From its first publication as a serial in Astounding Science Fiction magazine in 1940, Slan was acclaimed by readers as one of, if not THE, novel of Golden Age science fiction. Telling the story of Jommy Cross, a young slan, and his quest to discover his father's legacy as well as to find others like him, while fleeing from a repressive dictatorship, Slan was both a ground-breaking SF novel, and perhaps the first Young Adult paranormal adventure.

At the opening of the novel, Jommy is just a kid, but, like all slans, can read minds, which helps Jommy survive when slans are hunted and killed by the government. A novel of racial conflict set in a disrupted culture that delivers relentless action, super science, and high adventure.