The Official Iain M Banks Thread

[Headache]

Oops, only just realised how old this thread is...

There's always more time to talk about Iain M Banks

[roobarb]

Also a massive fan of Banks & the Culture series here... and strangely haven't stumbled across this thread before!

Anyway, I don't suppose there's been any discussion about potential for Culture novels to make it across to other formats (movie/TV/games) has there?

Obviously if this did happen it has the potential to be disasterous, but you never know, with the right director....

[Eats hoops and leaves]

A decent Culture MMO would be at once the greatest thing developed by human minds and the death of all ambition and achievement on my part. Just imagine haring round the galaxy as a ROU or GCU... *dies*

[Tequlia]

A decent Culture MMO would be at once the greatest thing developed by human minds and the death of all ambition and achievement on my part. Just imagine haring round the galaxy as a ROU or GCU... *dies*

Holy Shit that would be amazing.

[NecroMorrius]

I finally finished Consider Phlebas the other day. The ending was a bit of a brick wall,

an impossibly long description of a train crashing into another one and then mostly everyone dies to little literary effect and zero resolution.

I wasn't particularly taken with the last quarter of the book to honest.

[Eats hoops and leaves]

No, you were right not to be. It's a poor ending. Don't let that put you off his other work, though.

[NecroMorrius]

No, you were right not to be. It's a poor ending. Don't let that put you off his other work, though.

I won't. Funny story, my edition has an appendix, so I sat down to polish off the last of the book not realising I'd already finished it, thinking I had a chapter to go!

[d'artagnan]

No, you were right not to be. It's a poor ending. Don't let that put you off his other work, though.

I suggest both of you go and read T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land given that Banks is completely upfront about the source inspiration. Even the title comes from that work and structurally the novel reflects the poem's structure and also reflects its themes.

If you check the titles for the various parts for The Waste Land then you'll even see that they correspond to events that happen in Consider Phlebas in the order in which they happen.

[pulsemyne]

A decent Culture MMO would be at once the greatest thing developed by human minds and the death of all ambition and achievement on my part. Just imagine haring round the galaxy as a ROU or GCU... *dies*

The closets you will eve get to that is EVE online. It's really very iain m banks style. The look of the game and the scale of it alwasy remind me of culture stuff.

[Spacehost]

I've got a whalloping great hardback copy of Matter sitting here haunting me. I've never read a Culture novel before. Bad place to start?

[K]

Yes, it's probably the weakest Culture novel. The Player of Games and Consider Phlebas are generally considered the best ones to start with.

[will]

Having spent years plowing through all his sci-fi, I finally read the Crow Road - which I thought was excellent. It's weird hearing dialogue style, humour etc coming from scottish 20 somethings rather than giant spaceships.

Any other reccomendations for non sci-fi? I know The Wasp Factory is his most famous. What about the new one? The one that's quite sci-fi but published under the Iain Banks name.

[Eats hoops and leaves]

Try The Bridge.

Not read the new one yet. Apparently the paperback is available at Heathrow, so I plan on picking it up there.

[Silent Runner]

I’d avoid the recent ones; Dead Air, The Business and Steep Rise but everything else is good. It doesn’t get a lot of love but Espedair Street is my favourite after Crow.

[NecroMorrius]

I suggest both of you go and read T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land given that Banks is completely upfront about the source inspiration. Even the title comes from that work and structurally the novel reflects the poem's structure and also reflects its themes.

If you check the titles for the various parts for The Waste Land then you'll even see that they correspond to events that happen in Consider Phlebas in the order in which they happen.

Thanks for the tip, it doesn't make the ending any less of a stinker though.

[Padster]

I'm on a big M Banks re-read at the mo, and I'm 3/4 of the way through "Inversions" which I seem to have missed out the first time round. Really enjoying it, but am I being thick when I say it's not

a Culture novel

? Not yet, anyway. Was the OP wrong?

Edit: no, he wasn't wrong, and I've just spoilered my own book. Curse you, Google!

[Wintermute]

Read the last quarter then see what you think.

EDIT: Nooo! Why would you do that?!

[Padster]

D'oh.

[Valiant]

He's doing a special appearance at a book festival outside of Edinburgh this month to do with his new book Transition.

[Alex W.]

Apparently a bunch of unknowns including the production company behind "The Young Poisoner's Handbook" have picked up "A Gift from the Culture", a short story from "The State of the Art" which I don't even remember and must re-read, for a film adaptation.

[Eats hoops and leaves]

It's where a Culture guy 'goes native' on an earth-like planet, and is forced to shoot a large spaceship down with a culture weapon by a gang. He's blackmailed into it when they beat the shit out of his gay lover. IIRC.

[Mr Cochese]

Thanks for the tip, it doesn't make the ending any less of a stinker though.

But the end is excellent. It's perfect for the story.

God.

[RJames]

Any other reccomendations for non sci-fi? I know The Wasp Factory is his most famous. What about the new one? The one that's quite sci-fi but published under the Iain Banks name.

It's actually published under Iain M. Banks in the US because his sci-fi sells far better there...

I actually really liked The Business and thought Espedair Street was a bit dull... but hey.

[ZOK]

I really liked Espedair Street too.

Whit, on the other hand, is shit. Geddit?!

I love 'A Gift From The Culture', but I don't really see it working as a film...unless they add a load of other stuff into it.

[Plums]

Amazing news that one of his short stories is going to be made into a film. It's an interesting choice, obviously not centred on the Culture but with a Culture protagonist. It gives some scope to explore the Culture from an outside perspective but is, first and foremost, a deeply human tale.

I've often wondered how a Culture novel would adapt to the big screen, this is a good place to start I feel.

[Area]

The new book Transitions has been abridged and can be downloaded on itunes as a podcast. I think its just finished on part 23. Well worth a listen. Its an M Banks book but not Culture.

[Alex W.]

It's not got the M in the UK, just the US and Canada I think.

[footle]

It might as well have an M in it in the uk; it's as sf/fantasy as anything else I've read this year, but with a dash more of philosophy.

[Delargey]

I'm currently reading 'Against a dark backround'. It's pretty good so far. I prefer the culture setting rather than Goltar (sp?) but it's good stuff.

[Eats hoops and leaves]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB1riyVLRcU