Return Engagement by Margaret St. Clair
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"Return Engagement" by Margaret St. Clair is a science fiction story written in the early 1950s. The narrative revolves around a human named Joseph McBream, who recounts a peculiar incident involving an Earthman, Denis Farquarson, a distinguished culinary figure on an intergalactic voyage. The story explores themes of cultural misunderstanding, the consequences of carelessness, and the quirks of interspecies interactions. The tale begins with Farquarson's poorly timed curiosity about an alien delicacy,
which leads him to inadvertently put himself in peril among the Talipygians, a non-humanoid species native to the satellite Iapetus. After unwittingly cooking foods sacred to the Talipygians, Farquarson’s life hangs in the balance, prompting McBream to embark on a rescue mission. The adventure unfolds with humorous and dramatic elements, culminating in a whimsical resolution where Farquarson must fulfill an annual commitment to entertain the Talipygians, much to McBream's annoyance at being overlooked despite his crucial role in saving his life. Overall, the story combines comedy and a thoughtful exploration of human and alien relationships in an imaginative universe. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | St. Clair, Margaret, 1911-1995 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Terry, W. E. (Willis E.), 1921-1992 |
| Title | Return Engagement |
| Series Title | Produced from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy January 1952 |
| Credits | Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 82.0 (6th grade). Easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | Human-alien encounters -- Fiction |
| Subject | Cooks -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 65769 |
| ISBN (HTML) | 979-8-238-65769-1 |
| Release Date | Jul 5, 2021 |
| Last Update | Oct 18, 2024 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 430 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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