Iain [M] Banks Q&A session II - more questions, please!
July 24, 2008Iain enjoyed providing answers for the first email Q&A session so much that he's asked us to set up another one right away.
And so, without further ado, we hereby call for all you Banks-fans and readers to send in your next batch of questions for Iain. The same general guidelines as last time will apply once more:
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 second session is Wednesday August 13th. 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 his consideration and contemplation. The resulting answers will then be posted to to the website as soon as Iain has gotten his answers back to us.
Fire away!
Iain Banks email Q&A July 2008
July 21, 2008A few weeks ago, we invited readers of this website and www.orbitbooks.net to submit questions to be put to Iain Banks by email. Once the three-week submission period was over, the selection panel sifted through the submissions and picked half a dozen; Iain mused, pondered, cogitated and then sent back the following responses:
John Mullan on readers’ responses to ‘The Wasp Factory’
July 21, 2008Over at The Guardian Online John Mullan presents a summary of the recent Wasp Factory discussion panel, which was held in London and featured a live panel discussion with Iain Banks on the subject of the many and varied interpretations of and reactions to his debut novel.
The general conclusion was that the book isn't actually as shocking as its reputation tends to suggest. Iain said that it was written as a black comedy and that Complicity was actually written to be far more shocking, but tends to be written up as being far less so. Iain's suggestion was that the shock response to The Wasp Factory created "anti-bodies" that then defeated the shock value of the later novel.
Plenty more of interest from the session, over at books.guardian.co.uk.
Edit Dave H has pointed us in the direction of a podcast recording of the panel session on the Guardian website. Cheers Dave!
Iain Banks on ‘The Wasp Factory’ in The Guardian
July 14, 2008The Guardian has posted Iain's own take on the background to his breakthrough novel The Wasp Factory over at books.guardian.co.uk.
In the article we learn that The Wasp Factory was Iain's sixth completed novel, and that at the time he regarded it as something of a step-backwards from his dream of becoming a published science fiction writer:
"The Wasp Factory represented me admitting partial defeat, heaving a slightly theatrical sigh, stepping reluctantly away from the gaudy, wall-size canvasses of science/space fiction to lay down my oversize set of Rolf Harris paint rollers, pick up a set of brushes thinner than pencils and - jaw set, brows furrowed - lower myself to using a more restricted palette and to producing what felt like a miniature in comparison."
There's plenty more insight into the origins of the book to be gained by reading the rest of the Guardian article.
Reminder: Iain Banks appearing at 2008 Latitude Festival
July 14, 2008Just a quick reminder that Iain Banks will be appearing at this coming weekend's Latitude Festival.
The Literary Arena page has been updated recently and lists Iain as appearing on Saturday, possibly round about lunch-time (ish). So if you're already heading on down to the festival this weekend (Saturday day passes are sold out, so it's probably best not to turn up on spec) and want to see our Mr Banks do his thing (whatever that thing turns out to be) then it looks like Saturday is the day to hang around the Literary Arena. Presumably they'll give you an actual timetable of events when you get there on the day, so you'll know roughly what time to turn up. So that should be okay...
Iain Banks on Radio 4 next week
July 10, 2008Via Dave H of The Banksoniain fanzine, we hear that Iain is listed as a contributor to the programme 'The Disappearing Art of the Mix Tape', which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 11:30 next Thursday, July 17th.
The blurb says: "Broadcaster and journalist David Quantick celebrates the home-produced compilation cassette, a disappearing art form in an age when music can be readily downloaded. Contributors include novelist Iain Banks and poet Simon Armitage."
More information from www.bbc.co.uk.
One from the Archives: Iain [M] Banks’ Write Place
July 7, 2008Originally posted to YouTube (and presumably broadcast) back in March 2008, in this clip from Sky Arts' 'The Book Show', Iain Banks introduces us to his inner sanctum: the eclectic study wherein all that writerly magic takes place...
[Many thanks to Gary W for the heads-up]
