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purplecthulhu at 09:58pm on 24/01/2005
purplecthulhu at 09:58pm on 24/01/2005This is a questionnaire being circulated by Farah Mendelsohn for a book she is doing on SF reading habits. If you’d like to contribute you can find out more at:
http://sfquestions.blogspot.com/
1. Name
purplecthulhu
2. Current Age
40
3. Country or Countries in which you spent your first eighteen years. (give breakdown if appropriate)
UK
4. Mother tongue.
English
5. Sex at birth
Male
6. Sex now.
Male
7. Sexuality.
Straight but not narrow
To the books. Comics count. Fantasy does not (if it's borderline, that's up to you).
Fill in as much as you can. Don't worry if the answer is "don't remember".
8. When did you start reading science fiction?
Earliest clear memory is at age 8, but I’m sure I was reading it before that.
9. Did you read sf written specifically for children? (ie. age 0-16yrs)
Yes.
10. Name up to five authors of sf for children you liked.
Andre Norton
Alan E Norse
John Christopher
Robert Heinlein
Victor Appleton II (Tom Swift books)
11. Name up to five authors of sf for children you did not like.
C S Lewis (once I found out what he was doing)
Arthur C Clarke (his juveniles just didn’t do it for me)
I can’t recall others at the moment.
12. Name up to five authors of sf for children with the same nationality as the country in which you experienced the bulk of your reading childhood.
John Wyndham
John Christopher
Patrick Moore
WEE Johns (the space sequels to Biggles)
Arthur C Clarke
13. If you started reading sf meant for the adult audience before the age of 16, who were your favourite sf writers at that time? (Name up to five).
John Christopher
EE (Doc) Smith
Larry Niven
Brian Stableford
Arthur C Clarke
14. List up to five qualities that you think you looked for in science fiction when you read it as a child (under 13).
Sense of wonder
Action
Adventure
Freedom
A character I could identify with
15. List up to five qualities that you think you looked for in science fiction when you read it as a teenager (13 and over).
Good plot
Sense of wonder
Action
Epic scale
16. List up to five qualities that you look for in science fiction now.
Believable science
Believable societies and people
Sense of wonder
Plot
Good writing
(NB: these can be negative qualities in the sense of what sf doesn't do, that other forms of fiction do).
17. Do you define yourself as a genre reader?
Yes
18. What proportion of your reading as a teenager was outside of the genre?
40-50% maybe, possibly less.
19. What proportion of your reading as a teenager was non-fiction? (what subjects or genres?)
10% or so
Hard science, computing
20. How much of your reading outside of the genre was set by others? (and who were they?).
Maybe 10% - not much. These would be from school.
21. Did science fiction influence your political views? In what ways? What books were most important to you?
Yes – I was influenced by the general libertarian US stuff (Pournelle etc.). He did a series of non-fiction books called A Step Farther Out which I found quite persuasive, while Niven & Pournelle’s Oath of Fealty was also an influence. I like to think I’ve grown out of most of that by now.
22. Did science fiction influence your religious views? In what ways? What books were most important to you?
I don’t think so. I was pretty much naturally atheist anyway. I think that some of my reading reinforced that, but I don’t think it was a major influence.
23. Taking no more than 100 words, describe briefly how you chose books between the ages of 13 and 18, and how those books were acquired (ie libraries, friends, second hand books, new books).
I was reading largely new books, though some second hand and some borrowed from friends. Cover artwork would have been an attraction, but I would read the blurb carefully to see if it sounded interesting. Once I found an author I liked, I would read more of that author – often until I could find no more. Friend’s recommendations played a role, but so did TV and movie tie-ins. After the age of 12, I didn’t use libraries much – school or council.
http://sfquestions.blogspot.com/
1. Name
purplecthulhu
2. Current Age
40
3. Country or Countries in which you spent your first eighteen years. (give breakdown if appropriate)
UK
4. Mother tongue.
English
5. Sex at birth
Male
6. Sex now.
Male
7. Sexuality.
Straight but not narrow
To the books. Comics count. Fantasy does not (if it's borderline, that's up to you).
Fill in as much as you can. Don't worry if the answer is "don't remember".
8. When did you start reading science fiction?
Earliest clear memory is at age 8, but I’m sure I was reading it before that.
9. Did you read sf written specifically for children? (ie. age 0-16yrs)
Yes.
10. Name up to five authors of sf for children you liked.
Andre Norton
Alan E Norse
John Christopher
Robert Heinlein
Victor Appleton II (Tom Swift books)
11. Name up to five authors of sf for children you did not like.
C S Lewis (once I found out what he was doing)
Arthur C Clarke (his juveniles just didn’t do it for me)
I can’t recall others at the moment.
12. Name up to five authors of sf for children with the same nationality as the country in which you experienced the bulk of your reading childhood.
John Wyndham
John Christopher
Patrick Moore
WEE Johns (the space sequels to Biggles)
Arthur C Clarke
13. If you started reading sf meant for the adult audience before the age of 16, who were your favourite sf writers at that time? (Name up to five).
John Christopher
EE (Doc) Smith
Larry Niven
Brian Stableford
Arthur C Clarke
14. List up to five qualities that you think you looked for in science fiction when you read it as a child (under 13).
Sense of wonder
Action
Adventure
Freedom
A character I could identify with
15. List up to five qualities that you think you looked for in science fiction when you read it as a teenager (13 and over).
Good plot
Sense of wonder
Action
Epic scale
16. List up to five qualities that you look for in science fiction now.
Believable science
Believable societies and people
Sense of wonder
Plot
Good writing
(NB: these can be negative qualities in the sense of what sf doesn't do, that other forms of fiction do).
17. Do you define yourself as a genre reader?
Yes
18. What proportion of your reading as a teenager was outside of the genre?
40-50% maybe, possibly less.
19. What proportion of your reading as a teenager was non-fiction? (what subjects or genres?)
10% or so
Hard science, computing
20. How much of your reading outside of the genre was set by others? (and who were they?).
Maybe 10% - not much. These would be from school.
21. Did science fiction influence your political views? In what ways? What books were most important to you?
Yes – I was influenced by the general libertarian US stuff (Pournelle etc.). He did a series of non-fiction books called A Step Farther Out which I found quite persuasive, while Niven & Pournelle’s Oath of Fealty was also an influence. I like to think I’ve grown out of most of that by now.
22. Did science fiction influence your religious views? In what ways? What books were most important to you?
I don’t think so. I was pretty much naturally atheist anyway. I think that some of my reading reinforced that, but I don’t think it was a major influence.
23. Taking no more than 100 words, describe briefly how you chose books between the ages of 13 and 18, and how those books were acquired (ie libraries, friends, second hand books, new books).
I was reading largely new books, though some second hand and some borrowed from friends. Cover artwork would have been an attraction, but I would read the blurb carefully to see if it sounded interesting. Once I found an author I liked, I would read more of that author – often until I could find no more. Friend’s recommendations played a role, but so did TV and movie tie-ins. After the age of 12, I didn’t use libraries much – school or council.
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