it!!

[starr]

hi Nikki, 20, from the litterbox of America
aka Idaho

first fantasy book: The Witches by Rahld Dahl
favorite fantasy: Steven King's Dark Tower series

[Lady_Linda]

Hi, I'm Linda, new around here. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif
I live in the north of Sweden and I'm 18 years old. (Since the first of this month, actually http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif

I can't really remember which book was the first, I read quite a lot non-fantasy books as well. I watched the Narnia series and loved them long before I knew there was books that they were based on.

Anyway, I tried to read Tolkien, but at the first try I nearly didn't finish the first book, I guess I wasn't old enough. (When I read them one more - I loved them http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif

My addiction to fantasy is actually thanks to a librarian who, when I was seaching for something else of Tolkien (or suchlike author) showed me there were more books like that http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gifI think I was about 12 years old then.
And on that way it is...

Now I've started to write a little myself, not that very great and not that very much but a little.... :0)

And when I now got the chance to ramble about myself, I guess I can add that one of the best stories I know is Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' and that my favourite magical creature is the Unicorn.

See you around!
~Linda~

[Hound]

Hello all. I'm 28 yo student from Quebec,Canada. First got into fantasy novels in a 6th grade Christmas gift exchange where I got the first Dragonlance novel. The rest as they say is History...
And for dennizm:I also love beer(especially foreign brews...). I often get into heated arguments with my friends over my assertion that the best beer is made in the British Isles(as opposed to those artsy belgian ones or same tasting german ones...).End of rant.

[LChytraus]

I am a wife, mom, employee, tutor, therapist, cook, maid, chauffeur, personal shopper, youth coach, soccer referee, computer geek, and neighborhood library. First fantasy read: Wrinkle in Time.
I live in Irvine, CA so that inclement weather doesn't get in my way.

[Jemany]

Hi everybody!
My name's Keith and I'm 28 and I live in Britain. First fantasy book I read was Edding's Pawn of Prophecy, because of its "magical" contents, started reading big time(!) in this genre, way back in '85!! Got into all the "popular" big name authors like Feist (who wasn't big then..), Brooks, Donaldson, Le Guin, Jordan(1989 - WoT 1989, yikes - has it been that long?!).
Before that I was heavily into the detective fiction genre, i.e. Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Perry Mason etc.

Bit more selective with what I read now, but I'm still persevering with Jordan's WoT even though the story is starting to wilt, but his writing style is still pretty good, although I think he has been supersceded by GRR Martin! But it was Eddings that pulled me in, so it's all his fault!!

Happy reading evrybody!!

Jemany.