OT: Can't remember name of science fiction novel

[dmm]

Wolfman77 said:
It was a longshot. not much to narrow down the search with but who knows. Don't suppose you remember any names? Characters, author, a word in the title?

Nothing. Maybe I only dreamed that I once read it.
Except, once I wrote music for a poem that I read and really liked, and years later discovered that the poem had long ago been set to music. And of course the old music was quite similar to "my" music.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Story contest sounds good. I might submit something. Don't have an idea (yet?) though.

[geoschmo]

Ugh, I consider myself fairly good at researching stuff, but I haven't found a whiff of your story here. How did the story refer to telepathics? Was the word telepathy used, or psionics, or something else. Were telepathic individuals called espers, seers, simply telepaths? Anything that might trigger a memory that we could use to narrow it down some. You used the term "telepathic underground" in quotes. Is that because it was a phrase you remember being used specifically?

[Baron Munchausen]

You can try posting your question on the Stumpers-L mailing list. It's official definition is as the list for 'difficult reference questions' but that's fairly loosely defined. Lots of people post there asking for help identifying books that they cannot quite remember.

http://domin.dom.edu/depts/gslis/stumpers/

[Atrocities]

Could it be one of these books? http://listsofbests.com/list/29/
Or Here

I would post on some book sites and ask those folks. Good luck man. (Ask Powells book store I am sure someone there might know.)

[dmm]

geoschmo said:
How did the story refer to telepathics? ... You used the term "telepathic underground" in quotes. Is that because it was a phrase you remember being used specifically?

Geo: Thank you very much for your efforts. This has really exposed the weakness of databases. I don't remember the words used. Could have been anything you suggested, or it could have been "mentals" or "mentats" or something entirely different. Not necessarily telepath. And there was a special word for the few "telepaths" who could do all of the "telepathic" abilities. (Most people could only do one.) Similarly, I put "telepathic underground" in quotes to indicate that I was making up that word. I doubt seriously if that's what the author called it.

[Parasite]

I don't think this is it, but...

Slan by A. E. van Vogt
is as close as I can come.

It has been a long time since I have read it. I don't remember the girl part, but it had telipathic people and it was illegal to be telepathic.

[Atrocities]

http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=29...sbn=0312852363

[dmm]

Atrocities said:
Could it be one of these books? ...

Mutant, written in 1953 by Kuttner, comes close but is not the book. Aargh!

[dmm]

Parasite said:
...Slan by A. E. van Vogt is as close as I can come....

Another book that is similar but not "my" book. I'm really thinking I could just plagiarize from memory, re-write it, and collect the rewards. (That's supposed to be a pirate.) Seems like several authors have already plagiarized each other to some degree!