Slan

Author: A. E. Van Vogt

Well we said that John W. Campbell liked psi, and so did a lot of other writers of the time. None more so that A.E. Van Vogt, whose tale of telepathic superior beings hunted by ordinary humans really struck a nerve with his readers. "Fans Are Slans" they used to say, meaning that a liking for science fiction made you special but despised by ordinary mortals. Kind of a silly idea, but then, early science fiction readers were looking for anything that made them feel special. This novel certainly fit the bill. Slans have superior intellectual powers, and little golden tendrils that allow them to communicate telepathically. Unfortunately, ordinary humans are so afraid of the Slans that they try to wipe them out. Which means that nine-year-old Jommy Cross has to run for his life, carrying with him his father's brilliant inventions, which make him the last hope to save his race from genocide. Why it's on the list: Slan caught the imagination of sf readers like no other science fiction novel of the time. It was undoubtedly the pre-eminent novel about psi-powers published at the time.