Iain Banks’ ‘The Wasp Factory’ to feature in The Guardian
June 26, 2008Over the next four weekends, starting on June 28, John Mullan - professor of English at University College London - will be discussing Iain Banks' The Wasp Factory for the Guardian Book Club. Iain will also write a response piece, which will be published on July 12. We'll bring you links to any online content as we discover it, of course.
Banks-fans and other interested readers can also join the professor and the author for a discussion of the novel on Thursday July 10 at the Newsroom, 60 Farringdon Road, London EC1. Doors open at 6.30 p.m. and entry costs £8. To book a ticket, email book.club@guardian.co.uk or phone 020 7886 9281.
[Thanks to Dave H of 'The Banksoniain' for the heads-up]
‘State of the Art’ radio-play - casting news
June 26, 2008Last week on his blog, Paul Cornell reported that no less a British stage luminary than Anthony Sher KBE will be playing the voice of the GCU Arbitrary in the forthcoming BBC4 radio adaptation of 'State of the Art', which Paul has scripted and Iain Banks is reportedly very pleased with indeed.
More news as Paul reveals it...
[Thanks to Dave H of 'The Banksoniain' for the heads-up]
Iain [M] Banks Q&A session - send us your questions!
June 23, 2008
In a few weeks' time, the one and only Iain [M] Banks will be participating in an email QandA session, which will be conducted via this-here official Iain Banks website. We're therefore looking for a selection of interesting, intelligent questions to put to him.
So if you've got a burning issue that you'd like Iain to address, or if there's something that's intrigued you about his recent work, or a question that's been lurking in the back of your mind ever since you read one of his earliest novels that you'd now like to bring into the light of day, then this is your chance.
Send your best question (just one per correspondent, please), by email, to orbit@littlebrown.co.uk, with the subject line 'Iain [M] Banks QandA Suggestion'. The deadline for submissions for this first session is July 9th. After that date, the half-dozen or so queries that - in the collective opinion of the team here at Orbit / Abacus - are the most interesting and / or intriguing* will be put to Mr Banks for consideration. The resulting answers will then be posted to this very website in due course.
We're hoping that this will be the first of a number of regular Q&A sessions with Iain, so don't worry if you can't think of something fascinating to ask him straight away; why not mull it over a bit and maybe submit it to us for the next round?
*Hint: Questions such as "why did you cut up your passport?" and "why did you sell all your sports cars?" have been answered no end of times elsewhere, we feel. Likewise, "where do you get your ideas?" will be given short-shrift indeed. We're looking for interesting and / or intriguing queries to put to Iain, folks... so fire up those imagination circuits!
Iain Banks appearing at the 2008 Edinburgh Book Festival
June 17, 2008The Edinburgh International Book Festival recently published its 2008 events schedule, so we can now confirm that Iain [M] Banks will be appearing on Wednesday August 13th, from 8.00 to 9.00 p.m. in a session billed as 'The Biggart Bailey Event'.
Tickets are £9 (£7 conc.) and will go on sale from June 20th. We'd love to send you straight to the relevant ticket-booking page, but alas the EIBF website just isn't built that way, but if you head on over to tickets.edbookfest.co.uk and run a search for 'Iain Banks' the details should pop right up.
Worth noting also that Iain's good pal and fellow Orbit author Ken MacLeod will also be taking part in a couple of EIBF events this year; check the website for details.
[Thanks to DaveH of 'The Banksoniain' for the heads-up]
Iain Banks interviewed in ASIM #35
June 17, 2008The latest issue of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine includes an interview with Iain [M] Banks which was conducted in January this year.
David from 'The Banksoniain' tells us the piece "starts off being about Matter, but goes onto more general things, including the first hints that the next SF book is likely to be a 'Culture' one..."
Intriguing stuff. See the ASIM website for more information on ordering a print (AUD$8.95 plus postage) or pdf (AUD$4.95) copy of the latest issue.
Addendum: Simon Petrie of ASIM very kindly sent us a pdf copy of the interview with Iain, so we can confirm that he talks about (among many other things) his addiction to writing science fiction: "The point is, though, that science fiction is the genre that I love… it just lets me exercise the imagination, and that’s the point about science fiction. It's about imagination, it's about ideas, and those are the two things that I absolutely treasure, you don't get in any other genre."
And on that hint as to whether his next SF novel will be a Culture title: "Will it be Culture? I don't entirely know… but having said that, I love writing about the Culture, I just absolutely adore it, I almost have to force myself not to. So, chances are very much that the one after the next one (which is a mainstream) will be the next Culture science fiction novel."
There's also some intriguing thoughts on the origins of The Culture, the degree of artistic extrapolation vs. research in his world-building, the chances of seeing a Culture novel on the big screen (pretty slim), Iain's literary inspirations (a great many) and much more.
Well worth the pdf download admission price alone. Cheers, Simon!
Iain Banks appearing in Gateshead, September ‘08
June 3, 2008David from The Banksoniain has been in touch to let us know that Iain Banks is scheduled to put in an appearance in Gateshead on Friday September 12, as part of Gateshead Libraries' National Year of Reading events programme.
Initial info has been posted at www.asaplive.com, with more details to follow in due course, which we'll post as soon as we have them.
