Purple Priestess Of the Mad Moon - Leigh Brackett

Short Story

Number of words : 6900
Percent of complex words : 8.5
Average syllables per word : 1.5
Average words per sentence : 14.8


READABILITY INDICES

Fog : 9.2973
Flesch : 68.7083
Flesch-Kincaid : 7.3469





CHARACTERS

Harvey Selden

An artifact expert working for the Bureau of Interworld Cultural Relations.

Bentham

Third Officer on the Goddard.

Firsa Mak

A Martian, concerned with the old rituals.

Altman

An Earthman, guest of Mak's.

Mrs Altman

Altman's wife.

Lella

A Martian woman who participates in the old rituals.

Loughlin Herbert

A diplomat who died while looking into the Mad Moon ritual.


VEHICLES

TSS Goddard

An observation ship.


PLACES

Kahora

Martian city, growing. Now an eight-domed administrative centre of the planet.

Triangle

Part of Kahora, representing the Three Worlds.

Vashna

Martian moon. Also called Deimos.

Denderon

Martian moon. Also called Phobos, and the Mad Moon in certain phases.

N'York

Earth city.

Jekkara

Martian city.

Valkis

Martian city.

Low Canals

An area of Mars these cities are in.



CONCEPT

Umbrella Treaty

Old Martian corruptible agreement.

High Martian

Martian dialect.

Low Martian

Martian dialect.

Purple Priestess

Ancient servant of a Dark Lord, and not so ancient, as it turns out.



ORGANISATIONS

Bureau of Interworld Cultural Relations

Selden's employer, concerned with the arts on various planets.

World Government of Terra

Earth political body at the time of the Umbrella Treaty.

Martian Federation of City-States

Martian political body at the time of the Umbrella Treaty. Broke.

Khalide Kings of Jekkara

Two thousand years ago, their Seventeenth Dynasty. Lella has jewellery from that time.




PLOT

Selden goes down to Mars from an observation ship, and visit Mak's house with Bentham. He meets a woman Lella, of a type he has not seen before. From there he is shanghaied into observing the Purple Priestess Mad Moon ritual and isn't able to cope, but survives. The others want him to tell the Bureau, but he runs for Earth instead, into therapy. However, at the end a communique arrives from Lella, saying she is waiting for him at the next ritual.


3.5 out of 5