People with paranormal abilities hunted by government, head of org helps kids escape

Tried this one a year ago with no luck, thought I'd try again.

People with paranormal abilities are hunted (killed, I think, but not sure) by the government. The story focuses on one or more (at least one boy that I remember) with abilities being hunted but they get away at the very end due to intervention by head of government organization that does the hunting. Closing paragraphs of the book, that government official locks his office and teleports home.

Book is almost certainly Young Adult.

Author wrote more than one book, but I have no recollection of others.

This sounds like Slan except the ending. Maybe it is a short story or young adult version.

No, definitely not Slan. I've re-read that recently.

Some more things that occur to me. I read this in the early 70s and it wasn't a new book. I seem to remember the book being shelved in the middle-ish of the young adult section...i.e., the author's name is probably not Anderson or Zelazny. :-)

Sounds like the Witch Mountain series?

Thanks, but no, definitely nothing of Alexander Key's.

I think you might be talking about "The Fury". I don't remember the author, but it was a movie with John Cassavetes in the 70's.

touchstone The Fury by John Farris

Hmm, hard to tell from the description. I'll try to find it and see if it's the one. Thanks.

I finally bumped into a copy of The Fury. It's not that, so this is a bump.

One of these three? I haven't read them so not sure.

Mind-Call by Wilanne Schneider Belden
Mind-Hold by Wilanne Belden
Mind-Find by Wilanne Belden

Suffice it to say that superpowers was a popular plot during the last century and a lot of the 'golden age' SF writers had books with characters with paranormal powers.

The one this sounds most like is Anne Mccaffrey's To Ride Pegasus except for the escaping part, a recently formed government paranornormal operation is hunting down a thief to recruit, and there is the scene of him teleporting at the end when they have averted the danger posed. The book is more a 'fix-up' and it is only one of the stories in the book 'Apple', also the sequel Pegasus in Flight is about children kidnapped by criminals and the government helps them escape from them.

Isobelle Carmody has written a series about paranormal kids rebelling against a government Obernewtyn, but that was a post apocolyptic society as was John Wydhams The Chrysalids.

Edmund Cooper's Prisoner of Fire has the unknown paranormal goverment agent helping kids escape an institution but no teleporting scene IIRC.

I also seem to remember hearing about a Sheckly and an Aldiss book with similar theme, but haven't read them myself so couldn't say it also sound like something Fredrik Pohl and Robert Silverberg might do - but now i'm just speculating.

>10 bookel:: No, those were published too late.

>11 Musereader:: Yes, the popularity of the theme is a big barrier. I have most of those, Musereader, and it's not them.

May be one of the books based on the 1970's TV series The Tomorrow People?

>13 Nerilka:: No, I read it around 1972 and it was already an older book by that point.

Can you remember what some of the other paranormal talents were?

I don't know--the impression is one person had telepathy, another telekinesis. However, after 40 years, it could easily be that I just think those were the talents.

I seem to remember a story like this where, after the kids were on their way to a safe place, the government official locked himself in his office and teleported home. Wish I could remember the title! My impression is that it was either a novella or short story ...

Oh okay... it would help if you edit your original post to include the year range (first year read and that it was an older book). Didn't see that further down...

>17 hailelib:: Yes, that plot sounds right. Not sure about the novella aspect...I seem to remember it being a YA novel.

What terminology was used in the book? Was it present or past tense (escape or escaped for example?)?

It was present tense. The story was about the pursuit and escape.

Found this thread when googling, the op is looking for a more recent book but there are some older ones suggested
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/97930-psychic-children-kidnapped-and-held-in...

Children of Morrow by H. M. Hoover? After an unfortunate murder two telepathic children, members of a primitive civilization, are led to escape by a friendly, unseen voice. It was published 1973 though.

23: No real "government" in that book though.

Okay, I haven't read it yet. :)

Bump.

Not Children of Morrow; that one has a sequel in which it turns out that the General of the post-apocalyptic non-industrial society is the one with the psychic powers spreading his genes, but nothing like the resolution above. I remember this plot too, and agree that I remember it being a short story, but can't put my finger on it, though it seems Bradbury-like.

No, this wasn't a short story. It was definitely a young adult novel.

The only thing I come up with is Edmund Cooper's Prisoner of Fire mentioned above, but that matches pretty closely from what I see.

General plot described sounds alot like the beginning of Terra E / To Terra by Keiko Takemiya, but that's a manga from the late 70's and its more recent anime adaptation, not a novel.

This sounds a bit like The Beyond by Jean Sutton and Jeff Sutton. I think it was published sometime in the 1960's

http://www.librarything.com/work/1413589

I read it a very long time ago, sometime in the early 70's so my memory of it may not be very accurate. I think two of the main characters were two boys, one of which dies, maybe? The government official sent to the planet where the telepaths live finds out that he is also telepathic. Unfortunately, I don't recall much of the ending, so don't know if he teleports home at the end of the book. I do remember that the people get away over some kind of telepathic bridge.

Summary:
The Beyond by Jean Sutton (1968). An agent, sent to a distant planet where those with telepathic powers are banished, and ordered to find the person with the ability to move objects by thought, discovers to his horror that he is telepathic.

I'm not sure but this sounds at least similar to "The Girl with the Silver Eyes"

33 - but no teleportation, and no one's killed.

This appears to be adult fiction? Mentioning to rule out, and for interest. The teleportation appears to be different than what's required...?

Randall Garrett and Laurence Janifer treated the theme humorously in The Impossibles (1963), published under the pseudonym Mark Phillips. A less popular psi power is teleportation, although it is often achieved through artificial means, ...

Another probably adult fiction too... mentions telepathy and teleportation.
Wallace West, The bird of time - 1959 - 256 pages

Another most likely adult fiction too, no sign of teleport in the search the text on books.google. For interest: Man from tomorrow Wilson Tucker - 1955 - 147 pages. Original title: Wild Talent. Paul Breen discovers that he has telepathic powers. As a loyal American he lends his powers to the U.S. government but soon finds out that the government is not to be trusted.

At least this appears to be young adult.
Sunburst, Phyllis Gotlieb - 1964 - 160 pages - Snippet view
It just didn't — couldn't — take into account the fact that at the age of ten he was psychokinetic, telepathic, a teleport, and a pyrophore as well . . ." His voice lowered to a whisper. "Nobody knew it would last eight years. ...

Possessing similar powers, Sandy and her friends find themselves facing increasingly frightening confrontations with their escaped peers. First published in 1964 and again in 1978, Sunburst has lost neither its edge nor its relevance.

Sunburst (1964), which is about a group of mutant "children" who develop psychic abilities following an atomic explosion.

Teleport seems to be another version of psychic power...

Jack of eagles, James Blish - 1953 - 128 pages -
"He's not a teleport, according to the society's records," the agent said. "Just a telepath." "He has friends, though. Some of them are teleports." Danny remembered the resonator. He took it out and handed it over. ...

Though the teleport you're referring to is more like Star Trek's transporter, is it?

Yet another book mentioning teleporting...
The dueling machine
Ben Bova - 1969 - 247 pages - Snippet view
You are a trained telepath, you must have latent tele- portation powers, as well. We will not ease up on this pressure until you teleport to the next booth. Indeed, the pressure will be increased until you do as you are told. JUMP! ...

Sorry, was away on a trip.

>30 Jarandel:: It wasn't manga. Regular hardback in the early 1970s.

>31 Timelapse:: I'll look for that, Timelapse, and see if it matches.

>33 Gamzrfun2:: No, not that. Thanks.

>35 bookel:: Not the Garrett. It was definitely shelved in Young Adult.

>36 bookel:: I'd have to see that one, though the cover doesn't look promising. (I know...that's often got nothing to do with the story in sf.)

>37 bookel:: Not that.

>38 bookel:: That looks a bit more promising; I'll try to find it and see.

>39 bookel:: The teleporting was one or two sentences at the end...something along the lines of, "...he locked up his office and teleported himself home."

>40 bookel:: I don't think so. I don't remember that plot element, plus I was reading Bova back then and would probably remember the association.

Any new members recognize this?

Hi bookel,

I'm not a new member, but I had suggested before that it might be The Beyond by Jeff Sutton. I just found a copy of it on line here:

http://bookre.org/reader?file=288961&pg=1

TadAd wrote in his description that at the end of the book he locks his office and teleports home. The last sentences of The Beyond are:

"Glancing at his security system to make certain he was alone, he placed
his private papers in his safe and locked it. Another step along the road, he
thought.

Then he teleported to the privacy of his home."

I hope this helps!

Cool, hope that's it!

Timelapse: I finally found a copy at a reasonable price. That's it. Thanks.

Good to see The Beyond was the book.

You are welcome. I'm glad I could help. I hope you enjoy reading the book again!

Touchstone: The Beyond by Jean and Jeff Sutton