On Superpowers

Ask a person what superpower they want the most and odds are better than 50-50 they'll say to fly. Good contenders are also "Superman" and "Wolverine," but these people don't really understand the concept. "Telekinesis" is also popular.

But for years I've said that I would much prefer Kitty Pryde's power, and it's not just because she's an adorable auburn-haired child prodigy who celebrates Chanukah. No, Shadowcat's power is the ability to phase her molecules through the empty space in other molecules. She can walk through solid matter.

More interestingly, by phasing only most of her atoms and leaving a few on the bottom where they are she can effectively walk up and down through matter without falling to the center of the Earth like one would naturally conclude she should.

And yet suddenly I find myself being more creative. Mind reading seems increasingly handy, if not bothersome. Perhaps if it were scaled back to something relatively inconsequential.

If you could have any superpower that has never before appeared in any fiction you are remotely aware of, what would it be?

Personally, I think I would go with some kind of specific psychometry like the guy from Stephen King's Dead Zone, except instead of seeing stuff about any item I touch I would exclusively see, at will mind you, whatever the person I'm touching was thinking about the last time they masturbated.

Honestly, I can see a lot of places where that goes wrong but I can also see a bunh of places where that could go horribly right.