The Queer Ones - Leigh Brackett

Novelette

Number of words : 15000
Percent of complex words : 5.5
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 11.2



READABILITY INDICES

Fog : 6.7
Flesch : 79.2
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.0



SETTING

Newhale

A small Appalachian town, a county seat near Buckhorn Mountain.


CHARACTERS

Hank Temple

Newhale newspaper owner and alien discoverer.

Doc Callendar

County Health Officer.

Jim Bossert

Young resident doctor at Newhale.

Sally Tate

Mother of hybrid boy.

Billy Tate

Sally's son.

Mrs. Tate

Sally's mother.

Arnek-Bill Jones

Boy's father. From Hrylliannu.

Vadi

Alien girl Hank finds. A chemist. Disagrees with the others on violence.

Ed Betts

Newhale county sheriff.

Croft

Newhale fire marshal.

Jud

Newhale electrician.

Marlin

An alien.



PLACES

Hyriallanu

Alien world.


PLOT

Billy Tate is brought in to Doctor Callender by his mother, Sally, after he is beaten up. They discover he is not human, and he and Henry Temple the local newspaper owner set out to investigate.

The aliens have a nice illegal immigration by spaceship setup going, and the hospital and Callender are destroyed to protect it.

Temple goes armed, and wants to find Sally Tate, meets an alien girl who gives him more of the story, and sees a ship leave, but the sheriff and other locals do not. Sally is gone.


3.5 out of 5