Iain banks books account for two of the top ten books scottish novels of the last 50 years as voted by the public. Iain banks was born in dunfermline, fife, in scotland in 1954 and was. Iain banks, ali smith and more here are 10 books the bbc missed, as recommended by readers charlotte jones mon 8 aug 2016 08. Iain banks came to controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, the wasp factory, in 1984. Sign up to our emails to be the first to know about new releases, the latest news from iain m banks, and take part in exclusive subscriber competitions and surveys. In a career spanning twentynine years, he wrote an impressive twentynine books including the science fiction culture books as iain m.
The problem though in some ways an advantage of the hugos is their semiopen system, in which the fans nominate and vote, but only those fans so committed that they buy a worldc. Iain banks robert barnard john boyd gary brandner gwendoline butler charles chilton tom clancy pauline clarke c. Banks s latest culture novel after surface detail and matter is about the search for a 9800yearold man. Iain banks came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, the wasp factory, in 1984. Iain banks was educated at the university of stirling where he studied english literature, philosophy and psychology. The following post to your guardian article on iain banks from. Banks is a pseudonym of iain banks which he used to publish his science fiction.
Banks when writing science fiction, exploded on to the literary scene with his first novel, the wasp factory, published in 1984 also known by legions of science fiction fans for creating the culture cycle series, iain banks also made a huge impact with his own brand of literary fiction. They say that often an authors debut novel is his or her most autobiographical. Like the poems that appeared within his novels, this was selected from the man. Excession by iain m banks winner dagger awards black and blue by ian rankin winner three to get deadly by janet evanovich.
He came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, the wasp factory, in 1984. The book is a fractured biography of two men and made up of two streams. I just completed iain banks latest culture novel matter. Author iain banks has died aged 59 after a battle with cancer. Bantam spectra august derleth award novel nomination. The culture series is a science fiction series written by scottish author iain m.
Iain banks, pictured at the british book awards 2004, has revealed he has gall bladder cancer. The award winning scottish writer had posted on his website in april that he was in the final stages of gall bladder cancer and was. He wrote mainstream fiction under the name iain banks and science fiction as iain m. Banks, the hugo awardwinning author of the algebraist and the culture series, believes he has less than a year to live. Well, he did receive many awards during his lifetime for his works. The main theme of the novels is the dilemmas that an idealistic hyperpower faces in dealing with.
Iain banks s national doodle day effort 2004 interviews with this author. It is less well known that his first published work was the poem 041, in new writing scotland in 1983. Iain banks signing, chapters bookstore, dublin, may 15th from the chapters bookstore livejournal blog, news of an iain banks signing in dublin on friday may 15th this year. The 100 best books has remained the only book of its kind. Ive read player of games and consider phlebas, and enjoyed them in that order i tried to read feersum injun or however youre supposed to misspell it and found it unreadable there was just too much artifice in its writing for me to get into a flow with it i just gave up on use of weapons, too. As with the novelistentertainer graham greene acknowledged as one of his favourite writers, there are two bankses. This author also published science fiction under the pseudonym iain m. Author iain bankss complete list of books and series in order, with the latest releases, covers, descriptions and availability. He has since gained enormous popular and critical acclaim for both his mainstream and his science fiction novels which are published under the name iain m banks iain banks died in june 20. He used this as his pen name for science fiction and goes by iain banks for some of his books. The algebraist is the only banks novel to have been.
Iain banks, who died this month, was one of my favourite writers. Banks s prose is a pleasure to read and is still literary as always. He is something less of a yarn spinner in this one and i was stalled at page 20 for a while, but by the time i got to page 120, i could tell it was going to be a great story. The writer iain banks, who has died aged 59, had already prepared his many admirers for his death. Banks made his debut as a published author with the wasp factory in 1984. We are very pleased to announce that iain banks iain m banks, author of.
Clarke award blue mars by kim stanley robinson the calcutta chromosome by. However, it can also mean that some deserving surprises overlooked by other awards rise to the top. Im ever in awe over banks where the wasp factory was a really strong debut novel, the bridge as his third published novel is just so much more. Andre norton award above by leah bobet above world by jenn reese black heart by holly black the diviners by libba bray.
Since that time, he has split his time between his culture books the series started in 87 and standalone novels such as stonemouth. He gained enormous popular and critical acclaim for both his mainstream and his science fiction novels. Iain later moved to london and released his first book, a gothic horror story called the wasp factory in 1984, which brought him widespread but often controversial public attention and. The stories centre on the culture, a utopian, postscarcity space society of humanoids, aliens, and advanced artificial intelligences living in socialist habitats spread across the milky way galaxy. British sf association awards for sf works published in. Iain banks, ali smith and more here are 10 books the bbc missed, as recommended by readers published. Iain banks received the following literary awards and nominations. Banks came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, the wasp factory, in 1984. To my shame, ive largely not read very many of these though i would recommend the.
Sign up to our emails to be the first to know about new releases, the latest news from iain m banks, and take part in. Banks, or iain banks when writing mainstream fiction, is the author of the science fiction novels in the culture cycle books his science fiction writing, particular the culture cycle novels, contain some of the most compelling stories of humanity coexisting amongst the stars in print today. The device of asking 100 horror, fantasy, and science fiction writers to write about their favorite horror books might seem at first to capture an idiosyncratic sample, but through. Banks books in order of publication and in chronological order. Iain banks s final book of poetry to be published in 2015 collection will include work by banks s friend ken macleod and will come out on his birthday in february published. Thank you for joining us to discuss iain and his work. But the culture novels, of which consider phlebas is the first, are quite different from books where he writes as just iain banks when he writes with an m, its science fiction. Clarke award and the prometheus award to mention but a few. The tenth culture book from the awesome imagination of iain m. Unlike phlebas which was the second banks book i read after the algebraist, matter was a bit more predictable. Booklist on the hydrogen sonata one of banks best culture novels to date. In 2008, the london times named banks as one of the fifty greatest writers since 1945. Iain banks is celebrated as a novelist and science fiction writer.
Iain m banks iain menzies banks was born in fife, scotland and studied at the university of stirling, learning english literature, philosophy and psychology. Iain banks, whose novels have been published in over thirty languages, is a scottish writer who writes both mainstream fiction and science fiction. Theyre truly amazing science fiction, and there are a lot of them now too, so youve got an awesome adventure ahead. Consider phlebas, his first science fiction novel, was published under the name iain m. He is now widely acclaimed as one of the most powerful, innovative and exciting writers of his generation. An interview with iain banks 1990 by michael cobley.
Under the name iain banks, he also published mainstream fiction, including such novels as the wasp factory and a song of stone. Any banks book is a guaranteed good read, and the culture books in particular are all excellent, some volumes are naturally stronger than others. Banks 1954 20, one of the united kingdoms most popular authors of science fiction, wrote such highly regarded novels as consider phlebas, excession, and inversions. The bridge is a novel by the award winning british author iain m banks. Banks biography iain menzies banks was born in fife in 1954, and was educated at stirling university, where he studied english literature, philosophy and psychology. Iain m banks, iain banks 16 february 1954 9 june 20 was a scottish author. Banks, including the initial of his adopted middle name menzies, archival photograph made on 10 july 1989. Cancerstricken writer iain banks has just months to live. Banks s father was an officer in the admiralty and his mother was once a professional ice skater. The hunter is a young musician who lives in girdlecity, a sculpted city that wraps around an entire planet. He has since gained enormous popular and critical acclaim for both his mainstream published under the name iain banks and his science fiction novels.
Banks received a varied number of awards during his long career, this including the british science fiction association award, the locus poll award and the premio italia science fiction award. April 4 the narrative of george orwells dystopian novel nineteen eightyfour begins and causes widespread discussion. Use of weapons is the third novel in the the culture series by iain m. Banks was born on february 16, 1954 in fife, scotland.