One of my very earliest memories is of my parents taking me to a drive-in theater to see Star Wars. For as long as I can remember Star Wars has been a part of my existence. It is truly my oldest friend. I love pretty much all Star Wars, from the original trilogy to the new prequels (yes, I'm even okay with Jar Jar), The Clone Wars movie and TV series, and the expanded universe novels (though I've only read a handful of those).
Star Wars may have began my love of science fiction and fantasy, but it sure didn't end there. Most any movie or TV show I watch or book I read is based in sci-fi or fantasy. Other movies and shows I'm a fan of include Star Trek (I don't understand anyone who says you can't like both, the two franchises are so different!), Indiana Jones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files. There are lots more, but those are the really big ones.
Then there's novels. It used to be, for a long time, that 90% or more of the novels I chose to read were based off of other franchises I liked. Star Wars or Star Trek novels, mostly. Kind of sad, I know. As much as I like fantasy, especially being a big fan of the Final Fantasy game series, it's surprising to me that I didn't get into fantasy novels much sooner than I did, but for some reason whenever I saw them at the book store I just passed over them without any interest. But that changed in 1999.
My next younger brother has been reading fantasy novels for a long time, and back in '99 I was out Christmas shopping, trying to find something for him. I figured I'd go to the book store and pick out a decent looking fantasy novel. So, I'm looking them all over and I notice that many of them say "book x of y" on them. So I decided just to find one that looked cool, then find the first book in that series and be done with it. So I did. The book I wound up buying for him was Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World, book one in The Wheel of Time series. Later that night while I was wrapping presents, I took a closer look at the book. It looked pretty good, so with Christmas still two weeks away I decided to read it myself before I wrapped it up for him.
I was instantly hooked. Hooked just as bad as I was the first time I saw Star Wars, or played Zelda. I devoured this book. After I finished, I wrapped it up for my brother, then went out and bought my own copy, along with every other book in the series that was out at the time. My brother wound up liking the books as much as I did. The two of us got to see Robert Jordan once, at a book signing when book nine was released. Some of you may know that he died a few years later, so I feel privileged that we got to see him before he died, even if we didn't get to speak to him. By the way, I have yet to read the latest book in the series that recently came out, so if anyone wants to post any comments here please, no spoilers!
Reading The Wheel of Time opened my eyes to fantasy novels, and I've since read a few more series, with plans to read more in the future as time allows. Other series I've enjoyed include The Sword of Truth and Harry Potter.
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