The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)

What were you reading when you were 12?

https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/

--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

On 1/29/24 10:14, James Nicoll wrote:
> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>
> What were you reading when you were 12?
>
> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
>

I actually have no idea what I was reading when I was 12. Probably the
Hardy Boys. I had not yet seen 2001, but was watching Star Trek.
--
----------------
Dave Scruggs
Senior Software Engineer - Lockheed Martin, et. al (mostly Retired)
Captain - Boulder Creek Fire (Retired)

In article <up8pug$i2p$1@reader1.panix.com>,
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
>The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>
>What were you reading when you were 12?
>
>https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/

Copying my Mastodon reply:

I have two from the top 100, and I'm pretty sure I didn't read either
one during that year and three more in the next 200, nothing more in
the remaining 200. I had (probably still have) *very* niche reading
tastes, but if there's anything from the 1984 list that I actually
read *in* 1984 it was probably THE HERO AND THE CROWN. (Of note: I'm a
December baby so I was only 11 for most of that year. For 1985 I am
3/500, but one of those is an Asimov F&SF essay collection and
shouldn't count for this purpose.)

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman | "Act to avoid constraining the future; if you can,
wollman@bimajority.org| act to remove constraint from the future. This is
Opinions not shared by| a thing you can do, are able to do, to do together."
my employers. | - Graydon Saunders, _A Succession of Bad Days_ (2015)

On Jan 29, 2024, James Nicoll wrote
(in article <up8pug$i2p$1@reader1.panix.com>):

> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>
> What were you reading when you were 12?
>
> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/

Hmm.

Tv tie-ins: Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Voyage to the Bottom of the
Sea

Enid Blyton: her books were set in a not-quite-parallel universe

W.E. Johns: his books were in a somewhat different not-quite-parallel
universe; he also perpetuated a few books where the protags accidentally let
a kitten loose on Mars and it Grew. And was quite annoying.

Burroughs’ Mars and Venus books

RAH’s juvies, starting with Between Planets, Space Cadet, and The Rolling
Stones

Asimov’s robot and Foundation books.

A lot of Clarke, and Chandler, and E.E. Smith.

A ton of Tom Swift, by ‘Victor Appleton’ and ‘Victor Appleton II’;
the nuclear powered submarine helicopter made anything in Joe 90 and Captain
Scarlet look tame.

In article <0001HW.2B683B3101C406B070000925438F@news.supernews.com>,
WolfFan <akwolffan@zoho.com> wrote:
>On Jan 29, 2024, James Nicoll wrote
>(in article <up8pug$i2p$1@reader1.panix.com>):
>
>> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>>
>> What were you reading when you were 12?
>>
>> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
>
>Hmm.
>
>Tv tie-ins: Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Voyage to the Bottom of the
>Sea
>
>Enid Blyton: her books were set in a not-quite-parallel universe
>
>W.E. Johns: his books were in a somewhat different not-quite-parallel
>universe; he also perpetuated a few books where the protags accidentally let
>a kitten loose on Mars and it Grew. And was quite annoying.
>
>Burroughs’ Mars and Venus books
>
>RAH’s juvies, starting with Between Planets, Space Cadet, and The Rolling
>Stones
>
>Asimov’s robot and Foundation books.
>
>A lot of Clarke, and Chandler, and E.E. Smith.
>
>A ton of Tom Swift, by ‘Victor Appleton’ and ‘Victor Appleton II’;
>the nuclear powered submarine helicopter made anything in Joe 90 and Captain
>Scarlet look tame.
>
>

Tom Swift & Tom Swift Jr.
The Roy Rockwood "Great Marvel" books.
Heinlein, mostly _Space Cadet_ which was in our elementary school library.
Nourse _Raiders From The Rings_.
Norton _The Zero Stone_, _The Stars Are Ours_, _The Last Planet_, others.
Space Cat by ??
Cameron the Mushroom Planet books
Balmer _When Worlds Collide_, _After Worlds Collide_
Mrs. Pickerel and the etc.
Danny Dunn
Lloyd Alexander _Taran Wanderer_ etc
_A Princess Of Mars_
Matthew Mooney
Bova _Star Conquerors_, _Star Watchman_

--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

Dave <bcfd36@cruzio.com> writes:
>On 1/29/24 10:14, James Nicoll wrote:
>> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>>
>> What were you reading when you were 12?
>>
>> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
>>
>
>I actually have no idea what I was reading when I was 12. Probably the
>Hardy Boys. I had not yet seen 2001, but was watching Star Trek.

My father gave me a copy of _Have Spacesuit, Will Travel_ for my
12th birthday; one of his coworkers had recommended it. It started
my SF journey (along with _The Girl who Owned a City_ which I found
at the library that summer). Before that, the three investigators
series - what boy at that age wouldn't want to live in a junkyard?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Investigators

On 1/29/2024 10:14 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>
> What were you reading when you were 12?
>
> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
>
I don't remember. Likely the original Baum Oz books, Mr. Popper's
Penguins, probably some others that had originally been my mother's books.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

In article <up8pug$i2p$1@reader1.panix.com>,
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
>The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>
>What were you reading when you were 12?
>
>https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/

So it occurs to me that the premise of this is a little bit off. I
looked at the sort of reviews accounted for in ISFDB, and the vast
majority seem to be SF magazine (sensu lato) reviews, which likely did
not have much of an effect on what was available in libraries or in
non-specialist bookstores. The publications that general-interest
librarians and booksellers read to make ordering decisions --
Publisher's Weekly, ALA Booklist, Kirkus, national newspapers -- are
not especially numerous and would certainly be overwhelmed by the
zines.

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman | "Act to avoid constraining the future; if you can,
wollman@bimajority.org| act to remove constraint from the future. This is
Opinions not shared by| a thing you can do, are able to do, to do together."
my employers. | - Graydon Saunders, _A Succession of Bad Days_ (2015)

On 2024-01-29, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>
> What were you reading when you were 12?
>
> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/

Looking at the ISFDB top reviewed list for 1968 (I turned 12), I have
read 41 of the top 50, and 74 of the top 100. But that says
almost nothing about what I read when I was 12!

I have no memory of having read any of them when I was 12. In all likelihood
I read 2 or 3 since the librarian would put aside any new SF for me, but
that happened rarely. This was a small town library in the middle of
nowhere (South Dakota) with a 4-5 shelf SF section.

I was pretty completely oblivious to science fiction authors; SF was
my favorite genre but I never ran into enough by any author for that
to be important. I remember I had a favorite publisher though: Avalon
books. There were a couple dozen Avalon SF books in the library and they
always had lists of more SF books at the end of each.

Fantasy children's books were shelved with general children's books so
I at least recognized some authors for their series. Lofting (Dr. Dolittle)
and Travers (Mary Poppins). Before age 12 I had read the fantasy that my dad
had around: _The Hobbit_ and _Lord of the Rings_ (which now surprise me that
he had) and _Gulliver's Travels_ and _Le Morte D'Arthur_.

My "Golden Age" would probably be ages 14 - 16 when I would go out to
Tulsa, OK for the summer and buy used SF books at 10 cents to 20 cents
each at the huge weekly flea market and used book stores (100+ books
per summer). That's when I would have read more of the 1968 books.

Chris

On Tuesday, January 30, 2024 at 5:14:45 AM UTC+11, James Nicoll wrote:
> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>
> What were you reading when you were 12?
>
> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/

Like others in the thread, I've read a number on my list (1980) but doubt I read any of them IN 1980. The closest was probably "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" but I don't think I caught the Hitch Hiker's Guide bug until 1982 or 1983. Or possibly "Master of the Five Magics" but that was probably a year or two later as well.

In 1980 I'd discovered Conan through the de Camp / Carter editions, and was also working my way through Moorcock. I also read my first Wyndham that year when my Year 7 English teacher gave me "Day of the Triffids".

-Moriarty

Chris Buckley <alan@sabir.com> writes:

> On 2024-01-29, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
>> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>>
>> What were you reading when you were 12?
>>
>> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
>
> Looking at the ISFDB top reviewed list for 1968 (I turned 12), I have
> read 41 of the top 50, and 74 of the top 100. But that says
> almost nothing about what I read when I was 12!
>
> I have no memory of having read any of them when I was 12. In all likelihood
> I read 2 or 3 since the librarian would put aside any new SF for me, but
> that happened rarely. This was a small town library in the middle of
> nowhere (South Dakota) with a 4-5 shelf SF section.
>
> I was pretty completely oblivious to science fiction authors; SF was
> my favorite genre but I never ran into enough by any author for that
> to be important. I remember I had a favorite publisher though: Avalon
> books. There were a couple dozen Avalon SF books in the library and they
> always had lists of more SF books at the end of each.
>
> Fantasy children's books were shelved with general children's books so
> I at least recognized some authors for their series. Lofting (Dr. Dolittle)
> and Travers (Mary Poppins). Before age 12 I had read the fantasy that my dad
> had around: _The Hobbit_ and _Lord of the Rings_ (which now surprise me that
> he had) and _Gulliver's Travels_ and _Le Morte D'Arthur_.
>
> My "Golden Age" would probably be ages 14 - 16 when I would go out to
> Tulsa, OK for the summer and buy used SF books at 10 cents to 20 cents
> each at the huge weekly flea market and used book stores (100+ books
> per summer). That's when I would have read more of the 1968 books.
>
> Chris

I took a look at 1999 (yes, I know) and right there on top is "A
Deepness in the Sky", one of my favorite books to be sure but I didn't
read it at 12.

They say ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, and I'd say my science
fiction reading habits followed a similar path, beginning in the past
and slowly working my way forward. My uncle gave me a copy
of Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" when I was in
third grade; I moved on from there to other Verne stories and
H.G. Wells. By the time I was 12 I was probably well into the actual SF
Golden Age, reading Asimov and the like. Dune and LotR in 8th grade or
so, and finally getting into 90s science fiction by late high school.

I didn't know anybody else who read SF (until I joined an IRC server run
by a Vinge fanatic) so I was basically just discovering things on my
own. Inter-library loan is a great thing for a teenager who's just
discovered Pratchett, though!

john

On 30/01/24 10:51, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
> On 1/29/2024 10:14 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
>> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>>
>> What were you reading when you were 12?
>>
>> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
>>
> I don't remember.  Likely the original Baum Oz books, Mr. Popper's
> Penguins, probably some others that had originally been my mother's books.
>

I don't remember either but it wasn't science fiction because I first
discovered Gollanz in the library when 13. I am amazed at the detailed
memories of others in this thread.

On 1/29/2024 9:12 PM, Titus G wrote:
> On 30/01/24 10:51, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
>> On 1/29/2024 10:14 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
>>> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>>>
>>> What were you reading when you were 12?
>>>
>>> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
>>>
>> I don't remember.  Likely the original Baum Oz books, Mr. Popper's
>> Penguins, probably some others that had originally been my mother's books.
>>
>
> I don't remember either but it wasn't science fiction because I first
> discovered Gollanz in the library when 13. I am amazed at the detailed
> memories of others in this thread.

Agreed. On a good day I can remember what I read last week.

John <john@building-m.simplistic-anti-spam-measure.net> wrote:
>
>> On 2024-01-29, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
>>> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>>>
>>> What were you reading when you were 12?
>>>
>>> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
> They say ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, and I'd say my science
> [..] Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" when I was in
> third grade; I moved on from there to other Verne stories and
> H.G. Wells. By the time I was 12 I was probably well into the actual SF
> Golden Age, reading Asimov and the like. Dune and LotR in 8th grade or
> so, and finally getting into 90s science fiction by late high school.

Yes, I eventually read a big chunk of the reviewed books for 1973,
but lagged 4-20 years. It has been the same for music which I certainly
didn't hear contemporaneously (recently discovered _The Church of Anthrax_).
At the tender age itself I was reading a
I'm-not-sure-how-much-abridged-but-it-seemed-really-long-at-the-time
_20000 leagues_, Thea von Harbou's novel of _Metropolis_ (I think I
could choose 3 books for a birthday), and a couple of anthologies.
Only read juveniles later...

FWIW, David Duffy.

David Duffy <davidd02@tpg.com.au> wrote:
> _20000 leagues_,

PS Am I the only person who thinks branding stuff _Nobody_ is amusing to latin speakers -
camping gear, yachting paraphenalia...

In article <up8pug$i2p$1@reader1.panix.com>,
jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:

> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>
> What were you reading when you were 12?
>
> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/

My year was 1962. I think I have read about 30 of the top 100, almost
all years later. The only one that I might had read in 1962 was
_Triumph_ (I think I read a serialization of it in Saturday Evening
Post).

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
�-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

On Jan 29, 2024, Titus G wrote
(in article <up9peb$r5ah$1@dont-email.me>):

> On 30/01/24 10:51, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
> > On 1/29/2024 10:14 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> > > The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
> > >
> > > What were you reading when you were 12?
> > >
> > > https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-
> > > of/
> > I don't remember. Likely the original Baum Oz books, Mr. Popper's
> > Penguins, probably some others that had originally been my mother's books.
>
> I don't remember either but it wasn't science fiction because I first
> discovered Gollanz in the library when 13. I am amazed at the detailed
> memories of others in this thread.

The local library had several shelves of Tom Swifts, Blyton, and Johns. And
lots of RAH, the very first RAH I read was Between Planets, from the library.
I spent lots of afternoons and weekends in the library. And I was inspired to
get my own.

In article <robertaw-65E746.22252929012024@news.individual.net>,
Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:
>In article <up8pug$i2p$1@reader1.panix.com>,
> jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:
>
>> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>>
>> What were you reading when you were 12?
>>
>>
>https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
>
>
>My year was 1962. I think I have read about 30 of the top 100, almost
>all years later. The only one that I might had read in 1962 was
>_Triumph_ (I think I read a serialization of it in Saturday Evening
>Post).
>
I reread Triumph last year. Hours I will never get back...

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/your-world-will-melt-away
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

On Monday, January 29, 2024 at 1:14:45 PM UTC-5, James Nicoll wrote:
>
> What were you reading when you were 12?
>
> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
>

I'd say 15 of the top 100 for 1976, including two non-fiction books, _Anatomy of Wonder_ and _Star Trek Concordance_ (not cover-to-cover, but dipped into most entries, I get the gist of it).

I think it was 13 when we were allowed to check books out of the adult section of the library, and 15-16 when we moved into town less than a dozen blocks from a used book store. A surprising number of my 15 were close to publication date -- not that I knew, they were books in a library, all about the same age as _Dune_ or _The Foundation Trilogy_.

--
-Jack

On Tue, 30 Jan 2024 16:12:06 +1300, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:

>On 30/01/24 10:51, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
>> On 1/29/2024 10:14 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
>>> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>>>
>>> What were you reading when you were 12?
>>>
>>> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
>>>
>> I don't remember.  Likely the original Baum Oz books, Mr. Popper's
>> Penguins, probably some others that had originally been my mother's books.
>>
>
>I don't remember either but it wasn't science fiction because I first
>discovered Gollanz in the library when 13. I am amazed at the detailed
>memories of others in this thread.

Well, either that or extensive records.

I'm not sure what I was reading back then either. Perhaps still Hardy
Boys and similar series. Perhaps Heinlein juveniles. Perhaps Classics
Illustrated.

One problem is a certain ... jumbling ... of my memory timeline. Thus,
I am tempted to list the book version of /Sinbad and the Eye of the
Tiger/, but I was, in fact, 31 when the film came out!

OK, the book came out first (it was, if nothing else, a marketing tool
promoting the film), but still ...
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

On 29/01/2024 19:59, WolfFan wrote:
> On Jan 29, 2024, James Nicoll wrote
> (in article <up8pug$i2p$1@reader1.panix.com>):
>
>> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>>
>> What were you reading when you were 12?
>>
>> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
>
> Hmm.
>
> Tv tie-ins: Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Voyage to the Bottom of the
> Sea
>
> Enid Blyton: her books were set in a not-quite-parallel universe
>
> W.E. Johns: his books were in a somewhat different not-quite-parallel
> universe; he also perpetuated a few books where the protags accidentally let
> a kitten loose on Mars and it Grew. And was quite annoying.
>
> Burroughs’ Mars and Venus books
>
> RAH’s juvies, starting with Between Planets, Space Cadet, and The Rolling
> Stones
>
> Asimov’s robot and Foundation books.
>
> A lot of Clarke, and Chandler, and E.E. Smith.
>
> A ton of Tom Swift, by ‘Victor Appleton’ and ‘Victor Appleton II’;
> the nuclear powered submarine helicopter made anything in Joe 90 and Captain
> Scarlet look tame.

_Captain Scarlet_ was run from a permanently airborne
aircraft carrier. In the 2000s or so, there was one
in _Doctor Who_, exactly as a tribute to that, I assume.

On 30/01/2024 06:17, David Duffy wrote:
> David Duffy <davidd02@tpg.com.au> wrote:
>> _20000 leagues_,
>
> PS Am I the only person who thinks branding stuff _Nobody_ is amusing to latin speakers -
> camping gear, yachting paraphenalia...

Spectacles... (wasn't Odysseus Greek?)

On 1/29/2024 12:14, James Nicoll wrote:
> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>
> What were you reading when you were 12?
>
> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
>

I guess I turned 12 the fall of a school-year we spent in Switzerland,
so I was reading VERY LITTLE SF then (I had read a lot previously). The
only SF book I'm *sure* I had with me was EFR's Men, Martians, and Machines.

I had read lots of Heinlein, but hadn't gotten into Doc Smith yet (I
think I'd encountered Skylark but not followed up on it). Had read
Asimov and Clarke and Anderson and Dickson and Norton and Nourse. I
don't believe I'd read Tolkien yet.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/
Words Over Windows http://WordsOverWindows.dd-b.net/
Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/
Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/

Paul S Person wrote:
> On Tue, 30 Jan 2024 16:12:06 +1300, Titus G <no...@nowhere.com> wrote:
>
> >On 30/01/24 10:51, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
> >> On 1/29/2024 10:14 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> >>> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
> >>>
> >>> What were you reading when you were 12?
> >>>
> >>> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
> >>>
> >> I don't remember. Likely the original Baum Oz books, Mr. Popper's
> >> Penguins, probably some others that had originally been my mother's books.
> >>
> >
> >I don't remember either but it wasn't science fiction because I first
> >discovered Gollanz in the library when 13. I am amazed at the detailed
> >memories of others in this thread.
>
> Well, either that or extensive records.
>
> I'm not sure what I was reading back then either. Perhaps still Hardy
> Boys and similar series. Perhaps Heinlein juveniles. Perhaps Classics
> Illustrated.
>
> One problem is a certain ... jumbling ... of my memory timeline. Thus,
> I am tempted to list the book version of /Sinbad and the Eye of the
> Tiger/, but I was, in fact, 31 when the film came out!

Yeah, 13, not 31!
Although,,, going back 19 years, the first Harryhausen Sinbad movie came out in 1958.
IsfDb doesn't list a novelization under either "Seventh Voyage" or "7th Voyage", and the entry for "Eye of the Tiger" doesn't have it as part of a series. (As you know, though, Harryhausen's Sinbad movies make no more of a series than any other movie or story with Sinbad in the title.) Maybe you made do with some standard Sinbad or Arabian Nights book.

--
-Jack

On Wed, 31 Jan 2024 08:05:01 -0800 (PST), Jack Bohn
<jack.bohn64@gmail.com> wrote:

>Paul S Person wrote:
>> On Tue, 30 Jan 2024 16:12:06 +1300, Titus G <no...@nowhere.com> wrote:
>>
>> >On 30/01/24 10:51, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
>> >> On 1/29/2024 10:14 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
>> >>> The Golden Age of SF (But Not the One You're Thinking Of)
>> >>>
>> >>> What were you reading when you were 12?
>> >>>
>> >>> https://reactormag.com/the-golden-age-of-sf-but-not-the-one-youre-thinking-of/
>> >>>
>> >> I don't remember. Likely the original Baum Oz books, Mr. Popper's
>> >> Penguins, probably some others that had originally been my mother's books.
>> >>
>> >
>> >I don't remember either but it wasn't science fiction because I first
>> >discovered Gollanz in the library when 13. I am amazed at the detailed
>> >memories of others in this thread.
>>
>> Well, either that or extensive records.
>>
>> I'm not sure what I was reading back then either. Perhaps still Hardy
>> Boys and similar series. Perhaps Heinlein juveniles. Perhaps Classics
>> Illustrated.
>>
>> One problem is a certain ... jumbling ... of my memory timeline. Thus,
>> I am tempted to list the book version of /Sinbad and the Eye of the
>> Tiger/, but I was, in fact, 31 when the film came out!
>
>Yeah, 13, not 31!
>Although,,, going back 19 years, the first Harryhausen Sinbad movie came out in 1958.
>IsfDb doesn't list a novelization under either "Seventh Voyage" or "7th Voyage", and the entry for "Eye of the Tiger" doesn't have it as part of a series. (As you know, though, Harryhausen's Sinbad movies make no more of a series than any other movie or story with Sinbad in the title.) Maybe you made do with some standard Sinbad or Arabian Nights book.

The problem is that I remember this book, or perhaps comic, as very
much including the Greek professor and his daughter and the Minoton.
Which is pretty specific to /Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger/.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"