Nonsensekinesis
Feb. 28th, 2017 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yuuagoRecently I've been listening to an audiobook of Stephen King's Firestarter, and it reminded me of how much I used to love stories of psychic and parapsychological phenomena. Yes please, give me alllll the telepathy and pyrokinesis and telekinesis and clairvoyance and that sort of stuff. *_* This book hits me just as well as it did the first time I read it, ages and ages ago. (Though actually, I can't remember which bit of fiction it was that got me interested in psychic powers first. Was it Stephen King's novels - both Firestarter and The Dead Zone? Or did I watch Weiss Kreuz first? Or is it just that R-- introduced me to the idea? Oh, well.)
Anyway, it's been a nice little walk down a road that I used to enjoy very much. For a while there, I kind of cut off my taste for that thing in fiction (along with many other things) due to associating it with someone that I'm not involved with any more. But, some time has passed, so... maybe it wouldn't hurt to explore that subgenre again.
Now that I think of it - if any of you have suggestions for books/movies/etc featuring psychic powers, I'd love to hear about them. Psychic, rather than magical, to be clear. In particular I like it best when these powers have to be kept hidden. My frame of reference is, like I mentioned, mainly Stephen King's novels and the Weiss Kreuz anime. And allll the trashy parapsychology books I used to check out of the library in the early '00s... but let's ignore that. ;p
And all this reminds me of the first version of Yuriy's character, which was very different from what it is now.
From what I recall, in one of the earlier versions of his story, Yuriy was a psychic. Telepathy for sure, but also something else - technesis, I think. (That is, the ability to manipulate electronics, especially computers.)
He was on the run from a secret organization, put together during the Soviet area, whose mission it was to find, capture, and experiment on/train up psychics for use as spies (or worse). Basically, it was an equivalent to The Shop in Firestarter, with a dash of Eszett from WK. His abilities helped him exist undercover, to a degree, but of course this was constantly undermined by the fact that some very serious business was trying to track him down.
Sometimes I miss writing him like this - it was kind of ridiculous (and ripping off a handful of other canons) but it sure was a good time. As much as I do love the newer Yuriy, AKA the quiet and lonely immigrant who accidentally falls in love in Halifax, the old version sure had something. Hah, maybe I'll return to it some day. There's no rules against making AUs of your own nonsense, after all. And maybe it would be a Canadian organization this time; perhaps something that works closely with CSIS, maybe even assumed to be a sub-organization of CSIS. That would do.
Now, in this older story, Jacques didn't exist. I did have a version of that character, but he was in a different story - he was a shady guy who makes fake documentation for supernatural persons (all kinds, but his part of the story mostly related to his friendship with a particular vampire). Wouldn't be hard to plunk him into Yuriy's story, though. I rather like the idea that he might have psychic powers as well, but I can't decide what. Not something flashy like pyrokinesis, though, I'm sure of that. Something more low-key. Maybe some mild empathy, or some kind of... supernatural ability to influence people; a kind of psychic hypnosis similar to the "push".
...And the more I think about it, I love the idea of a psychic AU in which these two are Involved, mostly because of the bit with Yuriy's telepathy. There's something really erotic about the penetration of the mind - to literally be in someone's head, it's such an incredibly intimate thing. Think of all the porn I could write. (Uh, I mean /cough)
Aaaand here is where I admit that some of my kinks can be traced back to ridiculous Weiss Kreuz fanfiction. (Schuldig, man. He sure was something.) Though part of it might be Mercedes Lackey influence as well. :Va Mindspeech in the Last Herald Mage trilogy, mostly, never mind that it's magic in that case. ...Aaaanyway. The power to enter into someone's mind (in a way) is also one of the things I really like about dreamwalking in SSSS, actually, but it doesn't hit the same buttons because it isn't quite the same thing, considering the power for mages to exist in their dreams and travel to other dreams is known and typical to a decent portion of the population.
Anyway, it's been a nice little walk down a road that I used to enjoy very much. For a while there, I kind of cut off my taste for that thing in fiction (along with many other things) due to associating it with someone that I'm not involved with any more. But, some time has passed, so... maybe it wouldn't hurt to explore that subgenre again.
Now that I think of it - if any of you have suggestions for books/movies/etc featuring psychic powers, I'd love to hear about them. Psychic, rather than magical, to be clear. In particular I like it best when these powers have to be kept hidden. My frame of reference is, like I mentioned, mainly Stephen King's novels and the Weiss Kreuz anime. And allll the trashy parapsychology books I used to check out of the library in the early '00s... but let's ignore that. ;p
And all this reminds me of the first version of Yuriy's character, which was very different from what it is now.
From what I recall, in one of the earlier versions of his story, Yuriy was a psychic. Telepathy for sure, but also something else - technesis, I think. (That is, the ability to manipulate electronics, especially computers.)
He was on the run from a secret organization, put together during the Soviet area, whose mission it was to find, capture, and experiment on/train up psychics for use as spies (or worse). Basically, it was an equivalent to The Shop in Firestarter, with a dash of Eszett from WK. His abilities helped him exist undercover, to a degree, but of course this was constantly undermined by the fact that some very serious business was trying to track him down.
Sometimes I miss writing him like this - it was kind of ridiculous (and ripping off a handful of other canons) but it sure was a good time. As much as I do love the newer Yuriy, AKA the quiet and lonely immigrant who accidentally falls in love in Halifax, the old version sure had something. Hah, maybe I'll return to it some day. There's no rules against making AUs of your own nonsense, after all. And maybe it would be a Canadian organization this time; perhaps something that works closely with CSIS, maybe even assumed to be a sub-organization of CSIS. That would do.
Now, in this older story, Jacques didn't exist. I did have a version of that character, but he was in a different story - he was a shady guy who makes fake documentation for supernatural persons (all kinds, but his part of the story mostly related to his friendship with a particular vampire). Wouldn't be hard to plunk him into Yuriy's story, though. I rather like the idea that he might have psychic powers as well, but I can't decide what. Not something flashy like pyrokinesis, though, I'm sure of that. Something more low-key. Maybe some mild empathy, or some kind of... supernatural ability to influence people; a kind of psychic hypnosis similar to the "push".
...And the more I think about it, I love the idea of a psychic AU in which these two are Involved, mostly because of the bit with Yuriy's telepathy. There's something really erotic about the penetration of the mind - to literally be in someone's head, it's such an incredibly intimate thing. Think of all the porn I could write. (Uh, I mean /cough)
Aaaand here is where I admit that some of my kinks can be traced back to ridiculous Weiss Kreuz fanfiction. (Schuldig, man. He sure was something.) Though part of it might be Mercedes Lackey influence as well. :Va Mindspeech in the Last Herald Mage trilogy, mostly, never mind that it's magic in that case. ...Aaaanyway. The power to enter into someone's mind (in a way) is also one of the things I really like about dreamwalking in SSSS, actually, but it doesn't hit the same buttons because it isn't quite the same thing, considering the power for mages to exist in their dreams and travel to other dreams is known and typical to a decent portion of the population.
Yuu. Fic writer & book lover. M/Canada.
no subject
Date: 2017-03-01 08:24 am (UTC)Anyway, Tim Powers definitely has his issues, but he's very good at weird shit going down in contemporary and on-the-surface real-world settings.
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Date: 2017-03-02 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-01 09:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-02 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-01 01:05 pm (UTC)Flight to the Lonesome Place
The Case of the Vanishing Boy
The Forgotten Door
There are three movies based on the Witch Mountain books.
Zenna Henderson's stories of the People involve psychic powers.
A couple of manga series-- Telepathic Wanderers (four volumes) has telepathy, but I loathed the ending, so I rather anti-rec it. Eternal Sabbath (eight or nine volumes) was actually pretty good as far as I recall. Let's see... I didn't like To Terra... but some people do, and the manga is only three volumes.
Both DC and Marvel have characters with psychic powers, but there are a lot of other characters, and the canon is vast. Professor Xavier and Jean Grey come to mind immediately from Marvel, and the Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian from the DC side. DC has some good animated series with their characters, specifically Young Justice and Justice League/Justice League Unlimited, but those characters are part of a largish ensemble cast.
One or two of the Modesty Blaise books (the novels. I haven't yet read all of the comics) involve psychic powers. I just can't remember which off the top of my head.
Slan by A.E. van Vogt is a classic SF novel with telepaths, but it's been at least twenty years since I read it, so I can't say that it's actually good. My suspicion is that it has all of the weaknesses of things written in that era in terms of sexism and racism.
Willo Davis Roberts wrote a book called The Girl with Silver Eyes that involves psychic powers. It's a kids' book, and I recall loving it.
The TV show, Babylon 5, has telepaths, but they're not the focus of most episodes, just some.
The romance author who publishes as Jayne Ann Krentz, Amanda Quick, and Jayne Castle sometimes includes psychic powers in her books. The Castle books almost all do. But they are, you know, romances and pretty formulaic. I like them a lot, but...
If I find the energy, I'll go downstairs and look at my books later today. I'm pretty sure that I've got some others to mention.
no subject
Date: 2017-03-02 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-04 04:05 am (UTC)Children of Morrow and Treasures of Morrow by H.M. Hoover. These two books are post-apocalyptic children's books from the 1970s. They were my gateway into SF, so I can't be even remotely objective about them.
Patternmaster series by Octavia Butler. There are four books in the series, but Clay's Ark doesn't have psychic powers. The three that do are Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, and Patternmaster. In terms of internal chronology, that's the order they go in, but that's not the order they were published in. Clay's Ark takes place at about the same time as Mind of My Mind. Butler's work tends dark.
Telzey Amberdon stories by James H. Schmitz. These are pulpy, and Telzey's psychic powers tend to encompass whatever is plot convenient, but Schmitz was writing female characters in the 1960s, so... I can forgive a lot. These stories tend to be upbeat and fun.
Psion by Joan D. Vinge. I read this long enough ago that I can't remember much about it except that there are some sort of psychic powers in it.
Brother Jonathan and Lifter by Crawford Killian. Lifter has a form of self telekinesis. Brother Jonathan has telepathy, including xenotelepathy, that is entirely technologically mediated.
The Turning Place by Jean Karl. This book is a series of short stories that track events after an apocalypse. The timeline actually covers thousands of years. Psychic powers crop up somewhere in the middle.
Talents series and the Tower and the Hive series by Anne McCaffrey. This is more of the classic psychic powers that I think you're looking for, but the two series have the problems that turn up in a lot of McCaffrey's work in terms of some squicky relationships and inconsistent characterization. McCaffrey was also terrible, terrible on LGBTQ characters of any type. You might want to steer clear on those grounds. Or not.
Green Sky trilogy by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. This is a trilogy of kids' books. The first two are really excellent. The third... It's still good, but parts of it are just why on earth did she do that? in ways that made me never want to reread it.
Khi to Freedom by Ardath Mayhar.
The Continuing Time series by Daniel Keys Moran. The first book in this series, Emerald Eyes, has telepaths created by genetic manipulation.
Lois Duncan wrote YA in the 1970s and 1980s, and some of her books had psychic powers of various sorts. I'm not remembering titles off the top of my head.
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Date: 2017-03-04 05:40 am (UTC)Thank you so much. <3
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Date: 2017-03-01 02:26 pm (UTC)As far as anime goes:
Charlotte - Really good. Give it a couple episodes though, it isn't as simple as the slice of life that it seems to be. There's a lot going on, and it does take some dark turns.
Zettai Karen Children: the Unlimited - The original Zettai Karen Children is a little male fanservicey but you don't really need that one to get into the Unlimited. It's a spin off that focuses on Hyoubu and the animation is far better anyway.
Night Head Genesis - focused on two brothers and their psychic abilities escaping from an experimental facility. There is a little dark undercurrent to that one in a psychological/mystery way.
Please Save My Earth has psychic/reincarnation stuff. It's a series I really enjoyed. The anime is good, but the manga is so much more detailed if you can find it. There is a pretty big psychic power element.
Shin Sekai Yori - very underrated, but super satisfying (though it starts off pretty slow). I think you might like it. All people have psychic powers and the government is into monitoring them heavily. It's been a while since I haves seen this, but I may have to watch it again.
Tokyo ESP - your better withe the manga on this one, but it involves psychics coming together to fight evil (stated super simply).
Kotoura-san - it's about a girl who can read minds and has no internal filter so she often repeats what she picks up. It's a nice little comedy.
Others off the top of my head:
Darker than Black - some characters have psychic powers
Ghost Hound - a boy solving a mystery that can astral project
Psychic detective Yakumo - a lazy psychic solves police cases.
Hope that gives you some more stuff to get into. :)
no subject
Date: 2017-03-02 03:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-02 03:56 am (UTC)... also, since it's becoming a bit of a minor obsession with me at the moment, I rec the anime Mob Psycho 100! The manga, too, but the creator is One and the art is - something that grows on you, rather than being very good, and the anime is really gorgeous. And the psychic powers are off the charts!
no subject
Date: 2017-03-02 04:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-03 03:26 am (UTC)A few things to note before reading though:
1. It's a series, but so far only the first two books have come out. Waiting for the second book was agony, and now I'm in "waiting for book 3" hell.
2. It's categorized as YA, which I know some people are not about. BUT as someone who has read a lot of YA of varying quality, I can attest this is one of the good ones. The author clearly did her research and has killer writing chops.
no subject
Date: 2017-03-03 06:51 pm (UTC)re: YA, well, that's good to know. I'll probably check it out anyway. ;p I don't read much stuff for that age bracket, but sometimes there's some pretty good stuff~ It'd be weird to swear it off completely, considering one of my favourite novels ever could be considered YA. (That would be The Maestro by Tim Wynne-Jones.)