TY  - BOOK
AU  - Silverberg,Robert
AU  - Giunta,John
TI  - The guest rites
T2  - Produced from Infinity, February 1957
AV  - PS 
PY  - 2022///
CY  - Salt Lake City, UT
PB  - Project Gutenberg
KW  - Science fiction
KW  - Short stories
KW  - Extraterrestrial beings -- Fiction
KW  - Human-alien encounters -- Fiction
KW  - Thieves -- Fiction
KW  - Venus (Planet) -- Fiction
KW  - Hospitality -- Fiction
N1  - Release date is 2022-06-23; Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net; Originally published; United States: Royal Publications, Inc, 1956
N2  - "The Guest Rites" by Robert Silverberg is a science fiction novella written in the late 1950s. The story is set on the planet Carthule, where the religious practices of its inhabitants revolve around their deity, Carthule, and the sacred concept of hospitality towards guests. The narrative explores themes of morality, sanctity, and cultural differences between the Earth's human travelers and the native inhabitants of Carthule.  The plot follows Marik, the First Priest of Carthule, who encounters an Earthman lost in the desert. Despite the Earthman’s crime of stealing a precious gem from their temple, Marik is bound by the sacred Guest Rite to protect him while he is under their roof. As Marik grapples with his moral obligations and his rising suspicion of the Earthman, the latter's arrogance and sense of entitlement clash with the Carthulians' values. Throughout the story, the Earthman's inability to navigate the desert without a compass echoes a deeper commentary on the concept of guidance and the inherent conflict between different cultures. In the end, the Earthman becomes a reluctant permanent guest, unable to leave due to his theft and naivety, illustrating the persistent struggle between right and wrong, duty, and consequence. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
UR  - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68380
ER  -