What if psychic powers were real, and there was a scientific way to prove someone had them? That's the basic idea behind To Ride Pegasus, a collection of four short stories about how Talented people learned to prove the existence of their abilities and to protect themselves legally. 

Now, let's face it. If the average person suddenly developed psychic abilities, they'd want to have an awful lot of fun with it. So there is a great deal of concern by average, "normal" people about how these Talents could abuse their positions, as well as sheer disbelief despite proof. There's also a lot of legal wrangling to get the Talents protection for when they are using their gifts legitimately. 

The first section focuses on Henry Darrow, a real psychic, but because he forgets one of his own predictions he is in a near-fatal accident that lands him in the hospital, where a "Goosegg's" EEG chart of his brainwaves proves something is happening when he does a forecast. He founds the Parapsychic Center as a place for others with verified Talents, not only psychics, but telepaths, kinetics and teleempaths.

The next sections focus on the legal challenges the Talented face through the early years. Getting legal protection is incredibily challenging, and keeping it isn't easy either. Protection is finally granted for those using their Talents legitimately for the Parapsychic Center. There are wild Talents out there, however, who discover their abilities out of the blue, more or less, and make unacceptable use of them, endangering the rights of more honest Talents.

All in all, I find this a fun read and a good background for the Rowan series. A bit dated, certainly, but nonetheless a good set of stories.