Wizard

About the book

Jonas arrives in Speyer in 1605 with abilities he cannot safely acknowledge and a willingness to accept considerable danger. Behind his unremarkable appearance lies membership in a concealed community of telepaths, whose survival depends on avoiding the attention of people who would call them sorcerers. The local Inquisition makes that danger immediate, particularly when Jonas becomes involved with a threatened household. Instead of relying on the weapons or grandeur of a conventional adventure hero, he must understand minds, exploit expectations, and choose carefully when to expose himself. Framed by a fictional history of telepathic concealment, the story turns a familiar confrontation with persecution into a problem of strategy, evidence, and collective survival.

• Hidden ability
• Persecution
• Strategy and courage

Why read it

Follow an unconventional hero whose greatest advantage becomes dangerous whenever others recognize it.

English story credited to Larry M. Harris, Laurence M. Janifer's pseudonym, in Astounding Science Fiction, May 1960