just found out the first-ever science fiction story was written in 2nd-century greece, by a comedian named Lucian of Samosata. It's called "A True Story", and claims to be the only honest myth in that it tells you right up front that everything written in it is a lie.
It involves a trip to the moon (which is at war with the sun over colonization rights to the morning star) and alien creatures, which makes it quite firmly in the realm of science fiction
@Tathar http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45858 Needless to say, it's available on project gutenberg, since it's been translated countless times over the centuries