Banks says he conceived the Culture in the 1960s, and that it is a combination of wish fulfilment and a reaction against the predominantly right-wing science fiction produced in the United States. [37] In his opinion, the Culture might be a "great place to live", with no exploitation of people or AIs, and whose people could create beings greater than themselves. [38] the events of the book are almost simultaneous with Diziet Sma's writing an account of her visit to Earth in 1977. In her preface to this account in "The State of the Art", she dates the visit to 115 years earlier. a b c d e f g h Stuart Jeffries (25 May 2007). "A man of culture". The Guardian . Retrieved 6 April 2013. Transition (2009). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-0-316-73107-2. (Published in the United States as Iain M. Banks.)

Parsons, Michael (2010-10-14), "Interview: Iain M Banks talks 'Surface Detail' with Wired", Wired , retrieved 2021-08-02 . Arthur C.Clarke Award Shortlists". The Arthur C Clarke Award. 2012. Archived from the original on 6 January 2013 . Retrieved 6 April 2013. Doctor of the University 1973–2011" (PDF). The Open University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 December 2013 . Retrieved 9 January 2013. Theatre: The Curse of Iain Banks, Gilded Balloon". The Herald Scotland. 11 August 1999 . Retrieved 6 April 2013. On the nesting Matryoshka dolls of space-faring civilizations, philosophy a la Nietzsche, and how Banks ruined SF and epic fantasy at the same time for me.Mitchell, Chris (1996-09-03), "Iain Banks: Whit and Excession: Getting Used To Being God", Spike Magazine , retrieved 2021-08-04 . Banks´ legendary Special Circumstances are around too to make the reading the ultimate Sci-Fi overkill. These unconventional problem solvers are the James Bonds of the culture, having to deal with all kinds of escalations and ethical disputes in this amazing universe, using creative problem-solving techniques and sensitivity. Or the sledgehammer of total technological superiority. Butler, Andrew M. (2003), "Thirteen Ways of Looking at the British Boom" (PDF), Science Fiction Studies, 30 (3): 374–393, JSTOR 4241200 , retrieved 2021-08-04 . In a world renowned within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one man it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one – maybe two – people who could clear his name. For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. And for their sister, it means returning to a place she’d thought abandoned forever. Beauchamp, Scott (16 January 2013). " 'The Future Might Be a Hoot': How Iain M. Banks Imagines Utopia". theatlantic.com.

The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia, the 2016 graphic biography of Louise Michel by Mary M. Talbot and Bryan Talbot, is "Dedicated to the memory of Iain (M) Banks, friend and sorely missed creator of socialist utopias." [64] Horton, Richard (1997-03-05), Use of Weapons: Review, archived from the original on 2017-01-28 , retrieved 2009-02-17 . MacLeod, Ken (14 February 2015). " 'Readers of Iain Banks's prose will find in his poems much that is familiar' ". The Guardian . Retrieved 9 December 2015.Only the sister is not what she once was; Djan Seriy Anaplian has become an agent of the Culture’s Special Circumstances section, charged with high-level interference in civilisations throughout the greater galaxy. On 13 May 2019, the Five Deeps Expedition broke the deepest ocean dive record in the DSV Limiting Factor. [66] The support ship was named DSSV Pressure Drop. Both vessels were named after ships in the Culture series, which is much admired by the explorer Victor Vescovo, also the financial sponsor behind Limiting Factor 's design and construction. [67] Awards and nominations [ edit ] Raw Spirit (2003). London: Century. ISBN 1-84413-195-5 – a travelogue of Scotland and its whisky distilleries. Banks's father was an officer in the Admiralty and his mother was once a professional ice skater. Iain Banks was educated at the University of Stirling where he studied English Literature, Philosophy and Psychology. He moved to London and lived in the south of England until 1988 when he returned to Scotland, living in Edinburgh and then Fife. Matter is a science fiction novel from Iain M. Banks set in his Culture universe. It was published on 25 January 2008. [1]

Holt, Tom (November 2007), " The Player of Games (review)" (PDF), SFX Magazine: 114, archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-10 , retrieved 2009-02-17 . Espedair Street (1987). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-44916-9. Adapted for BBC radio in 1998 (directed by Dave Batchelor).

Author Blogs

I'll keep going! For straight ideas, Banks is one of those grand masters of SF. :) His characters, for their flaws, are still some of the most richly imagined. The plots are usually mind blowing. The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". The Times. 5 January 2008 . Retrieved 10 February 2010. Honorary Graduates1988-1997". University of Stirling (Development and External Affairs). Archived from the original on 3 September 2013 . Retrieved 27 June 2013. Arevalo, Evelyn (2021-07-09), "Elon Musk Shows Off New SpaceX Falcon 9 Autonomous Droneship -'A Shortfall Of Gravitas' ", Tesmanian . Kennedy, AL; Galloway, Janice (28 August 2011). "Scotland and England: what future for the Union? | Culture | The Observer". The Guardian. London . Retrieved 4 September 2011.

The book refers to the Sleeper Service incident in Excession as occurring 20 years previously; however, it also says that the Liveware Problem has been wandering for 800 years, having begun at the end of its service in the Idiran War. The book says it occurs about 800years after events near the end of the fighting in space in the Idiran War. A further tribute was paid by the Five Deeps Expedition which named all of its craft after Culture ships and drones. [46] McDermid, Val (2017). "Banks, Iain (1954–2013), author and composer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (onlineed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/106888. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)On an episode of Lex Fridman's podcast released on April 29, 2022, the artist Grimes said that Surface Detail of the Culture series is the greatest science fiction book ever written. [47]