Referemce to an "Off-planet branch of the Flat Earth Society"?

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I distinctly recall reading, somewhere in either Star Trek literature, or perhaps the works of either Alan Dean Foster or Douglas Adams, a reference to an "off-planet branch of the Flat Earth Society."

Anybody here know where that reference came from?

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

After 4 years you still haven't gotten an answer?

(Unless that post is lying to me)

http://forums.simonandschuster.com/topic.php?id=132371

 

[Christopher]

It sounds familiar to me, and I haven't read the Humanx Commonwealth books. It couldn't be from Hitchhiker's, since in that universe there were no humans off of Earth aside from Arthur and Trillian (as far as I can recall).

Could it be from How Much for Just the Planet? Hmm, on second thought, I don't think so. Maybe a Peter David book?

 

[zar]

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Flat_Earth_Society

Amazingly that one line happened to get an entry on memory beta, which cites The Entropy Effect. A google search for "entropy effect flat earth" confirms that this line was in that novel: "I might as well have joined an offworld branch of the Flat Earth Society."

 

[Christopher]

^Ahh, that would explain why it's familiar to me. The Entropy Effect was one of the time-travel-themed books I read or re-read while developing DTI: Watching the Clock.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

That would also explain why I remembered it, but couldn't place it: it's been years since I last read that particular opus.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Incidentally, if there are any references to in in DTI:WTC, I missed them. Mr. Bennett?

 

[Christopher]

No, I couldn't reconcile The Entropy Effect with modern Trek continuity, or indeed with most of Trek time travel stories, period. TEE postulates that changing history gets exponentially harder the farther back in time you travel, on a timescale of as little as months or years -- which is pretty hard to reconcile with "City on the Edge of Forever" or "Past Tense" or the like. And there's no way I can see to fit Spock's TEE backstory (studying at the Makropyrios) into what we now know of his personal history. I reread the book to see if there might be some way to reconcile it, but it wouldn't have worked, so I didn't include any references.

 

[Stoek]

I don't have it to hand atm but isn't there mention of the flat earth society or something similarly ludicrous in Sarek?

 

[Christopher]

I don't have it to hand atm but isn't there mention of the flat earth society or something similarly ludicrous in Sarek?

You're probably thinking of the Keep Earth Human League, a minor xenophobic fringe group that's becoming more prominent, which Sarek suspects is the result of telepathic intervention. It's a significant element of the novel's plot.

 

[Stoek]

I don't have it to hand atm but isn't there mention of the flat earth society or something similarly ludicrous in Sarek?

You're probably thinking of the Keep Earth Human League, a minor xenophobic fringe group that's becoming more prominent, which Sarek suspects is the result of telepathic intervention. It's a significant element of the novel's plot.

Yes I remember the KEHL, but I can't recall if it's just offworld chapters that Peter Kirk discovers and shakes his head in disbelief over, or if there is also mention of offworld FES chapters that he also discovers in his search for lunatic fringe movements.

Sadly the kindle twofer of Spock's World and Sarek is out of budget or I'd just go and buy the darn thing as this is going to bug me until I know for sure.

 

[Stoek]

Okay I broke down and spent the 8.99. Looks like what I was remembering is mention of some of the Terran colonies having KEHL chapters spring up.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Okay I broke down and spent the 8.99.

How stoek of you.