The Halfling - Leigh Brackett

Novelette

Number of words : 10000
Percent of complex words : 4.3
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 10.6


READABILITY INDICES

Fog : 5.9
Flesch : 81.1
Flesch-Kincaid : 4.6


SETTING

California

"It was something pretty special in the line of California sunsets, and it made me feel swell, being the first one I'd seen in about nine years. The pitch was in the flatlands between Culver City and Venice, and I could smell the sea."

CHARACTERS

Jade Greene-John Damien Greene

Carnival proprietor.

Laura Darrow

New dancer tryout and assassin, Callistan cat-person.

Sindi

Martian carnival dancer from the Low Canals.

Laska

Cat-man from Callisto.

Tiny

Venusian deep-jungle man.

Punk

Kid hired by Jade. Actually an Immigration cop.


ORGANISATIONS

Jade Greene's Interplanetary Carnival

"The Wonders of the Seven Worlds Alive Before Your Eyes."


CONCEPTS

Martian getak

Carny game.

Venusian shalil

Carny game.


MEDIA

Enhali's Primitive Venus

Laura's tryout music.


RACES

Venusian lizard-men

Reptilian people with sharp teeth and claws.

Phobos moth-people

Small flyers.

Spider-people

Sticky lasso spinners.

Europans

A couple of Europans with wiry little bodies and a twenty-foot wing-spread were doing Immelmans over the geek top


FOOD

Venusian coffee

Very strong stuff, caffeine-wise.

Jitsi-beans

Mercurian vegetable.

Venusian fruit juice

Squeeze 'em.


ANIMALS

Mercurian cave tiger

A screaming feline, 20 feet long with eight legs and a barbed tail.

Ionian quags

Deep, rusty voiced cats.

Martian sand-cat

Desert feline.

Venusian cat

White tiger-like creature.


PLOT

A woman turns up at the carnival wanting to try out as a dancer. She is amazing, so is hired. Things go to hell as his cat-man goes crazy and dies, and his other dancer is killed. When the punk kid he hired is also killed, he discovers Laura has slipped up and determines she is a killer - tracking down renegade Callistans. She can influence feline animals, and sets a lot of beasts free, forcing Jade to start shooting anything catlike, including Laura.


4 out of 5