io9 has posted a piece on some of the most famous opening sentences in SF novels.
10 thoughts on “Famous First Lines”
I’m surprised there was no mention of the intriguingly sf-nal first line from Chris Priest’s ‘The Inverted World’:
“I had reached the age of six hundred and fifty miles.”
Robert J. Sawyer is fond of pointing out that the famous William Gibson line mentioned above has completely reversed its meaning since it was written. Rather than dead channels being gray and full of snow, they are now a beautiful sunny blue.
A personal favourite has always been the opener from Bruce Sterling’s d
Varley’s “Steel Beach” (from memory, w/apologies for mangling):
“In five years, the penis will be obsolete.”
BTW, The Inverted World is a under-rated great.
Edward @ 2:
When I first read Neuromancer, I’d vividly imagined the former image you mentioned as opposed to the blue color.
Can there be a more famous first line than “In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit”?
I’m also fond of the first line of C.S. Lewis’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”
Manfred’s on the road again, making strangers rich.
m1k3y @ 7, I’m guessing that’s Accelerando.
gee, you guys have NO good ones
“A screaming comes across the sky.” (Gravity’s Rainbow)
Too easy, I know.
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I’m surprised there was no mention of the intriguingly sf-nal first line from Chris Priest’s ‘The Inverted World’:
“I had reached the age of six hundred and fifty miles.”
Robert J. Sawyer is fond of pointing out that the famous William Gibson line mentioned above has completely reversed its meaning since it was written. Rather than dead channels being gray and full of snow, they are now a beautiful sunny blue.
A personal favourite has always been the opener from Bruce Sterling’s d
Varley’s “Steel Beach” (from memory, w/apologies for mangling):
“In five years, the penis will be obsolete.”
BTW, The Inverted World is a under-rated great.
Edward @ 2:
When I first read Neuromancer, I’d vividly imagined the former image you mentioned as opposed to the blue color.
Can there be a more famous first line than “In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit”?
I’m also fond of the first line of C.S. Lewis’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”
m1k3y @ 7, I’m guessing that’s Accelerando.
gee, you guys have NO good ones
“A screaming comes across the sky.” (Gravity’s Rainbow)
Too easy, I know.