Iain M. Banks

Amazon Is Turning Iain M. Banks’ Iconic Culture Books Into a TV Series

Amazon’s been making some major genre plays in its original programming recently, but its latest grab is one of its grandest plans yet: An adaptation of Iain M. Banks’ iconic scifi saga, the Culture Series, starting off with Consider Phlebas. Announced today by Amazon, the adaptation of Phlebas—the novel that introduced readers to the ginormous…

What Transhuman Space Operas Teach Us About the Future

In the 1660s the Irish chemist Robert Boyle made a list of 24 wishes: a page or two of solutions to all the challenges of 17th century life that he hoped might come about in the not too distant future. They ranged from the explorative: ‘the art of flying’, or the practical: ‘the acceleration of…

Moby Dick Meets Ringworld, And Other Great Literary Mashups

What would Herman Melville have made of Larry Niven’s huge space mega-engineering project? You don’t have to wonder any longer. The venerable zine File770 has a collection of literary mashups, including Simon Bisson’s Melville’s Ring World: Call me Louis Wu. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having far too much money in my purse, and…

Mark Zuckerberg Wants You To Read Iain M. Banks’ Player Of Games

The founder of Facebook is reading a book every two weeks, and discussing it with the Facebook community. And his next selection is The Player of Games, one of the amazing Culture novels by Iain M. Banks. Writes Zuckerberg: This is a change of pace from all the recent social science books. Instead, it’s a…

10 Utterly Brilliant Novels That Have One Fatal Flaw

There’s no such thing as a perfect book — but some books feel as though they could be just about perfect, if they didn’t have one nagging problem. And sometimes, the most wonderful books have the most glaring shortfalls. Here are 10 amazing novels that are each marred by a fatal flaw. Top image: Hobbit…

Great Science Fiction Stories That Can Help You Make Sense Of Economics

We all know that economists love science fiction — especially Isaac Asimov fan Paul Krugman. But science fiction and fantasy can also help teach ordinary people about the Dismal Science. Here are 22 great science fiction and fantasy stories that can help you make sense of economics. Top image: Making Money by Terry Pratchett The…

Best Iain M. Banks tribute ever. Elon Musk tweeted thathe’s naming two SpaceX droneships after Culture ships in Banks’ The Player of Games. One drone ship will be called Just Read The Instructions, and the other will be Of Course I Still Love You. [via Tor.com]

Some Fascinating Things I Learned From This Profile Of Iain M. Banks

Iain M. Banks is one of my favorite science fiction writers, and we’ve done a guide to his Culture novels, but I still learned some new stuff from this in-depth profile of him in Kirkus Reviews by io9 contributor Andrew Liptak. Among other things, I knew that at least one of Banks’ famous novels about…

I Refuse To Be Friends With Anybody Who Doesn’t Love This Book

It’s okay to disagree with your friends or loved ones about certain things. But still, some things are sacred. Which science fiction or fantasy book is so essential, you’d refuse to be friends with (or to date) someone who didn’t like it? Please include a book cover, book trailer, piece of fan art, or other…

Post-Scarcity Societies (That Still Have Scarcity)

One of the most alluring dreams in science fiction is the post-scarcity society — a place or time where nobody goes without, because technology has improved. But when you dig deeper, most post-scarcity worlds still have some scarcity, because otherwise it’s hard to tell a story about them. See for yourself! The Jump 225 trilogy…

Why Nobody Ever Asks If Irony Has Ruined Science Fiction

Every few years, there’s another essay insisting that irony is ruining culture. Hipsters and postmodernism have created an insincere world where nothing means anything. But you never hear anybody insisting that irony has ruined science fiction. That’s because irony is part of the creative life-force of the genre. Top image: Cover of Thomas Pynchon’s Crying…

Are The Best Sentences In Science Fiction Mostly Aphorisms?

A lot of science fiction’s most quotable authors do seem to write a ton of aphorisms — Robert A. Heinlein comes to mind, for example. But over at the Guardian, there’s a discussion of the greatest sentences in genre fiction, and the question arose: are the best sentences in genre mostly aphoristic? For example, writer…

The final Iain Banks book will be published next February

Sadly, it’s not a novel — but it’s still pretty exciting to have one last glimpse inside the mind of the legendary author. A collection of Banks’ poetry, co-written by The Night Sessions author Ken MacLeod and edited by MacLeod, will be published on Feb. 16, 2015, which would have been Banks’ 61st birthday. Talking…

A unified theory to explain the casting of every new Doctor Who

So, your friendly neighborhood post-apocalyptic fake mailman has been hanging out in this place called Bridge City, which I swear to god is run by Tom Petty. He won’t admit it, but he keeps singing “Free Fallin’” and it’s driving me goddamned crazy. If I don’t hear “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” soon I’m throwing him…

Iain M. Banks gets asteroid named after him

Iain M. Banks has joined a select group of science fiction creators who’ve received the ultimate tribute, of having a celestial body named after him. The asteroid named Iainbanks is orbiting the sun in the main asteroid belt, every 3.94 years. J.L. Galache of the Minor Planet Center explains: When I heard of [Banks]’ sickness…

Iain M. Banks explains why the Culture will never end

Just a month before his passing, Iain M. Banks did a final interview with the Guardian, and it’s a must-read in general. In particular, he answers one of the great longstanding questions about his Culture novels: why didn’t he ever write a novel about the fall of the Culture, his massive spacefaring civilization? https://gizmodo.com/iain-m-banks-please-destroy-the-culture-5475818 Banks…

11 Rules of Good Writing That Iain M. Banks Left as His Legacy

Over the weekend, author Iain M. Banks died of cancer — just two months after announcing that he had less than a year to live. He left behind some of the greatest works of science fiction ever written. Here are eleven Banksian rules of good SF writing, that we would do well to remember long…

Iain M. Banks, author of the Culture novels, has passed away

We knew this day was coming, but we hoped that it wouldn’t be so soon. Iain M. Banks, author of the Culture series, The Algebraist, and a host of other novels, both genre and non-genre, has passed away. https://gizmodo.com/welcome-to-the-culture-the-galactic-civilization-that-354739 In April, Banks posted a brave message announcing that he was suffering from terminal cancer, and…

Iain M. Banks explains he wasn’t writing science fiction for the money

Iain M. Banks has had two astoundingly great careers — with the middle initial, he’s one of the most influential and brilliant science fiction authors of the past 25 years. Without it, he’s a great literary author. And some people believe he did the science fiction to subsidize his literary work. If anything, it’s the…

10 Novels That Are More Action-Packed Than Most Summer Movies

It’s summer movie season, the time when blockbuster films come out every week and we pit Vin Diesel against Wolverine. But how do you keep that cineplex excitement alive when you’re at home on the couch? With books! Here are 10 science fiction novels that pack more non-stop thrills than Fast & Furious 6. Really.…