Novelette
Number of words : 11000
Percent of complex words : 5.3
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 8.8
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 5.6
Flesch : 79.8
Flesch-Kincaid : 4.3
: The Blue Behemoth - Leigh Brackett
SETTING
Nahru
Small town on Venus, current location of Shannon's Circus.
CHARACTERS
Buckhalter Shannon
Circus proprietor.
Jig Bentley
His business manager.
Micky
Circus worker.
Simon Beamish
Wants to hire Shannon for a circus tour.
Gow
Shannon's animal handler.
Kanza
The Martian croaker.
Sam Kapper
A hunter.
Melak
Local hard man.
Jarin
One of the circus.
Malek
One of the circus.
Ahra
Nahali woman, amused by offworlders in trouble. Gives advice on how to stop the Cansin rampage.
Quern
Circus hypnotist.
RACES
Marshies
Venus indigenes.
PLACES
Tehara Belt
A potential circus tour spot.
Nahali
Venusian area.
ANIMALS
Cansin
Large blue Venusian swamp-animal.
Vapor snakes
A painful experience if they touch you, knock you out.
Zurat
Martian communal animal.
Mercurian cavecat
Very large feline.
Martian sandtigers
More very large felines.
Ganymedan puffballs
Rolling carnivores, with tentacles.
ORGANISATIONS
Shannon's Imperial Circus, the Greatest Show in Space
Buckhalter's circus, currently in trouble.
Savitt Brothers
Rival circus.
FOOD
Thildatim
Venusian booze.
Lhak
Venusian booze.
PLACES
Triangle
Term for the three major inner worlds.
PLOT
Shannon's circus is broke, and dodging their creditors in a small Venusian dump, when a wealthy Beamish wants to hire them. This is for ulterior motives involving money and a rare creature. The cansin is a huge Venusian beast worth a lot. However, here the females have found a male - and their bonding is strange. Large beasts rampaging means breakout and other dangerous circus animals loose. So dodgy circus business managers have to try and put a stop to it, before the town is destroyed. The criminal element becomes more concerned with staying alive.
4 out of 5