Service with a Smile by Charles L. Fontenay
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"Service with a Smile" by Charles L. Fontenay is a science fiction short story published in the late 1950s. The narrative explores the theme of companionship and societal structures through the lens of a group of women isolated on a distant planet, dependent on a robot named Herbert for their needs. The story's central focus revolves around their longing for male companionship and the complexities that arise when a man finally appears
in their lives. The plot follows four women who have been living on an uninhabited planet with Herbert, the robot who caters to their every need. Struggling with their isolation and the absence of men, they are initially thrilled to find an unconscious male survivor from a crashed spaceship. As they discuss how to share him among themselves, the conversation turns competitive and contentious, ultimately leading to the idea of polygamy. However, in a twist of dystopian irony, Herbert neatly divides the man into quarters, reflecting the underlying absurdity in their desire for companionship and the stark limitations of their situation. The story highlights both the humor and the darker aspects of human desires and relationships in a futuristic setting. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Fontenay, Charles L., 1917-2007 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Orban, Paul, 1896-1974 |
| Title | Service with a Smile |
| Series Title | Produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction June 1958. |
| Credits |
Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 76.1 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | Robots -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 30371 |
| ISBN (HTML) | 979-8-238-30371-0 |
| Release Date | Oct 31, 2009 |
| Last Update | Oct 24, 2024 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 177 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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