Iain M. Banks died in 2013 of terminal Gallbladder cancer at the age of 59. Banks engaged in some impressive world-building when he came up with The Culture. The Culture stories center on a galactic society called The Culture, a utopian, post-scarcity space civilization of humanoid aliens, and advanced super-intelligent artificial intelligences living in artificial habitats spread across the Milky Way galaxy. The main themes of The Culture series concern the problems an idealistic, more-advanced civilization faces in dealing with smaller, less-advanced civilizations that do not share its ideals, and whose behaviors it sometimes finds barbaric. Think a clash of cultures who both think they’re right.
The Culture: The Drawings is a collection of Banks’ doodles, lists, sketches, and visualizations of the locales, ships, weapons, and vehicles that appear in his books. You can see how Banks developed his ideas through these drawings that would appear transformed into prose in his books.
“In some of The Culture stories, action takes place mainly in non-Culture environments, and the leading characters are often on the fringes of (or non-members of) the Culture, sometimes acting as agents of Culture (knowing and unknowing) in its plans to civilize the galaxy. Each novel is a self-contained story with new characters, although reference is occasionally made to the events of previous novels.”
“This rich, sweeping panorama of heroism and folly celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Culture, Banks’s far-future semi-utopian society…. The action tumbles along at a dizzying pace, bouncing among a fascinating array of characters and locales. It’s easy to see why Banks’s fertile, cheerfully nihilistic imagination and vivid prose have made The Culture space operas bestsellers and award favorites.”―Publishers Weekly on The Hydrogen Sonata
Iain M. Banks produced ten challenging SF novels that take the reader on trips to bizarre and frightening habitats. While there is plenty of action in these books, they’ll be considered classics because of the richness of their ideas. I’ve included a list of The Culture series below. I’m not exaggerating when I say they’re great books. Are you a fan of The Culture? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION By Adele Banks — 1
Production Note — 5
Locales — 11
Ships — 23
Transport — 69
Weaponry — 75
Drones — 97
World-building — 111
Marain — 135
The Culture series:
- Consider Phlebas (1987). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-44138-9
- The Player of Games (1988). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-47110-5
- Use of Weapons (1990). London: Orbit. ISBN 0-356-19160-5
- The State of the Art (1991). London: Orbit. ISBN 0-356-19669-0 – also included below in short fiction collections, but included here because it is considered part of the Culture series.[86]
- Excession (1996). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-85723-394-8
- Inversions (1998). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-85723-626-2
- Look to Windward (2000). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-85723-969-5
- Matter (2008). London: Orbit. ISBN 978-1-84149-417-3
- Surface Detail (2010). London: Orbit. ISBN 978-1-84149-893-5
- The Hydrogen Sonata (2012). London: Orbit. ISBN 978-0-356-50150-5
I read about 6 or 7 of his SF novels and enjoyed them a lot. I also read a few of his non sf novels like The WaspFactory and Crow Road. Enjoyed them also. He died too young.
As you can see from my book list I also really enjoy his work
BANKS IAIN (WRITING SF AS I M BANKS)
1THE ALGEBRAIST (UNCORRECTED PROOF)
1AGAINST A DARK BACKGROUND (SIGNED HARDCOVER + UNCORRECTED PROOF)
1THE BRIDGE (SIGNED) (NO SF)
1THE BUSINESS (PROOF)
1CONSIDER PHLEBAS (SIGNED)
1ESPEDAIR STREET (ROCK MUSIC NOVEL) (NO SF)
1EXCESSION (HARDCOVER)
1INVERSIONS (PROOF + SIGNED HARDCOVER)
1FEARSOME ENDJINN (SIGNED HARDCOVER)
1LOOK TO WINDWARD
1THE PLAYER OF GAMES
1USE OF WEAPONS (SIGNED HARDCOVER + SIGNED PROOF COPY !)
1WALKING ON GLASS
1THE WASP FACTORY (NO SF)
1WHIT OR ISIS AMONG THE UNSAVED
3THE STATE OF THE ART (SIGNED HARDCOVER) + (UNCORRECTED PROOF)
9CANAL DREAMS (NO SF)
9COMPLICITY (HORROR)
9THE CROW ROAD (NO SF)
Wolf, I’m impressed by your Iain M. Banks collection! You have more of Banks than I do. Those signed editions are worth Big Bucks!
Steve, I have THE WASP FACTORY around here somewhere. I’ll have to find it and read it. You’re right: Banks died too young. What a talented writer!
THE WASP FACTORY was such an annoying novel for me that I’ve not made too much effort to read his other work, despite fairly consistent raves. TWF hinges on a very stupid proposition, by me, that a Whole Lot of people seem to be able to buy into with no problem, largely that the protagonist blithely believes something the father character said in the protag’s childhood, and apparently has never had a conversation with anyone else about nor any experience in dealing with imagery or discussion of that or related issues. I am being, I hope, sufficiently vague. Many seem to love the novel.
Todd, that was some stinging criticism of THE WASP FACTORY!
I read THE WASP FACTORY but that was it. Looks like he had an amazing imagination.
Patti, world-building tests the best SF writers. Iain M. Banks was a master of that. Banks wrote some fascinating novels.
No, I’m not a fan, but it’s because I’ve never read him! I’ve always meant to try one but didn’t know where to start, and the one I picked at random, left me not knowing what was going on. Will have to try again, clearly.
Jeff, Consider Phlebas, might be the place to start with.