It is as funny as assuming Nokia would survive WW3 and still be operating mobile communications in ancient cars in 23rd century Iowa (ST09).
That's actually not so implausible. There are many companies that have remained in existence for centuries. Nokia is already over 150 years old, though it was originally a pulp mill. I rechecked the scene just now, and my problem with the American Express machine wasn't so much that the company still existed as that it was actually a traveler's cheque dispenser, rather than an ATM (cashpoint) as I thought. Even at the time, it seemed unlikely that traveler's cheques would still be in use in the 23rd century with its implicitly credit-based economy, and indeed, their use has been in decline in the decades since the book came out, due to the wider use of credit and debit cards and ATMs/cashpoints. So it felt at the time like it would make the book feel dated someday, and it already has. Also, having it be an American company, on top of the Centaurus culture as a whole being so indistinguishable from 20th-century America, just made it feel too quotidian and unimaginative. Plus, Earth's supposed to be one global nation in Trek's era. Okay, the USA still exists as a geographic entity, but it's part of a larger whole. I guess maybe it's analogous with a company name like Texas Instruments or Ohio Art (the original manufacturers of the Etch A Sketch), but it still felt incongruous.
^Traveller's cheques! I have not see one of those since the 90's! LOL You can access your phone accounts via apps with a thumbprint these days, so even paying credit by finger prints might be outdated by then. That writer lacked imagination American Express should be Centarus Express or Centuraus Credit outlet.
The Sun and The Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York by Matthew Goodman. A fascinating non-fiction account of a notorious 1835 hoax in which a NYC tabloid (The Sun) falsely reported that life had been discovered on the moon . . . ..
Hmmm, I have a blind spot regarding the "Does Star Trek have money or not?" question. I've learned some basic economics and politics, forgotten it and been reacquainted with it several times. And at the end of the day I always have a clinical reaction to each individual ST story, as it goes one way or the other: "Oh, this story is going with money," or "This story is having it as a post-scarcity society, ok," or some other story hints that it's both at the same time. I also was left with the impression of it as something of an ATM machine, only a day later. On a gut reaction level, I was able to relate to the scene, inaccuracies aside. I have had that moment happen to me, not to long ago, where some damn machine ate my credit card/bank card/magic money card, call it what you want; and enjoyed reading about a Tellarites reaction. Fun stuff. Although it's sad that it sparks off something more grim in its wake. I think it's interesting, too, that Crisis shows relief efforts being sent from individual nation-states on Earth, even though it's commonly thought of as a United Earth. Kirk said once in the fourth TOS movie, "I'm from Iowa," I can't remember any occasion where ST actually name checks the USA as something that still exists under a United Earth Government (that is also under the overall Federation). Ferguson also talks about jurisdiction for law enforcement (with regard to an antimatter explosion), and my mind boggles at what kind of a headache that must be when there are so many levels of government. Spock comments that their competitiveness over the prestige of managing to be first responders is a positive outcome of nationalistic impulses.
Yeah, the references tend to be to North America as a whole, and characters that reference the United States seem to be talking about it as a foreign or historic country. Although there are a couple of references to Canada as a distinct entity, but that might be just as a region of North America.
Just read ST:TNG Resistance by J M Dillard. OK novel but seemed like a mashup of Best of Both Worlds and First Contact. I enjoyed it but don’t think it did anything new. Next up is Before Dishonour by Peter David.
Actually the next book after Resistance is Q&A by Keith R.A. DeCandido. You'd be missing out on some new characters' introductions if you skipped it.
BUNKER SOLDIERS by Martin Day A nice historically-set First Doctor Dr Who novel, with ongoings in 13th Century Kiev. It's an unusual mix of normal third person and first person narrative from the POV of Steven (played back in the 60s by Peter Purves). I'm not sure the Steven viewpoint quite fits the character, but I could totally hear Purves's voice narrating it, so not a problem, really. If there is a problem it's that the densely descriptive prose (which is perfectly fine) is at odds with the format's standard wordcount, so there are some sudden “with one bound” moments where there isn't room... Nevertheless, was a nice one to read for the show's anniversary week.
I'm always a bit puzzled by how many First Doctor novels and audios there are out there, since the series at the time was heavily serialized with one storyline leading directly into the next, so there are very few places where there's room to insert additional adventures.
Timey-wimey... And you can probably squeeze them in between scene changes, or when the cast nip off to the wardrobe to swap local clothing for their normal gear (as actually happens quite often in the first season, immediately before th cliffhanger leading to the next story).
When The Daleks’ Master Plan was novelised, because of its length, it was split into two volumes. The author, John Peel, inserted a six month gap between the end of the first and the beginning of the second. Quite a few novels and audios have been placed in that gap.
Granted, there are a few cases where there's a scene break and clothing change just before the cliffhanger scene leading into the next serial, but a lot of those also have dialogue establishing that it's still just after the previous serial, so it requires fudging things to fit a new story in the interval, let alone a whole bunch of them. Oh, sure, that one works fine, because there was a natural story break there due to the insertion of "The Feast of Steven" in the middle, basically a standalone Christmas special inserted into the middle of the serial. So it's easy enough to slip in more stories there. But there are other cases where it's more of a stretch.
Belle: An Amish Retelling of Beauty and the Beast (An Amish Fairytale #1) by Sarah Price. So far so good.
I finished Star Trek: SCE: War Stories by Keith R.A. DeCandido. I'm currently reading Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: I, the Constable by Paula M. Block & Terry J. Erdmann.
I've read/listened to a few books last month. We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor Paradox Road by Peter Clines The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Garland STD: Desperate Hours by David Mack Red Hope by John Dreese Currently Reading: The Wrong Stars by Chris Pratt Currently Listening: Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff Van der Meer
Started on Fortunes of War by David Mack. Enjoying it so far. Next up will probably be the ST: Prometheus novel.