My comment in another thread made me think of this question: How old do you think kids should be before introducing them to the works of EPU? Some of them are clearly a little "older" than others, even if there isn't anything more than R rated (and even that's uncommon). So I'm putting this out to everyone, authors and readers alike, and especially those of you with kids. Not that I have to worry about it for close to a decade at the least (my oldest just turned 4 :)...

Thanks,
Offsides

[...] in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
-- David Ben Gurion
EPU RCW #π
#include <stdsig.h>

I'd say at least old enough to have a grounding in as many of the major sources as possible. Half the fun of UF is watching how things you never thought could mesh go together seamlessly. The next half is learning about the sources you didn't know. The third half is just the reading experience overall -- so I'd say they should be old enough to handle "grown up" writing.

-- Bob
-------------------
My race is pacifist and does not believe in war. We kill only out of personal spite.

I am decidedly not the person to ask, but I've always suspected that people develop so inconsistently, establishing "threshold ages" for various activities doesn't really work. (I've encountered sixteen-year-olds who should be voting and people in their sixties who shouldn't, for instance. :) So I guess I'm going to have to go with a weasely answer like, "Depends on the kid, surely," because, well, it depends on the kid, surely. :)

However, as a general rule, I can say that the minimum age for Exile stories written in the 20th century is infinity. Nobody should read those.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.