$1,000 a Plate

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McKenty, Jack

Contributor:

Beck, Charles

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource : multiple file formats

Other Title:

One Thousand Dollars a Plate

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg,

Summary:

"$1,000 a Plate" by Jack McKenty is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. The narrative is set on Mars and revolves around the challenges faced by the Mars Observatory due to frequent fireworks displays that disrupt their astronomical observations. The story explores themes of cooperation, creativity, and the unintended consequences of one's actions, particularly as it relates to the dangers of entertainment overrunning scientific endeavors. In the story, Dr. Morton and his team of scientists are frustrated by the annual Marsy Gras celebrations and the resulting skyrocket trails that ruin expensive photographic plates crucial for their research. As a solution, Dr. Morton devises a plan to manipulate the local casino owners into agreeing to halt fireworks displays by offering them horoscopes that predict their gambling success. Initially met with success, their plan faces a setback when they are ordered to cease their unscientific practices. In a twist, they resort to creating their own fireworks, leading to comedic mishaps that include the destruction of a casino owner's home. Ultimately, this unexpected outcome positively affects Dr. Morton's research ambitions while simultaneously enhancing the local gambler's reputation, culminating in a humorous yet insightful commentary on the interplay between science and entertainment. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Credits:

Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Notes:

Reading ease score: 75.0 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read.

Release date is 2016-01-14