FAKE THAT

Spoonbenders features a psychic family down on its luck

The Amazing Spider-Man’s famous oft-quoted motto is, “With great power comes great responsibility”. For the Amazing Telemachus Family, however, “with less power comes less responsibility,” jokes Spoonbenders author Daryl Gregory.

The book tells the tale of a family of psychics who were on the verge of breaking big in the ’70s before a debunker derailed their career. The twist being that some of them really did have powers.

“I liked this idea of you having these powers and you’re not famous and have not made a dime off them,” says Gregory.

Another inspiration was infamous TV “psychic” spoonbending superstar Uri Geller, and his responses to sceptics who challenged his abilities. “He would use excuses like, ‘Only someone who was faking it could make their powers work all the time. The fact I’ve failed to bend this spoon proves I’m real.’”

The bulk of the book is set in 1995, and not just for nostalgic reasons. “I was working out the timeline and I really wanted the younger Teddy and Maureen Telemachus to have been part of those original Cold War programmes into psychic ability, like Project MKUltra in the ’60s that turned into Stargate. Real programmes that were really funded.”

Besides which, reasons Gregory, if the book were set today, “they’d be the stars of a third-tier reality show.”

Spoonbenders is published on 13 July.