Key feature is an operation called Project Xanadu, to find mutants with mind control powers

Question

The only thing I remember about this novel are the words project, Xanadu.Which I think is the title but haven't had much luck with Worldcat or Google. :'( The main character is a girl with red hair. Part of the blurb or the books says "some want to breed her". It's a book about people who have ESP powers and how they find each other and also are hunted down for this power. I think red hair was an identifying mark of these powered human beings. I think in the end she mindwiped her friend. Thank you!

Answer 1

It made me think of "The Skills of Xanadu", by Theodore Sturgeon. It is not a perfect fit, but a lot of elements are similar.

• The only thing I remember about this novel are the words project, Xanadu

The title contains Xanadu.

• The main character is a girl with red hair.

Well, the main character is actually male, but a secondary character, quite important in the short story, is a woman with red hair, named Nina.

• Part of the blurb or the books says "some want to breed her".

The main character, Bril, wants to get promiscuous with her. I don't remember if he actually sleeps with her.

• It's a book about people who have ESP powers and how they find each other and also are hunted down for this power.

Well, since the people in this story are

actually all mentally connected, it gives the impression in the first two thirds of the short story that they have super powers. When one plays an instrument, others come and can play also, when somebody draws a house, the can all build it at the same time, they all are experts in every topic (since they share their knowledge memories), ...

• I think red hair was an identifying mark of these powered human beings.

We lost a culture once on Xanadu. Didn't you ever wonder, Bril, why there are so few of us here? And why almost all of us have red hair?

• I think in the end she mindwiped her friend.

Well, actually, in the end,

he joins them in the mindhive, so to speak, so you could say he was mindwiped, becauses he loses his individuality.

So, contains Xanadu, and a redhaired people with apparently psychic powers, but they are not really hunted down, and no one wants to breed anyone, and kindof a mind wipe. So it might be a bit too far fetched, but just in case, here it is.

You can read the issue of Galaxy where it appeared on archive.org here.