Books published by publisher Guild America Books (Holt)

From Publishers Weekly McCaffrey continues to develop her future world in which psionic Talents, once feared and despised, are by now necessary to the comfort and conduct of society. Following the events in To Ride, Pegasus and set a generation or so before The Rowan , this era finds mankind not yet having settled planets outside the solar system. Even with officially mandated birth control, the world teems with too many people. Essential to the construction of a space station being built to serve as springboard to the stars are the services of the Talents--particularly the telekinetics, who can move objects by mental power. Telepath Rhyssa Owen, a top official of the Center for Parapsychic Talents, must contend with the station's construction manager, who treats Talents brutally and otherwise discourages them from working for her. Meanwhile two youngsters are found to be unusually Talented: Peter Reidinger overcomes paralysis to develop the first gestalt with electrical generators (this becomes the basis for future space travel), while Tirlap, an illegal child from the vertical slums, facilitates communication among a wide variety of cultures. Meanwhile, kidnappers prey on children for pederastic pursuits and for spare parts. McCaffrey's world of the Talented is as vivid as that of Pern and its dragons.

It’s tough being a teenager and a wizard, as Nita, 14-year-old New Yorker, knows all too well. It’s even harder if your parents are obstinate. According to Nita’s folks, the whole wizard thing is getting way out of hand. They’ve decided that six weeks in the real world, on a horse farm in Ireland under the watchful eye of her Aunt Annie, will surely put their daughter back on the straight and narrow. But Ireland isn’t the safe, sensible spot that Nita’s parents imagine. In fact, it’s seething with wizardry. The ancient powers that created the Emerald Isle still traipse back and forth between the Irish present and Tir na nOg, the alternate reality they continued to inhabit after humans came. The result: they’ve opened up gaping holes in the walls that separate past, present, future and fantasy worlds. Before Nita can say sla’n (Gaelic for hello and goodbye), she’s careening between time periods like a silver ball in a pinball machine.