What Were the First SciFi Stories You Read?

I was recently asked to recall the first science fiction story I ever read. That question really got the WayBack machine whirring. There are so many books. I can picture them whizzing by as I go back in time. As we finally slow, I see three images – Red Planet,Tunnel in the Sky, and Men, Martians and Machines. Red Planet and Tunnel in the Sky are juvie (Young Adult) books written by Robert Heinlein.  These books appealed to me because they featured bright, resourceful young protagonists who struggle to overcome dangerous situations and dismissive authoritarian adults. The protagonists always save the day through ingenuity, persistence, and by bending the rules.  I still enjoy these themes.

Men, Martians, and Machines had  a more traditional SciFi motif.  Written by the British author Eric Frank Russell, this straight adventure series revolves around an exploratory spacecraft and its crew.  I just re-read this book a few months ago and I still enjoyed it.  

I am sure there are other stories lurking amongst the mental cobwebs, but these are the earliest stories I remember.  What are your earliest SciFi memories?

Red Planet, the original 1949 version that was “sanitized” by Scribners. In this story, two friends at a Mars boarding school uncover a plot by the colonial administrator to prevent the annual colony migration which is necessary to avoid life-threatening Mars winter. They also learn that the administrator is planning to sell Willis their volleyball-sized pet bouncer, to the London Zoo. The bouncer turns out to be a juvenile Martian. The boys rescue Willis and set off, skating cross-country on the frozen Martian canals to warn their parents. This image happens to be a 1949 Scribner's cover.

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Tunnel in the Sky, published in 1955 by Scribners. This is a story of a student who wants to become a professional colonist. As part of his Advanced Survival class, he and his classmates are teleported to another planet for a 2-10 day survival trial. They become stranded and the story tracks the two-year social and personal development of the students as they struggle to survive without technology. The group is eventually rescued but the rescue is tainted because these self-sufficient young adults are treated as kids by the rescuers.

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Men, Martians, and Machines by Eric Frank Russel.  Published in 1955.  The book contains a series of shorter works describing the travails of the crew of the space exploration ship, Upsadaska City as they battle against the hostile life forms on the various planets they visit.  I especially liked the taciturn but helpful humanized robot, jay Score (was he the original Mr. Spock?) and the chess-obsessed Martians.

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What Were the First SciFi Stories You Read?
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