“$1,000 a Plate,” a 1954 short story by Jack McKenty about Marsy Gras

Thanks to Doc Mars of the amazing French-language website Mars & la Science Fiction, you can download and read American science fiction author Jack McKenty’s short story “$1,000 a Plate” (pdf) as it was originally published in the October 1954 issue of Galaxy magazine. A light-hearted tale about a scientist and a casino owner who join forces to dampen the Red Planet’s Marsy Gras celebration, here are the opening lines of “$1,000 a Plate”:

       SUNSET on Mars is a pale, washed out, watery sort of procedure that is hardly worth looking at. The shadows of the cactus lengthen, the sun goes down without the slightest hint of color or display and everything is dark. About once a year there is one cloud that turns pink briefly. But even the travel books devote more space describing the new sign adorning the Canal Casino than they do on the sunset...

Merci beaucoup, Doc Mars!