I don’t remember exactly when it was I fell in love with science fiction. Maybe it was the Commander Toad series that I vaguely remember reading when I was a little tyke. Maybe it was Bruce Coville – the first sci-fi author I remember loving (My Teacher Is An Alien and Alien Adventures are both series that still speak powerfully to me). At some point I saw Star Wars, and then Star Wars novels, and then Timothy Zahn. I’m not 100% certain, but I’m pretty sure Zahn was the first author I regularly sought out in the Adult Fiction section of the library. I read his Conquerors’ Saga a half-dozen times before high school, and to this day it’s one of my favorite series (and I keep hoping HBO or AMC will decide to make a TV adaption of it). It’s scientific without being HARD SCIENCE-FICTION, it’s fun without being silly, there’s political drama that doesn’t talk down to the reader, the heroes are awesome without being flawless – it’s what made me fall in love with sci-fi.
Fuzzy Nation made me feel very much the same way the Conquerors’ Saga does.
Of course, if you made me choose one or the other, Conquerors’ will always win. The newcomer doesn’t take down the childhood hero; that would just be wrong. But in a world where you can have both, you should read both.