The Citadel Of Lost Ships - Leigh Brackett

Novelette

Number of words : 12000
Percent of complex words : 6.2
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 9.3


READABILITY INDICES

Fog : 6.2
Flesch : 78.8
Flesch-Kincaid : 4.6



SETTING

Kraylen tribe

Dwindling group of Venusian natives.

Romany settlement

Dwelling for a group of outsiders. Live by a code of helping those who ask for it.


CHARACTERS

Roy Campbell-Thomas Black

Well-known wanted criminal, hides out with the Kraylens and the Romany.

Kraylens

Venusian tribe leader.

Tredrick

Romany Terran overchief.

Eran Mak

Chief Councilor.

Marah

Man with a hook.

Zard

A Romany.

Old Ekla

Romany elder.

Stella Moore

Romany leader.


PLANTS

Liha trees

Venusian tree.


ORGANISATIONS

Spaceguard

Coalition law-enforcement. After Roy Campbell.

Terra-Venusian Coalition Government

Settlement government.



CONCEPTS

Latnik

Someone who is not Romany.


PLACES

Tehara Province

Venusian area.

Lhi

Frontier town in Tehara Province.

Polar Cities

Of Mars.

Kesh

Martian city.

Balakar

Martian city.

Tamboian

Martian city.

Wells of Tamboina

Martian water source.

Martian Mak's

Old trade market in Lhi.

Lhi

Venusian city.


TECHNOLOGY

Needle-gun

Hand weapon.

Infra-beam

Detectors on ships.


VEHICLE

Fitts-Sothern

Small flying craft.

Black Star

Campbell's Fitts-Sothern.

Krub

Type of freighter.



RACES

Drylanders

Martian people.

Shenyat

Ganymede people.

Taxil

Mercurian backwater people.

Baraki

Titanian telekinetic cave dwellers.

Callistans

"Beyond her was a thin, small man with four arms. He wore no clothing but his
own white fur and his head was crowned with feathery antennae. Even in the blue night the antennae and the man's eyes burned living scarlet."


PLOT

Roy Campbell is on the run from the coalition spaceguard, but the Kraylen tribe have little in the way of resources left to hide him as in the past. In fact, they need help. Campbell ends up travelling to the Romany to see if he can find some. They have their own conflicts - those who are traditional, and those who want change and to become more mainstream with money and power. Harboring a criminal has repercussion. The Romany, as with their planet-bound namesakes are a persecuted group. Campbell decides he can better use his infamy by going elsewhere to highlight their plight.


4 out of 5