[BrianDHuff]

Howdy all, new here, so a quick "Hello!". Long Time reader of Fantasy mainly, with lots of dabbles in and out of S/F.

I'm looking for some recommendations on S/F that has strong eliments of Enhanced Perceptions in a character, i.e. ESP type things.

I read Foster's Pip and Flinx (Commenwealth) series all the way through to current and enjoyed them even though they were a bit light for me.

Steven Gould's - Jumper and the follow-up Reflex had me up all night reading them.

I have spent most of my time reading heavy magic fantasy, and would like to find that same type of inner trait and development within the S/F world if possible.

Some of my favorite Fantasy authors (just trying to give as much background to help with recommendations) are:
Raymond Fiest (most likely my favorite)
Jordon/Goodkind (is there really any difference in these stories???)
Modesitt
Katherine Kerr
to name a few

I've grown very very tired of everyone fighting trolls and orcs... Take me into the future and give me the same sense of inner self wonder.

[Ropie]

Hi,

I've not read them but Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human and Robert Silverberg's Dying Inside may both interest you.

Dune by Frank Herbert, which I have read, also has many elements of ESP and foresight central to the story. Should appeal to a fantasy nut too ;)

[Yobmod]

There's tonnes of ESP and psionics in SF (even tho its not science).

If you like Feist/Jordan etc, my first recommendation would be for Anne McCaffrey. You may have read he Pern books (with psychic dragons in the far future), but she has also written a long running SF series about a familly of telepaths in the future (they use their telekenesis to launch spaceships). The later books got bogged down for me, but the first few were readable and excting and had charaters you can identify with. They are also mostly standalone stories. Try:

1) The Rowan (start here)
2) Damia
3) Damia's Chldren
4) (plus 2 more books)

or

1) Get of that unicorn (various short stories, not necessary to read here)
2) To Ride Pegasus
3) Pegasus in Flight (I started here and didn't miss the first books, they mostly have different characters and are set far apart in this series).
4) Pegasus in space.


The 2 series can be read seperately. I'd start with the Rowan, and when you've finished that series try the pegasus one (which explains how the telepathic society came about).

[Yobmod]

I'd say Ropies recommends are actually much better books by the way, but quite a change from the fantasy you are reading.

For similar stuff to More than Human, you can try The Chrysalids by Whyndham. They are both about kids developing ESP and the implcation that normal humans will be replaced.


Has anyone read Andre Nortons Witch World more recently than me? I vaguely think these would be a great place to start off in SF for fantasy fans, but can't remeber if the magic involved ESP to a great extent.

They start with Witch World, or the omnibus of the first 3 books The Gates to Witch World.

[clong]

If you can find them, Daniel Keys Moran's Tales of Continuing Time books are worth your time (especially The Long Run and The Last Dancer). I would also highly recommend James Tiptree, Jr. Up the Walls of the World.

[nealasher]

'Dying Inside' as mentioned above is excellent. You might like to try some of the old A E Van Vogt books: Slan, Mindcage, More than Superhuman (I think?)

[ArthurFrayn]

I'll have to third the recommendation on Dying Inside,that's a very convincing and realistic novel about someone losing their telepathic powers.If you want to imagine having that ability in the real world, this book will put you there. If it's happy wish fulfillment that you want,then maybe not.It's a telepath novel as if it were written by Phillip Roth.


Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man is about a man trying to commit a murder in a world policed by telepaths. Short, entertaining novel. It's probably because of this novel that Straczynski named the Walter Koenig PsiCop character "Bester", in the TV show Babylon 5.

Phillip K Dick sprinkles telepaths and "precogs"(clairvoyants) freely through many of his fictional works,Ubik,for example,comes to mind

In both DM & Ubik, telepaths are part of the novel as opposed to the subject however.

[BrianDHuff]

Some wonderful responses, I thank you all.

I have indeed read the Pern novels, I personally would put them closer to Fantasy than SF, but they are really good.

I grabbed several books off the Time Travel thread that look great, and these all look wonderful as well.

Thank you all, knew this was the place to ask!

[nealasher]

"I'll have to third the recommendation for Dying Inside"

It's always been a source of annoyance to me that I first read the story in some old Galaxy or Analog magazines (I think - it was in two parts and the original publication) many years ago, and those magazines were thrown out. Damn I wish I'd kept them.

[microbes]

A classic look at it (and the tensions between those with the power and those without it) would be "Re-birth" by John Wyndham.