ESP Science Fiction

ESP Science Fiction features characters with Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP). The core ESP powers are: clairvoyance, telepathy, and precognition. :

Under a broader definition of ESP, other powers are included: Telempathy (or empathy): reading emotions

Telekinesis: move objects with the power of the mind

Teleportation: move oneself from one place to another with the mind

Levitation: flying (sometimes described as a telekinetic ability)

Healing (redacting): using the mind to heal

Pyrokinesis: use the mind to start and control

Coercion: using the mind to make someone else comply with your will

You can view the crowd-ranked "Popular" ESP Science Fiction Books list and vote and/submit entries to it.

1 Dune

By Frank Herbert. The spice from planet Arrakis is necessary for interstellar travel, but it also grants psychic powers and longevity to its user.
2 I am Number Four

By Pittacus Lore. Nine aliens left their home world for Earth, where they now live in secret. However, these seemingly Earth teenagers posses unique paranormal skills.
3 The Rowan

By Anne McCaffrey. Rowan is a telepathic and telekinetic woman who works for the government and is alienated from humanity because of her abilities.
4 Firestarter

By Stephen King. As a part of a government experiment two college students develop limited psychological powers—but their daughter has a pyrokinetic ability with unknown power.
5 Saga of the Exiles

By Julian May. Mind powers, aliens, time travel, this series has a lot to offer. This is the closest you'll get to a space opera ESP science fiction saga.
6 Donovan's Brain

By Curt Siodmak. Donovan's brain is physically impotent, but has developed mind control powers.
7 Lensman sequence

By Edward E. Smith Enhanced perception is an ability of several alien species in this sequence and acquired by the protagonist.
8 The Journal of Nicholas the American

By Leigh Kennedy. The psychic ability of empathy has an alienating effect.
9 Tiger! Tiger!

By Alfred Bester. Teleportation is featured in this story as are its potential pitfalls.
10 The Weapon Shops of Isher

By A.E. van Vogt. This story features a character whose mental power is luck related, callidetic, which is to say he is very lucky.

Other Features of ESP Science Fiction

Level of Real Science
Low. According to psychologists at Harvard University, ESP does not exist . As such, any science used to explain the existence of ESP in a Sci Fi story is not based on real science.
Level of Grand Ideas/Social Implications
Moderate. ESP Sci Fi explores a common idea: how would society react to people in possession of ESP. Questions of otherness, of government control, of technological impact are all available to the ESP Sci Fi story.
Level of Characterization
Moderate to High. ESP Sci Fi tends to be character driven stories. Characters with ESP are crafted in a thoughtful manner so that when they must cope with the backlash or consequences of these powers, the characters' actions are understood by readers.
Level of Plot Complexity
Moderate to High. ESP is a characteristic that pops up in many types of Sci Fi stories. In some stories, like Dune, there is a complex plot with ESP abilities a part of the world but necessarily the focus of the story. In other stories, like Firestarter, the ESP ability is front and centre and integral to moving the plot forward. ESP has the ability to create action and move the plot forward--there is always a sense of cause and effect in ESP Sci Fi.
Level of Violence
High, mostly. The powers of ESP are mostly used or sought for power. So even if the character does not use his or her power violently, he or she may be tracked down by others seeking to use that power for their own gain.

Related Science Fiction subgenres

Superhero Fiction is one direction an author writing about characters with ESP may take. Pulp magazines from the 1950s saw a boom in ESP stories.