Zelanzy, Gibson and Stephenson (Score 1)

Roger Zelanzy's Amber series (Nine Princes in Amber is the first) isn't sci-fi, but is a great starter series. Gibson is just a great, well-known writer. Stephenson's latest stuff comes across dry, might be boring for kids, but Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon are good choices. And if everyone hasn't had enough of the fantasy sci-fi, Piers Anthony and his Incarnations of Immortality series is both... I recall this as being my first collection of stories that I really got into.