My editor at
HarperCollins, Diana Gill, recently sent a Tweet out (it may have been a reTweet, I can’t recall), asking what was the gateway drug book that got writers interested in science fiction and fantasy to begin with. I had to think about it for a while and never replied to the Tweet, so I thought I would do so here.
Part of the reason I had to think about it was that I couldn’t recall one particular book that zap! pow! bammed! me into loving science fiction and fantasy. I remember a lot of books having an effect on my when I was in the 12-13 year old age range, but I can’t recall which was first.
I read Dune when I was pretty young — I think I was thirteen. My future sister-in-law was talking about it and she and my brother got married when I was fourteen, I wasn’t any older than that. I loved it. I’m not sure I understood all of it at the time, but it definitely had an effect on me. Dune just seemed unbelievably dense to me — in ideas, character, plot, and world building. It had everything the young geeky me was looking for in a book. 
The Lord of the Rings was also a huge influence. No surprise there, it’s a gateway book for a majority of fantasy writers (even those who dislike it and want to write its polar opposite).Stephen R. Donaldson was also a big part of my teenage years, and I remember how excited I was when I learned he was writing a second Thomas Covenant trilogy.
Philip K. Dick’s Valis was (and still is) probably the most mind-blowing book I’ve ever read. Funny, crazy, profound. I loved everything about it and still push it off on people whenever I have the chance. He was largely out of print in the 1980s when I read it. It wasn’t until a trip to Europe in the early 1990s that I found a treasure trove of Dick books in an English language bookstore near the heart of Milan in Italy. I bought fifteen or sixteen paperbacks and chewed through them all back to back. A few years later is when the Dick resurgence happened in the United States and his books became available (and appreciated) once again.
I used to read 
a ton of Asimov and Heinlein. The luster largely wore off of Asimov as I got older. Nothing wrong with good old Isaac’s books, but they don’t have what I’m looking for anymore to warrant rereadings.
Stephen King was a gigantic influence — ‘Salem’s Lot was the first book of his I read, followed quickly by The Shining. I believe I have more King hardcovers than any other writer.
Who do you think the new gateway drug writers are? My son’s still a little too young at ten for
some of what I would like him to read. Right now he’s devouring The 39 Clues series of books, and good for him — they’re written precisely for young boys looking for adventure and mystery in their books.
Harry Potter is obviously huge, but how many of the Potter fans go on to read other fantasy fiction? Is HP a real gateway drug or a phenomenon unto itself? (Twilight would fall into this same category.)
Who do you think is a gateway drug now? John Scalzi is probably one on the science fiction side of the aisle. Who else? And who in fantasy? Let me know what you think.
