Starlog Interview: Leigh Brackett, Writer of Two Worlds
Swires, Steve
Starlog 115: 20-22, 58. February 1987.
Unseen - but possible reprint?
Showing posts with label interstellar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interstellar. Show all posts
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Journeyman Plumber - Leigh Brackett
Interview largely about film work available online as part of this book :-
4 out of 5
http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft0z09n7m0&chunk.id=d0e1020&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=ucpress
4 out of 5
http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft0z09n7m0&chunk.id=d0e1020&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=ucpress
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Is There Intelligent Life In Kinsman Ohio - Joe Walders
In Cleveland magazine. Includes a little on Bradbury.
Unseen.
Unseen.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett
Novella
Number of words : 21000
Percent of complex words : 7.1
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 10.6
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 7.1
Flesch : 76.2
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.3
SETTING
Pax
Capital of Galactic Center
The Hub
Major city there.
Senya Dik
Sister planet to Nanta Dik, in Sector 9G.
CHARACTERS
Lloyd Durham
An ex-agent and current drunk.
Hawtree
An administrator in charge, uses his influence to prevent Dik requests to the Federation getting heard.
Susan Hawtree
His daughter, and a love of Durham's, involved in the accident that wrecked his career.
Morrison
Hawtree's parter, who oversees Universal Mineral operations in Sector 9G.
Baya
Durham's Mintakan girlfriend.
Willa Paulsen
Durham's ex-fiancee.
Varnik
A dodgy joint proprietor in on trying to set Durham up with Baya.
Wanbecq-ai
Female Nantavan agent out to get Durham.
Wanbecq
Her male partner.
Jubb
Ruler of Senya Dik.
Karlovic
Terran consul in league with Jubb, wanting to get evidence against Hawtree.
TECHNOLOGY
Servall
Robot domestics. Durham and Hawtree had them, the models differ.
Bitter Star
A created being that is an energy absorber, sucking in all around it until things freeze.
PLACES
Mintaka
A star.
Nanta Dik
World in Sector 9G where Durham's mission takes him.
VEHICLES
Margaretta K
Ship to Nanta Dik Durham has been booked for.
Varney
A tug of Morrison's.
RACES
Senyans
People of Senya Dik. Have four legs.
Nantans
People of Nanta Dik.
Darkbirds
Senyan aliens able to go insubstantial and stun on contact, they are not made of matter, and are a creation.
ORGANISATIONS
Universal Minerals
Rapacious mining company basically looting the Sector, with Hawtree providing the interference.
Federation
Political organisation of worlds in the galaxy.
PLOT
Lloyd Durham is a broken down ex-agent on Galactic Center, living with little in a cheap apartment, having blown his job and his fiancee, and a possible relationship with the woman he really loves thanks to a vehicular accident. Susan Hawtree is the daughter of a high ranking diplomat, who summons Durham for a mission. This lands him in the middle of something very serious.
First, Nantavan agents are after him, and then Senyan darkbirds - and Susan gets in the middle when she comes to say goodbye to him, little realising he isn't going home, but on a mission for her father. Nanta Dik and Senya Dik are the two inhabited worlds in Sector 9G.
Unknown to Durham he was supposed to get drunk and blab his mission, helping to start a war between the two worlds. This would be to the advantage of Universal Minerals, a mining company run by Morrison, with Hawtree as his partner running diplomatic interference and allowing him to get away with anything. The two Dik worlds have been in conflict in the past, so are manipulable.
Durham takes his mission seriously, and when he works it out thanks to talking with the Nantavan agents, and the Senyan leader he realises he should flip, and try and hang his boss and partner, and hopefully keep Susan alive. The Senyan planet is problematic in that they are not oxygen breathers.
One of the angles that Morrison had taken was rumours about a destructive force that legend said had terrorised the Nantavans in the past. Little does Morrison know that this is real, and the leader of the Senyans knows how to control it. Or hope he does. Because it is one giant energy drain, leaving those it affects frozen - and it can devastate planets.
With Morrison's agents and men able to provoke armed conflicts between Senyans of different sympathies. The Terran consul Karlovic, who has been working with the Senyans to try and work out who was the dodgy diplomat preventing their requests for aid from the Federation, must work with Durham. Their only choice now is to appeal to Jubb to unleash the Bitter Star, as the only thing that can stop Morrison. Before their air runs out. Of course, it may also destroy everything if they get it wrong and the darkbirds can't or won't control it.
4.5 out of 5
Number of words : 21000
Percent of complex words : 7.1
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 10.6
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 7.1
Flesch : 76.2
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.3
SETTING
Pax
Capital of Galactic Center
The Hub
Major city there.
Senya Dik
Sister planet to Nanta Dik, in Sector 9G.
CHARACTERS
Lloyd Durham
An ex-agent and current drunk.
Hawtree
An administrator in charge, uses his influence to prevent Dik requests to the Federation getting heard.
Susan Hawtree
His daughter, and a love of Durham's, involved in the accident that wrecked his career.
Morrison
Hawtree's parter, who oversees Universal Mineral operations in Sector 9G.
Baya
Durham's Mintakan girlfriend.
Willa Paulsen
Durham's ex-fiancee.
Varnik
A dodgy joint proprietor in on trying to set Durham up with Baya.
Wanbecq-ai
Female Nantavan agent out to get Durham.
Wanbecq
Her male partner.
Jubb
Ruler of Senya Dik.
Karlovic
Terran consul in league with Jubb, wanting to get evidence against Hawtree.
TECHNOLOGY
Servall
Robot domestics. Durham and Hawtree had them, the models differ.
Bitter Star
A created being that is an energy absorber, sucking in all around it until things freeze.
PLACES
Mintaka
A star.
Nanta Dik
World in Sector 9G where Durham's mission takes him.
VEHICLES
Margaretta K
Ship to Nanta Dik Durham has been booked for.
Varney
A tug of Morrison's.
RACES
Senyans
People of Senya Dik. Have four legs.
Nantans
People of Nanta Dik.
Darkbirds
Senyan aliens able to go insubstantial and stun on contact, they are not made of matter, and are a creation.
ORGANISATIONS
Universal Minerals
Rapacious mining company basically looting the Sector, with Hawtree providing the interference.
Federation
Political organisation of worlds in the galaxy.
PLOT
Lloyd Durham is a broken down ex-agent on Galactic Center, living with little in a cheap apartment, having blown his job and his fiancee, and a possible relationship with the woman he really loves thanks to a vehicular accident. Susan Hawtree is the daughter of a high ranking diplomat, who summons Durham for a mission. This lands him in the middle of something very serious.
First, Nantavan agents are after him, and then Senyan darkbirds - and Susan gets in the middle when she comes to say goodbye to him, little realising he isn't going home, but on a mission for her father. Nanta Dik and Senya Dik are the two inhabited worlds in Sector 9G.
Unknown to Durham he was supposed to get drunk and blab his mission, helping to start a war between the two worlds. This would be to the advantage of Universal Minerals, a mining company run by Morrison, with Hawtree as his partner running diplomatic interference and allowing him to get away with anything. The two Dik worlds have been in conflict in the past, so are manipulable.
Durham takes his mission seriously, and when he works it out thanks to talking with the Nantavan agents, and the Senyan leader he realises he should flip, and try and hang his boss and partner, and hopefully keep Susan alive. The Senyan planet is problematic in that they are not oxygen breathers.
One of the angles that Morrison had taken was rumours about a destructive force that legend said had terrorised the Nantavans in the past. Little does Morrison know that this is real, and the leader of the Senyans knows how to control it. Or hope he does. Because it is one giant energy drain, leaving those it affects frozen - and it can devastate planets.
With Morrison's agents and men able to provoke armed conflicts between Senyans of different sympathies. The Terran consul Karlovic, who has been working with the Senyans to try and work out who was the dodgy diplomat preventing their requests for aid from the Federation, must work with Durham. Their only choice now is to appeal to Jubb to unleash the Bitter Star, as the only thing that can stop Morrison. Before their air runs out. Of course, it may also destroy everything if they get it wrong and the darkbirds can't or won't control it.
4.5 out of 5
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Alpha Centauri Or Die! - Leigh Brackett
Novel
Number of words : 40000
Percent of complex words : 7.0
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 11.0
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 7.2059
Flesch : 76.7072
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.2864
: Alpha Centauri Or Die - Leigh Brackett
SETTING
Kahora
Martian Trade City.
Alpha Centauri
Destination for those not liking the restrictions
CHARACTERS
Phil Kirby
A widower, now with a Martian. Head escapee.
Wilson
Sally's husband and Kirby's co-conspirator.
Harry March
Brother-in-law of Kirby, Divisional superintendent and his boss. A government man.
Shari
Kirby's partner, she is Martian. Minor telepath.
Hockley
Fellow escapee.
Pop Barstow
Fellow escapee, experienced.
Sally Wilson
Objector to leaving.
Joe Zimmerman
Passenger.
Joe Marapese
Young man acts as co-pilot in the escape.
Krejewski
Ship builder.
Mrs Krejewski
His wife.
Weiss
Junior assistant in the Cybernetic Division
Fenner
The radioman.
VEHICLES
R-Ships
Ships flown without humans.
R-40
Heavy freighters.
R-10
Mixed carriers.
R-3
Planetary patrol ships.
Lucy B. Davenport
The ship Kirby and the others escape in.
TECHNOLOGY
RSS-1
A probe.
ORGANISATIONS
Pax Terrae
Government organisation.
MEDIA
Trade Stabilization
Legislative act.
Population Stabilization
Legislative act.
Crop Stabilization
Legislative act.
PLACES
King City
Ancient Martian area.
CONCEPTS
High Martian
A language.
Low Martian
A language.
ANIMALS
Espees
Animals with teleportation abilities: "They can shift atoms," Shari said. "They can hold the unstable ones so that there is no emission of particles. In fact, they have complete mental control over matter, and they can do all these things
singly or as a group with enormous potential. And in this way they feed themselves and repel their enemies and keep their wallows at just the right temperature, all without the slightest effort. It isn't fair! Men have labored so hard for thousands of years to learn just a little of what these creatures are born with but never understand!"
PLOT
Phil Kirby and other are sick of not being allowed to space travel, and decide to do something about it by taking a ship and leaving, even if it means taking some people against their will. It is a several year voyage to Alpha Centauri, and even then the robot ships may be able to find them. What they did not bank on was finding native lifeforms with immense mental powers.
3.5 out of 5
Number of words : 40000
Percent of complex words : 7.0
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 11.0
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 7.2059
Flesch : 76.7072
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.2864
: Alpha Centauri Or Die - Leigh Brackett
SETTING
Kahora
Martian Trade City.
Alpha Centauri
Destination for those not liking the restrictions
CHARACTERS
Phil Kirby
A widower, now with a Martian. Head escapee.
Wilson
Sally's husband and Kirby's co-conspirator.
Harry March
Brother-in-law of Kirby, Divisional superintendent and his boss. A government man.
Shari
Kirby's partner, she is Martian. Minor telepath.
Hockley
Fellow escapee.
Pop Barstow
Fellow escapee, experienced.
Sally Wilson
Objector to leaving.
Joe Zimmerman
Passenger.
Joe Marapese
Young man acts as co-pilot in the escape.
Krejewski
Ship builder.
Mrs Krejewski
His wife.
Weiss
Junior assistant in the Cybernetic Division
Fenner
The radioman.
VEHICLES
R-Ships
Ships flown without humans.
R-40
Heavy freighters.
R-10
Mixed carriers.
R-3
Planetary patrol ships.
Lucy B. Davenport
The ship Kirby and the others escape in.
TECHNOLOGY
RSS-1
A probe.
ORGANISATIONS
Pax Terrae
Government organisation.
MEDIA
Trade Stabilization
Legislative act.
Population Stabilization
Legislative act.
Crop Stabilization
Legislative act.
PLACES
King City
Ancient Martian area.
CONCEPTS
High Martian
A language.
Low Martian
A language.
ANIMALS
Espees
Animals with teleportation abilities: "They can shift atoms," Shari said. "They can hold the unstable ones so that there is no emission of particles. In fact, they have complete mental control over matter, and they can do all these things
singly or as a group with enormous potential. And in this way they feed themselves and repel their enemies and keep their wallows at just the right temperature, all without the slightest effort. It isn't fair! Men have labored so hard for thousands of years to learn just a little of what these creatures are born with but never understand!"
PLOT
Phil Kirby and other are sick of not being allowed to space travel, and decide to do something about it by taking a ship and leaving, even if it means taking some people against their will. It is a several year voyage to Alpha Centauri, and even then the robot ships may be able to find them. What they did not bank on was finding native lifeforms with immense mental powers.
3.5 out of 5
Sunday, December 20, 2009
The Woman From Altair - Leigh Brackett
Novelette
Number of words : 12000
Percent of complex words : 7.0
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 12.1
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 7.7
Flesch : 76.6
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.6
SETTING
McQuarrie Place
A large, old, expensive house in the New York area.
CHARACTERS
Rafe McQuarrie
The non-spacer brother. Their business manager.
David McQuarrie
Returning starship captain.
Bet McQuarrie
David and Rafe's kid sister.
Ahrian
David's alien wife, from Altair II.
Miss Lewisham
David's fiancee.
Marthe Walter
Old school friend of Bet's. Artist, and becomes Rafe's fiancee.
Griffith
Another spacer.
PLACES
Pleiades
Star constellation the Anson McQuarrie travelled to.
VEHICLES
Anson McQuarrie
The family starship.
ANIMALS
Buck
Rafe McQuarraie's large dog.
Hazel
Bet's old mare.
CONCEPTS
One-Making
Altair II marriage ritual.
PLOT
David McQuarrie comes back from an interstellar mission, surprising his fiancee by bringing an alien wife. She moves into the household. His brother Rafe is the protagonist, and soon after has his own fiancee, a woman from their school days who turns up at the homecoming.
Things turn strange as animals go crazy, killing their younger sister Bet, and almost claiming others. Rafe and Marthe work out Ahrian has the ability to cause this to happen - telepathic talents enhanced by jewellery focuses she has been making as gifts. The pair decide to stop her, but have to deal with her husband and the reason why she has been attacking.
3.5 out of 5
Number of words : 12000
Percent of complex words : 7.0
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 12.1
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 7.7
Flesch : 76.6
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.6
SETTING
McQuarrie Place
A large, old, expensive house in the New York area.
CHARACTERS
Rafe McQuarrie
The non-spacer brother. Their business manager.
David McQuarrie
Returning starship captain.
Bet McQuarrie
David and Rafe's kid sister.
Ahrian
David's alien wife, from Altair II.
Miss Lewisham
David's fiancee.
Marthe Walter
Old school friend of Bet's. Artist, and becomes Rafe's fiancee.
Griffith
Another spacer.
PLACES
Pleiades
Star constellation the Anson McQuarrie travelled to.
VEHICLES
Anson McQuarrie
The family starship.
ANIMALS
Buck
Rafe McQuarraie's large dog.
Hazel
Bet's old mare.
CONCEPTS
One-Making
Altair II marriage ritual.
PLOT
David McQuarrie comes back from an interstellar mission, surprising his fiancee by bringing an alien wife. She moves into the household. His brother Rafe is the protagonist, and soon after has his own fiancee, a woman from their school days who turns up at the homecoming.
Things turn strange as animals go crazy, killing their younger sister Bet, and almost claiming others. Rafe and Marthe work out Ahrian has the ability to cause this to happen - telepathic talents enhanced by jewellery focuses she has been making as gifts. The pair decide to stop her, but have to deal with her husband and the reason why she has been attacking.
3.5 out of 5
The Starmen Of Lyrdis - Leigh Brackett
Novel
Number of words : 60000
Percent of complex words : 7.0
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 11.6
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 7.5
Flesch : 75.3
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.6
SETTING
Cornwall
Michael Trehearne is discovered here by the Vardda, at a bonfire festival.
Lyrdis
"Llyrdis is our home world, the fourth planet of the star you call Aldebaran."
Silver Tower
Shairn's family home on Lyrdis.
Hercules Cluster
Trehearne's first trade mission and trouble is to here.
Keregnac
Small town in Cornwall, Varddan base.
Thuvis
Varddan exile world.
CHARACTERS
Michael Trehearne
An Earthman of Varddan descent. "Even," said Edri gently, "for a Vardda. Trehearne, we're alone in the galaxy. Generations ago our race was founded by a man named Orthis, whose system of controlled mutation made us what we are, the
Vardda—the Starmen. It's a difference, a condition of the flesh. With us there is no doubt. With you—your blood is mixed. But you're a throwback in every other way. The mutation may have bred true, also."
Kerrel
An older Vardda man in Cornwall. A Council agent.
Shairn
A Vardda woman in Cornwall. Falls for Trehearne, and vice versa. A conservative.
Edri
A Vardda man in Cornwall, and Orthist.
Joris
Vardda on Lyrdis. Secret Orthist.
Arrin
An Orthist leader, banished to Thuvis.
Yann
Radar crew on the Saaga. Kerrel's hired killer.
Perri
Low man in the generator room on the Saaga.
Rohan
Astrogation-Computer Technician, Second Class.
Quorn
Communications officer on the rescue ship.
Weizsacker
An Earthman with a theory. He advanced the idea that most stars have planets.
Kurat
A hunter with dogs.
Torin
Boy who saves Trehearne, but stows away on the Saarga.
Orthis
Varddan rebel original, opposed Varddan monopoly control of spaceflight.
Lankar
One of the last pursuers of Orthis.
Ristin
Varddan Councillor.
RACES
Vardda
"I know it must have, but I don't believe it." Trehearne shook his head. "Of all the incredible…
What were you doing there, Edri? How can you come and go on Earth without anyone knowing? What are the Vardda, besides—well, mutants?"
"Trailers. Merchants. The most commercial race in the galaxy." Edri lifted the cover off a tray on a small table by the bunk. "I brought your breakfast. Go ahead and eat while I gabble. How we come and go is fairly simple. We land at odd intervals, here and there in the waste spaces of which Earth has a number. We do our business, and after a while are picked up again. As I told you before, we're exceedingly careful, and the fact that hardly anyone on Earth would believe the truth if they were told it is a protection. Of course, trading in secret that way, we're limited in what we can take, and Earth exports—the genuine articles and not mere copies —command very high prices. You'd be
amazed at the value of French perfumes, Scotch whiskey, and American films on planets you never heard of."
"Do you trade with them all in secret?"
"Good Lord, no! Most worlds, even the very primitive ones, we can deal with quite openly. They might not like us, but they benefit enormously from our commerce."
"Then why not Earth?"
"Well," said Edri, "I don't like to offend your sensibilities as a native of the place, but Earth is a crazy planet. Oh, it's not the only one. There's a number of them scattered about, and we avoid open contact with all of them. You see, Trehearne, most worlds develop, or remain undeveloped, more or less homogeneously in the matter of civilization. I don't mean they're entirely peaceful, because they're not, but in the long run their populations are more predictable, more stable than on the Earth-type worlds that have grown up all out of joint. You know what I mean—on one side of the world atomic power, on the other the wooden plough and the blowgun. Too big a gap, and it makes trouble
all down the line. Now, a primitive society regards war as a sport and takes an honest pleasure in it. A society in a high state of culture regards it as something outgrown and obsolete as hunting game for food. Everybody knows where they are. But when you get a world with great big overlapping mobs of population, every one of them in a different stage of cultural development and every one of them subject to a constant bombardment of outside stimuli they can't assimilate, you have got a mixture that keeps exploding in all directions. We have a healthy desire not to get blown up, and besides, it's impossible to establish any profitable trade with a world continually torn by wars.
So—does that answer your question?"
"I take it," Trehearne said sourly, "that the Vardda don't think much of Earth."
"It's a good world. It'll settle down some day. Nobody can fight forever. They either knock themselves back into barbarism again, or they grow up."
Suumis
"See those black-skinned, hawk-nosed chaps with the bronze wings?"
Zaard
"That little bluish fellow is a merchant-prince from Zaard, the outermost planet. See his diamond caste-mark?"
ORGANISATIONS
Vardda Council
Tasked with controlling Varddan bloodlines and rules.
Orthist Party
Varddan opposition. "Long after Orthis disappeared, one of the life-skiffs of his ship was picked up in space. There was nothing in it but a message, painted in big letters on the walls. It was addressed to his enemies, and it said, 'You have not destroyed me. The peoples of the Galaxy will yet be given the freedom of the stars.' You understand? There was still hope, from the Orthist point of view."
Hedarin
"The lawgivers. The wise men. The speakers of the last word." Parapsychics of Saarga.
PLACES
Antares
A star.
Fomalhaut
A star.
Algol
A star.
Omega Centauri
A bad trip.
VEHICLES
Saarga
Joris' ship.
Mirzim
Ship taken to Thuvis for the rescue.
MEDIA
Vardda Trade Laws
Manual of rules.
TECHNOLOGY
Cosmotron
Varddan ship generator.
3.5 out of 5
Number of words : 60000
Percent of complex words : 7.0
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 11.6
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 7.5
Flesch : 75.3
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.6
SETTING
Cornwall
Michael Trehearne is discovered here by the Vardda, at a bonfire festival.
Lyrdis
"Llyrdis is our home world, the fourth planet of the star you call Aldebaran."
Silver Tower
Shairn's family home on Lyrdis.
Hercules Cluster
Trehearne's first trade mission and trouble is to here.
Keregnac
Small town in Cornwall, Varddan base.
Thuvis
Varddan exile world.
CHARACTERS
Michael Trehearne
An Earthman of Varddan descent. "Even," said Edri gently, "for a Vardda. Trehearne, we're alone in the galaxy. Generations ago our race was founded by a man named Orthis, whose system of controlled mutation made us what we are, the
Vardda—the Starmen. It's a difference, a condition of the flesh. With us there is no doubt. With you—your blood is mixed. But you're a throwback in every other way. The mutation may have bred true, also."
Kerrel
An older Vardda man in Cornwall. A Council agent.
Shairn
A Vardda woman in Cornwall. Falls for Trehearne, and vice versa. A conservative.
Edri
A Vardda man in Cornwall, and Orthist.
Joris
Vardda on Lyrdis. Secret Orthist.
Arrin
An Orthist leader, banished to Thuvis.
Yann
Radar crew on the Saaga. Kerrel's hired killer.
Perri
Low man in the generator room on the Saaga.
Rohan
Astrogation-Computer Technician, Second Class.
Quorn
Communications officer on the rescue ship.
Weizsacker
An Earthman with a theory. He advanced the idea that most stars have planets.
Kurat
A hunter with dogs.
Torin
Boy who saves Trehearne, but stows away on the Saarga.
Orthis
Varddan rebel original, opposed Varddan monopoly control of spaceflight.
Lankar
One of the last pursuers of Orthis.
Ristin
Varddan Councillor.
RACES
Vardda
"I know it must have, but I don't believe it." Trehearne shook his head. "Of all the incredible…
What were you doing there, Edri? How can you come and go on Earth without anyone knowing? What are the Vardda, besides—well, mutants?"
"Trailers. Merchants. The most commercial race in the galaxy." Edri lifted the cover off a tray on a small table by the bunk. "I brought your breakfast. Go ahead and eat while I gabble. How we come and go is fairly simple. We land at odd intervals, here and there in the waste spaces of which Earth has a number. We do our business, and after a while are picked up again. As I told you before, we're exceedingly careful, and the fact that hardly anyone on Earth would believe the truth if they were told it is a protection. Of course, trading in secret that way, we're limited in what we can take, and Earth exports—the genuine articles and not mere copies —command very high prices. You'd be
amazed at the value of French perfumes, Scotch whiskey, and American films on planets you never heard of."
"Do you trade with them all in secret?"
"Good Lord, no! Most worlds, even the very primitive ones, we can deal with quite openly. They might not like us, but they benefit enormously from our commerce."
"Then why not Earth?"
"Well," said Edri, "I don't like to offend your sensibilities as a native of the place, but Earth is a crazy planet. Oh, it's not the only one. There's a number of them scattered about, and we avoid open contact with all of them. You see, Trehearne, most worlds develop, or remain undeveloped, more or less homogeneously in the matter of civilization. I don't mean they're entirely peaceful, because they're not, but in the long run their populations are more predictable, more stable than on the Earth-type worlds that have grown up all out of joint. You know what I mean—on one side of the world atomic power, on the other the wooden plough and the blowgun. Too big a gap, and it makes trouble
all down the line. Now, a primitive society regards war as a sport and takes an honest pleasure in it. A society in a high state of culture regards it as something outgrown and obsolete as hunting game for food. Everybody knows where they are. But when you get a world with great big overlapping mobs of population, every one of them in a different stage of cultural development and every one of them subject to a constant bombardment of outside stimuli they can't assimilate, you have got a mixture that keeps exploding in all directions. We have a healthy desire not to get blown up, and besides, it's impossible to establish any profitable trade with a world continually torn by wars.
So—does that answer your question?"
"I take it," Trehearne said sourly, "that the Vardda don't think much of Earth."
"It's a good world. It'll settle down some day. Nobody can fight forever. They either knock themselves back into barbarism again, or they grow up."
Suumis
"See those black-skinned, hawk-nosed chaps with the bronze wings?"
Zaard
"That little bluish fellow is a merchant-prince from Zaard, the outermost planet. See his diamond caste-mark?"
ORGANISATIONS
Vardda Council
Tasked with controlling Varddan bloodlines and rules.
Orthist Party
Varddan opposition. "Long after Orthis disappeared, one of the life-skiffs of his ship was picked up in space. There was nothing in it but a message, painted in big letters on the walls. It was addressed to his enemies, and it said, 'You have not destroyed me. The peoples of the Galaxy will yet be given the freedom of the stars.' You understand? There was still hope, from the Orthist point of view."
Hedarin
"The lawgivers. The wise men. The speakers of the last word." Parapsychics of Saarga.
PLACES
Antares
A star.
Fomalhaut
A star.
Algol
A star.
Omega Centauri
A bad trip.
VEHICLES
Saarga
Joris' ship.
Mirzim
Ship taken to Thuvis for the rescue.
MEDIA
Vardda Trade Laws
Manual of rules.
TECHNOLOGY
Cosmotron
Varddan ship generator.
3.5 out of 5
The Big Jump - Leigh Brackett
Novel
Number of words : 40000
Percent of complex words : 6.4
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 10.8
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 6.9
Flesch : 78.0
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.1
: The Big Jump - Leigh Brackett
SETTING
Mars
Planet of the Solar System with many shipping lines having bases there.
Luna
Earth's satellite.
New York
USA City.
Barnard's Star
Site chosen for interstellar test, not being sure of Alpha and Proxima Centauri.
Barnard II
Planet of the Transuranae.
CHARACTERS
Arch Comyn
Discovers what is going on with the Cochrane's project, and goes with the ship after avoiding an assassination attempt. Falls for Sydna Cochrane.
Sydna Cochrane
Granddaughter and sister and cousin and interested in Comyn. A woman that can handle herself, but not too keen on spaceships.
Will Stanley
Married into the family, husband of Sydna's cousin. A louse.
Peter Cochrane
Runs the company, brother of Sydna and grandson of Jonas.
Ballantyne
Drive inventor makes The Big Jump possible. Comes back from the Transuranae mission a walking dead man.
Paul Rogers
Astrophysicist on Ballantyne's ship. Friend of Comyn.
---
Vickrey
Also on Ballantyne's ship, stays at Barnard II.
Strang
Also on Ballantyne's ship, stays at Barnard II.
Kessel
Also on Ballantyne's ship, stays at Barnard II.
Dubman
Provides Comyn information of transuranic elements.
Jonas Cochrane
Corporation president and Cochrane patriarch.
Simon Cochrane
Another of the younger Cochrane generation, travels on the second trip to Barnard II.
Sally Cochrane
The Aunt.
George Cochrane
The uncle and lawyer.
Johnny
Sydna's escort. Jealous of losing her to Comyn.
Hannay
Security for the Cochranes.
Nielsen
Cochrane engineer.
Felder
Cochrane engineer.
Claudia
Cochrane cousin, wife of Stanley.
Bridget
Girl of Simon's.
Washburn
Ex-employee, attacks a Cochrane party.
Doctor French
Physician on ship.
Roth
Ship engineer on mission.
CONCEPTS
The Big Jump
Term for making the successful leap to interstellar space and back.
Groom's Theory
Principle used for the Ballantyne drive: "Groom's theory, on which Ballantyne built his drive, was that the so-called light-speed barrier was real, and that matter achieving faster-than-light velocities would shift into another
plane of atomic vibration, or matter-state, creating a closed vacuum in the continuum in which energy could be neither gained nor lost. Hence, the mass-propulsion field, the ship feeding onitself, as it were, using the kinetic energy stored up in the original acceleration. The drive works, but whether or not that proves the theory, we don't know. There's a very interesting
distortion of time ...""
RACES
The Transuranae
"They weren't things. They were life, a form of life inconceivable except among the alien elements of a transuranic world. Life, I think, seated in linkages of energy between atoms infinitely more complex than uranium. Life, self-sufficient, perhaps coeval with our universe, and able to impregnate our cruder, simpler tissues with its own transuranic chemistry ..."
Comyn thought again of what Vickrey had said: the fountainhead, the beginning.
Someone said grimly, "I know one thing: no one's getting me back there, for anything."
Peter Cochrane said, "Relax. Nobody's going back to Barnard II." Note story The Shadows.
Others came from fifth planet of Barnard's star, of eight to this planet of the Transuranae on Barnard II and were changed, and didn't make it. A whole spacefaring civilisation.
ORGANISATIONS
Cochrane Company
Transport and spaceship building company. A family dynasty.
Inter-World Engineering
Comyn's old employer.
United Tradelines
Rival spaceship company.
TECHNOLOGY
Ballantyne drive
Breakthrough propulsion for interstellar travel, named after the inventor.
PLOT
The Cochrane company wants to get the jump on The Big Jump to interstellar space, and make lots of money. There's a slight problem with their first trip to Barnard II though. The Ballantyne drive works, but what they found on the planet destroys people.
Arch Comyn, also in the industry but quit his old company was friends with Paul Rogers, astrophysicist on Ballantyne's ship and mission to Barnard II. He wants to find out what happen, and his nosing around has Cochrane in-law sending people to try and kill him. Comy meets and fancies Sydna Cochrane in the process, and her old boyfriend, now on the outs gets killed in an attempt on Comyn.
Stanley's weaselness comes out on the ship, discovered by Peter and Simon Cochrane and the others, including Comyn.
At Barnard II. A strange race known as the Transuranae seduces people into staying, and slowly destroys them, too much exposure leaving people the walking dead, like Ballantyne.
The C's all return, rather disappointing tycoon grandfather with the news, but not Sydna.
3.5 out of 5
Number of words : 40000
Percent of complex words : 6.4
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 10.8
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 6.9
Flesch : 78.0
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.1
: The Big Jump - Leigh Brackett
SETTING
Mars
Planet of the Solar System with many shipping lines having bases there.
Luna
Earth's satellite.
New York
USA City.
Barnard's Star
Site chosen for interstellar test, not being sure of Alpha and Proxima Centauri.
Barnard II
Planet of the Transuranae.
CHARACTERS
Arch Comyn
Discovers what is going on with the Cochrane's project, and goes with the ship after avoiding an assassination attempt. Falls for Sydna Cochrane.
Sydna Cochrane
Granddaughter and sister and cousin and interested in Comyn. A woman that can handle herself, but not too keen on spaceships.
Will Stanley
Married into the family, husband of Sydna's cousin. A louse.
Peter Cochrane
Runs the company, brother of Sydna and grandson of Jonas.
Ballantyne
Drive inventor makes The Big Jump possible. Comes back from the Transuranae mission a walking dead man.
Paul Rogers
Astrophysicist on Ballantyne's ship. Friend of Comyn.
---
Vickrey
Also on Ballantyne's ship, stays at Barnard II.
Strang
Also on Ballantyne's ship, stays at Barnard II.
Kessel
Also on Ballantyne's ship, stays at Barnard II.
Dubman
Provides Comyn information of transuranic elements.
Jonas Cochrane
Corporation president and Cochrane patriarch.
Simon Cochrane
Another of the younger Cochrane generation, travels on the second trip to Barnard II.
Sally Cochrane
The Aunt.
George Cochrane
The uncle and lawyer.
Johnny
Sydna's escort. Jealous of losing her to Comyn.
Hannay
Security for the Cochranes.
Nielsen
Cochrane engineer.
Felder
Cochrane engineer.
Claudia
Cochrane cousin, wife of Stanley.
Bridget
Girl of Simon's.
Washburn
Ex-employee, attacks a Cochrane party.
Doctor French
Physician on ship.
Roth
Ship engineer on mission.
CONCEPTS
The Big Jump
Term for making the successful leap to interstellar space and back.
Groom's Theory
Principle used for the Ballantyne drive: "Groom's theory, on which Ballantyne built his drive, was that the so-called light-speed barrier was real, and that matter achieving faster-than-light velocities would shift into another
plane of atomic vibration, or matter-state, creating a closed vacuum in the continuum in which energy could be neither gained nor lost. Hence, the mass-propulsion field, the ship feeding onitself, as it were, using the kinetic energy stored up in the original acceleration. The drive works, but whether or not that proves the theory, we don't know. There's a very interesting
distortion of time ...""
RACES
The Transuranae
"They weren't things. They were life, a form of life inconceivable except among the alien elements of a transuranic world. Life, I think, seated in linkages of energy between atoms infinitely more complex than uranium. Life, self-sufficient, perhaps coeval with our universe, and able to impregnate our cruder, simpler tissues with its own transuranic chemistry ..."
Comyn thought again of what Vickrey had said: the fountainhead, the beginning.
Someone said grimly, "I know one thing: no one's getting me back there, for anything."
Peter Cochrane said, "Relax. Nobody's going back to Barnard II." Note story The Shadows.
Others came from fifth planet of Barnard's star, of eight to this planet of the Transuranae on Barnard II and were changed, and didn't make it. A whole spacefaring civilisation.
ORGANISATIONS
Cochrane Company
Transport and spaceship building company. A family dynasty.
Inter-World Engineering
Comyn's old employer.
United Tradelines
Rival spaceship company.
TECHNOLOGY
Ballantyne drive
Breakthrough propulsion for interstellar travel, named after the inventor.
PLOT
The Cochrane company wants to get the jump on The Big Jump to interstellar space, and make lots of money. There's a slight problem with their first trip to Barnard II though. The Ballantyne drive works, but what they found on the planet destroys people.
Arch Comyn, also in the industry but quit his old company was friends with Paul Rogers, astrophysicist on Ballantyne's ship and mission to Barnard II. He wants to find out what happen, and his nosing around has Cochrane in-law sending people to try and kill him. Comy meets and fancies Sydna Cochrane in the process, and her old boyfriend, now on the outs gets killed in an attempt on Comyn.
Stanley's weaselness comes out on the ship, discovered by Peter and Simon Cochrane and the others, including Comyn.
At Barnard II. A strange race known as the Transuranae seduces people into staying, and slowly destroys them, too much exposure leaving people the walking dead, like Ballantyne.
The C's all return, rather disappointing tycoon grandfather with the news, but not Sydna.
3.5 out of 5
Saturday, December 19, 2009
The Shadows - Leigh Brackett
Short Story
Number of words : 6000
Percent of complex words : 6.6
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 11.6
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 7.3
Flesch : 76.9
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.4
SETTING
Unnamed planet under a blue star.
CHARACTERS
Barrier
Experienced older Ground Exploration team leader.
Hubbard
Ground Exploration team anthropologist.
Kendall
Ground Exploration team lead.
Aiken
Ground Exploration team archaeologist.
Caffrey
Ground Exploration team geologist.
Schmidt
Ground Exploration team entomologist.
Gordon
Ground Exploration team zoologist.
Morris
Ground Exploration team communicator.
Captain Verlaine
Master of the Survey ship.
Cristofek
Chief of Technical.
ORGANISATIONS
Galactic Survey
Sender of ships to other worlds.
RACES
Mists
Inimical alien life form on this planet.
The Shadows
Like dogs, waiting to be able to see and warn man and help again.
PLOT
Barrier is an older experienced leader of a mostly younger Ground Exploration Team for the Galactic Survey. He is growing increasingly despondent and ground down at the hostility towards man in the environments and planets he has visited.
This planet appears to be more of the same as strange mistlike beings herd and frighten and even may destroy team members. Until he realises that there is more than one group, and though scary in appearance, The Shadows actually want to help and befriend them. The past history of the planet, seen in ruins, tells why.
4 out of 5
Number of words : 6000
Percent of complex words : 6.6
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 11.6
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 7.3
Flesch : 76.9
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.4
SETTING
Unnamed planet under a blue star.
CHARACTERS
Barrier
Experienced older Ground Exploration team leader.
Hubbard
Ground Exploration team anthropologist.
Kendall
Ground Exploration team lead.
Aiken
Ground Exploration team archaeologist.
Caffrey
Ground Exploration team geologist.
Schmidt
Ground Exploration team entomologist.
Gordon
Ground Exploration team zoologist.
Morris
Ground Exploration team communicator.
Captain Verlaine
Master of the Survey ship.
Cristofek
Chief of Technical.
ORGANISATIONS
Galactic Survey
Sender of ships to other worlds.
RACES
Mists
Inimical alien life form on this planet.
The Shadows
Like dogs, waiting to be able to see and warn man and help again.
PLOT
Barrier is an older experienced leader of a mostly younger Ground Exploration Team for the Galactic Survey. He is growing increasingly despondent and ground down at the hostility towards man in the environments and planets he has visited.
This planet appears to be more of the same as strange mistlike beings herd and frighten and even may destroy team members. Until he realises that there is more than one group, and though scary in appearance, The Shadows actually want to help and befriend them. The past history of the planet, seen in ruins, tells why.
4 out of 5
How Bright the Stars - Leigh Brackett
Short Story
Number of words : 6000
Percent of complex words : 5.7
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 11.3
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 6.8
Flesch : 79.2
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.0
SETTING
Barnard II
The second planet of Barnard's star. "Man had finally made the Big Jump
outward, with the Wenz-Boroda FTL (faster-than-light) drive". The Big Jump being a related novel about the development of interstellar travel, placing this story again in a common setting.
Alpha Centauri
A star previously visited by the Bairds.
Proxima Centauri
A star previously visited by the Bairds.
Beautiful Water
Grllan village.
Earth Base
Survey team's home.
Western Sea
Earth Base is around 20 miles from a river mouth emptying into this body.
CHARACTERS
Jerry Baird
Dr Baird's son and survey team chief cook and bottle washer.
Dr Baird
Jerry's father, survey team coordinator and physician.
Dr James Felter
Survey team vulcanologist.
Wainwright
Survey team xenobiologist.
Harding
Survey team anthropologist.
Soderman
Survey team geologist.
Souter
Survey team botanist.
Thompson
Survey team chemist.
ORGANISATIONS
Preliminary Planetary Survey
Sends teams to study other worlds.
RACES
Grllan
One clan of natives of Barnard II.
Hwyl
A clan of Barnard II whose presence induces a strange lethargic hedonism and lack of purpose in the Survey team, who stay with them.
PLOT
A young man tags along with his father on planetary survey mission, until they get to Barnard II. The older professionals discover an odd clan called the Hwyll. While staying in their village they seem to lose all desire to go or work further, but Jerry does not, and heads back to their base and the stars.
3.5 out of 5
Number of words : 6000
Percent of complex words : 5.7
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 11.3
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 6.8
Flesch : 79.2
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.0
SETTING
Barnard II
The second planet of Barnard's star. "Man had finally made the Big Jump
outward, with the Wenz-Boroda FTL (faster-than-light) drive". The Big Jump being a related novel about the development of interstellar travel, placing this story again in a common setting.
Alpha Centauri
A star previously visited by the Bairds.
Proxima Centauri
A star previously visited by the Bairds.
Beautiful Water
Grllan village.
Earth Base
Survey team's home.
Western Sea
Earth Base is around 20 miles from a river mouth emptying into this body.
CHARACTERS
Jerry Baird
Dr Baird's son and survey team chief cook and bottle washer.
Dr Baird
Jerry's father, survey team coordinator and physician.
Dr James Felter
Survey team vulcanologist.
Wainwright
Survey team xenobiologist.
Harding
Survey team anthropologist.
Soderman
Survey team geologist.
Souter
Survey team botanist.
Thompson
Survey team chemist.
ORGANISATIONS
Preliminary Planetary Survey
Sends teams to study other worlds.
RACES
Grllan
One clan of natives of Barnard II.
Hwyl
A clan of Barnard II whose presence induces a strange lethargic hedonism and lack of purpose in the Survey team, who stay with them.
PLOT
A young man tags along with his father on planetary survey mission, until they get to Barnard II. The older professionals discover an odd clan called the Hwyll. While staying in their village they seem to lose all desire to go or work further, but Jerry does not, and heads back to their base and the stars.
3.5 out of 5
The Lake Of the Gone Forever - Leigh Brackett
Novelette
Number of words : 13000
Percent of complex words : 5.8
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 12.4
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 7.2737
Flesch : 78.9105
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.3282
SETTING
Iskar
A planet that is the target of the Rohan expedition. Location not given.
The White City
Settlement that must be passed through.
The Lake of the Gone Forever
A black body of water that contains transuranic element traces that someone preserve memories of those interred there, including Rand's father and his wife.
CHARACTERS
Rand Conway
A son who has come to the planet Iskar to find out what happened to his father, a previous visitor, now dead.
Marcia Rohan
Another member of the crew and daughter of Charles.
Peter Esmond
The expedition ethnologist.
Krah
Patriarch of the Iskarians, father of Rand's mother.
Ciel
Young woman who resents life on Iskar greatly after she learned what it could be like elsewhere.
Conway
Rand's father, known to the locals as Conna, has a relationship and child with an Iskarian woman.
Charles Rohan
Millionaire trade baron, made money from the Jovian Moon sphere.
Captain Frazer
Master of the Rohan.
VEHICLE
Rohan
Charles Rohan's ship, that brings them to Iskar.
WEAPONS
Samson riot guns
Fire shells of anesthetic gas.
RACES
Iskarians
The natives of the planet Iskar. A primitive warrior race.
ORGANISATIONS
Interplanetary Society of Ethnologists
Peter Esmond is a member, and hopes for great prestige from this expedition.
PLOT
Rand Conway has writings by his father about the planet Iskar, and sees an opportunity to discover what happened, as well as to make money for Charles Rohan, who provides a ship.
Along with his crew, who are barely tolerated as outsiders that do not fit into the worldview of the primitive spear-wielding warrior culture who treat women as property.
He discovers Krah, the patriarch, is his grandfather. A girl, Ciel, wants to leave this place because of her poor treatment. Along with memories and visions of his family Rand discovers that being with her by the Lake means he is married, according to local custom.
3.5 out of 5
Number of words : 13000
Percent of complex words : 5.8
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 12.4
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 7.2737
Flesch : 78.9105
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.3282
SETTING
Iskar
A planet that is the target of the Rohan expedition. Location not given.
The White City
Settlement that must be passed through.
The Lake of the Gone Forever
A black body of water that contains transuranic element traces that someone preserve memories of those interred there, including Rand's father and his wife.
CHARACTERS
Rand Conway
A son who has come to the planet Iskar to find out what happened to his father, a previous visitor, now dead.
Marcia Rohan
Another member of the crew and daughter of Charles.
Peter Esmond
The expedition ethnologist.
Krah
Patriarch of the Iskarians, father of Rand's mother.
Ciel
Young woman who resents life on Iskar greatly after she learned what it could be like elsewhere.
Conway
Rand's father, known to the locals as Conna, has a relationship and child with an Iskarian woman.
Charles Rohan
Millionaire trade baron, made money from the Jovian Moon sphere.
Captain Frazer
Master of the Rohan.
VEHICLE
Rohan
Charles Rohan's ship, that brings them to Iskar.
WEAPONS
Samson riot guns
Fire shells of anesthetic gas.
RACES
Iskarians
The natives of the planet Iskar. A primitive warrior race.
ORGANISATIONS
Interplanetary Society of Ethnologists
Peter Esmond is a member, and hopes for great prestige from this expedition.
PLOT
Rand Conway has writings by his father about the planet Iskar, and sees an opportunity to discover what happened, as well as to make money for Charles Rohan, who provides a ship.
Along with his crew, who are barely tolerated as outsiders that do not fit into the worldview of the primitive spear-wielding warrior culture who treat women as property.
He discovers Krah, the patriarch, is his grandfather. A girl, Ciel, wants to leave this place because of her poor treatment. Along with memories and visions of his family Rand discovers that being with her by the Lake means he is married, according to local custom.
3.5 out of 5
Friday, December 18, 2009
Come Sing the Moons Of Moravenn - Leigh Brackett
Short Story
Number of words : 6000
Percent of complex words : 6.5
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 10.9
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 7.00
Flesch : 79.6
Flesch-Kincaid : 4.9
SETTING
Moravenn
A planet in the Vela Spur, orbiting a topaz-colored star. It has 3 moons. In particular, the site of a new colony sponsored by the Vanguard Foundation.
CHARACTERS
Art Farrell
Eighteen year old agriculture expert colonist.
Marta
Colonist, friend of Art who comes to disagree with him.
Hrung
R'Lann leader that tries to help the colonists throught Art.
Jamie Hunter
Agricultural coordinator for the colony.
Tom Chen
Colony council president.
Kladth
Elderly R'Lann chief.
Antelope Woman
Colony ecology team head.
Sam Agatelli
Colony extraterrestrial anthropologist.
VEHICLES
Vanguard Beautiful
Colony ship that brought the people to Moravenn.
ORGANISATIONS
The Vanguard Foundation
Supporters and funders of interstellar colonisation.
RACES
R'Lann
The native people of Moravenn, and completely humanoid and sentient. They prefer to live in caves. The name means 'The Survivors'.
CONCEPTS
Ladder Of Souls
R'Lann religious concept.
Singing the Moons
R'Lann term for the lore associated with the geological instability of the planet.
MEDIA
Tri-D
Viewing technology.
PLOT
A group of young people have been sponsored to start a colony on the world of Moravenn. They have sort of a vegetarian commune existence in mind. They have been trained for colonisation, but have no real practical experience or experience in general, which becomes a problem when they realise the planet's geology will give them problems. Three moons and the local conditions can cause devastating disasters, at least for the unprepared.
Another surprise is that the planet is inhabited. These people are low-tech but intelligent, but know how to survive here. Art believes and befriends the R'Lann natives, but some people do not, and the colony is split politically, particularly after more setbacks with food production. This does have some tragic consequences, but leaves the colony stronger and learning to adapt.
3.5 out of 5
Number of words : 6000
Percent of complex words : 6.5
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 10.9
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 7.00
Flesch : 79.6
Flesch-Kincaid : 4.9
SETTING
Moravenn
A planet in the Vela Spur, orbiting a topaz-colored star. It has 3 moons. In particular, the site of a new colony sponsored by the Vanguard Foundation.
CHARACTERS
Art Farrell
Eighteen year old agriculture expert colonist.
Marta
Colonist, friend of Art who comes to disagree with him.
Hrung
R'Lann leader that tries to help the colonists throught Art.
Jamie Hunter
Agricultural coordinator for the colony.
Tom Chen
Colony council president.
Kladth
Elderly R'Lann chief.
Antelope Woman
Colony ecology team head.
Sam Agatelli
Colony extraterrestrial anthropologist.
VEHICLES
Vanguard Beautiful
Colony ship that brought the people to Moravenn.
ORGANISATIONS
The Vanguard Foundation
Supporters and funders of interstellar colonisation.
RACES
R'Lann
The native people of Moravenn, and completely humanoid and sentient. They prefer to live in caves. The name means 'The Survivors'.
CONCEPTS
Ladder Of Souls
R'Lann religious concept.
Singing the Moons
R'Lann term for the lore associated with the geological instability of the planet.
MEDIA
Tri-D
Viewing technology.
PLOT
A group of young people have been sponsored to start a colony on the world of Moravenn. They have sort of a vegetarian commune existence in mind. They have been trained for colonisation, but have no real practical experience or experience in general, which becomes a problem when they realise the planet's geology will give them problems. Three moons and the local conditions can cause devastating disasters, at least for the unprepared.
Another surprise is that the planet is inhabited. These people are low-tech but intelligent, but know how to survive here. Art believes and befriends the R'Lann natives, but some people do not, and the colony is split politically, particularly after more setbacks with food production. This does have some tragic consequences, but leaves the colony stronger and learning to adapt.
3.5 out of 5
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Teleportress Of Alpha C - Leigh Brackett
Planet Stories, Winter 1954-55, (Dec 1954, Jack O'Sullivan, Love Romances Publishing Co., Inc.; Stamford, CT, $0.25, 100pp, Pulp, magazine)
I've read this as incorporated into Alpha Centauri or Die! So no length measurement other than it is likely a novella, but could be a long novelette, as Alpha Centauri or Die is 40,000 words, so about half that. Rating is from what I read in the above.
3.5 out of 5
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?77170
I've read this as incorporated into Alpha Centauri or Die! So no length measurement other than it is likely a novella, but could be a long novelette, as Alpha Centauri or Die is 40,000 words, so about half that. Rating is from what I read in the above.
3.5 out of 5
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?77170
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