This year's awards will be announced on 4th November. In the meantime, The Player of Games is available as an audio download from Audible.co.uk, Audible.com (for US-based listeners) and the iTunes store.

The Guardian is holding a live webchat with the man himself at 13.00 hours today.

"When we asked you whom you'd like to see more of on the site, one of the names that came up over and over was Iain Banks. And who are we to argue?"

Details of how to participate are at www.guardian.co.uk.

[Heads-up via the always-vigilant David H of The Banksonian]

And the winner, by a significant margin, was our very own Iain M. Banks' Use of Weapons.

The Register reports:

"The 50 candidates attracted a whopping 27,088 votes, with the winner securing 10,032. Runner-up was Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's The Mote In God's Eye, which was honoured with 7,099 votes. You can see the full results right here.

Worth noting that Consider Phlebas, Excession, The Player of Games and The Algebraist also featured, polling a few hundred votes between them. But it's clearly Use of Weapons that people want to see on the big screen.

Hollywood movie moguls, take note!

Visit www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer to hear presenter Sue Lawley quiz Iain on what he would have taken to his hypothetical desert island at the back end of the nineties...

[Thanks to David H of The Banksoniain for the heads-up]

Here's the video recording of the interview (available via YouTube) which took place at the Cheltenham Literature Festival last year. Derek talks to Iain about various topics, including the digitisation of books, his writing process and the impact of world events on his work.

An audio recording of the interview is also available via audioboo.fm.

Many thanks indeed to David H (editor of Iain Banks fanzine The Banksonian) for the heads-up!

I'll let Mat explain:

At the book launch for the new Culture novel Surface Detail by Iain M Banks I asked people one question:

What do they want to see become science fact?

Initially inspired by the 50 people 1 question films by Deltree I thought that an audience gathered to see the most successful science fiction author since Asimov could be fertile ground for thoughtful comments on the future.

Many thanks to all contributors and the De La Warr Pavilion management for letting me shoot.

Shot on a 7d with a simple edit in FCP.

And here are the results:

Science Fact? from Mat McD on Vimeo

• Iain M Banks SFX Fannish Inquisition, part one
• Iain M Banks SFX Fannish Inquisition, part two

"We interviewed Iain at the Luton Library Theatre before he went on stage, in a half-hour interview which turned out to be both amusing and insightful. The full interview is only available in our printed and digital editions."

Here's a taster question to whet your appetite:

The View From Here: Is there a grand plan for the Culture, are you taking it somewhere or just having fun with it?

Iain M Banks: "No – and yeah... it will go on until I stop having fun with it and then I will just sort of leave it to be. There's no overall strategic plan and in a sense that is the plan, having no plan is the plan. The plot of the Culture is not going to come to some huge climatic end, well unless I come up with an idea that can only work in those terms but I'll try not to.

"That is, the Culture just keeps on going: it's this society where by now you might have expected it to sublime, to retire from the normal matter base life of the galaxy and the universe and go off into this magical realm. (Which I may have to deal with as I keep getting asked about it these days, so I’m going to have to explain what the hell it is.)

"But it's definitely not doing this, deliberately staying back and surfing the crest instead of going down the wave - it wants to keep on doing good works, it wants to be part of the normal life of the galaxy. So it's deliberately not doing what it’s expected to do. So that theme of continuance, of sticking around – like passiveness, almost bloody mindedness is why it can't just all suddenly come to a big crashing stop and I think eventually it will fade away, but it’s going to leave lots of echoes.

"That was one of the questions today during the Twitter thing which I had to put in quite concise terms: somebody said, will the Culture ever fall? And I said, it’s not going to fall but it will fade and that’s going to leave echoes everywhere. ( Mock evil laughter )"

If you want to read the full interview you'll need to pay The View From Here the princely sum of $1 (one US dollar) or 69p (sixty-nine British pence) for the downloadable pdf edition, or $7.35 / £4.99 for a copy of the print remix.

More information from www.theviewfromheremagazine.com.

Five readers, two of whom (including a former editor of 2000AD) had never encountered a Culture novel before, discuss their reactions over at www.scotsman.com.

Visit www.timhaighreadsbooks.com for an earlier interview with Iain on the subject of his previous novel, Transition.

[Podcast produced and hosted by Green-Shoot.]

To propose a question for Iain, tweet it with the hashtag #mbanks and the Waterstone's crew will scoop 'em up and pick the best ones to put to the man himself on the 19th, then tweet the resulting answers.

The font can be downloaded from Daniel's website at danielsolis.blogspot.com.

He's also posted a video about the creation of the font:

Topics of discussion include Iain's writing history, his take on mainstream literature's opinion of science fiction, his influences, recommended writers and whether he thinks ebooks will eventaully take over form print media.

Read the interview at www.SciFiNow.co.uk.

[Another big thank you to David H of the Banksoniain for he heads-up!]

The show is available to listen to until October 7th via the BBC website.

[Many thanks to David H of The Banksonian for the heads-up!]

SFX Magazine said that Surface Detail is "...one of the most entertaining Culture novels for a long time".

Sci-Fi Now Magazine said: "Famed for his profoundly dark and intelligent humour, Iain M Banks has succeeded in weaving another intricate tale that offers fascinating insight into the human condition."

And TheBookBag.co.uk's Robin Leggett summed Surface Detail up thusly:

"There's double-crossing aplenty, action, revenge, love stories, virtual and real action, tech and humour and some terrific characters. But what sets this book apart is the quality of the writing and the depth of the author's imagination. Amongst all the mayhem, Banks raises some interesting questions about identity, death and the whole point of Hell."

More info over on the Surface Detail page of the site.

Dave says:

"This issue reports on 2010 up to the publication of Surface Detail tracing the development of the book. Iain's appearances during the year so far, including Eastercon, are also examined. The Iain Banks iPhone App is discussed as are Hungarian translations, and as Surface Detail is out next month there are more than the usual number of events in the Calendar. Media Scanner highlights the interesting press coverage Iain has received since the last issue. There is a smattering of film news and a few snippets about book after next."

Download Banksoniain #16 from www.banksoniain.netfirms.com.

The readings and conversations at the Prague Writers' Festival were recorded and are now online via www.pwf.cz.

Iain participates in the Tuesday evening conversation about Heresy, and the Wednesday evening readings.

More details on the forum.

From the Orbit announcement post: "The title is Surface Detail, which refers to a number of things, not least one of the principal characters, who is covered, externally and internally, with congenitally administered tattoos."

Here's the cover in all its glory:

And here's the back cover blurb:

It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters.

It begins with a murder.

And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself.

Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release, when it comes, is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture.

Benevolent, enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful though it may be, the Culture can only do so much for any individual. With the assistance of one of its most powerful - and arguably deranged - warships, Lededje finds herself heading into a combat zone not even sure which side the Culture is really on. A war - brutal, far-reaching – is already raging within the digital realms that store the souls of the dead, and it's about to erupt into reality.

It started in the realm of the Real and that is where it will end. It will touch countless lives and affect entire civilizations, but at the centre of it all is a young woman whose need for revenge masks another motive altogether.

October 2010, folks. Don't miss it.

Edit 24.06.10

Here's the US cover variant with alternate font / logo:

The deadline for submitting a question is Tuesday, June 15th. Details of how to submit can be found at www.sfx.co.uk.

The show will be broadcast next Wednesday, 19th May, at 11.30 GMT BST and repeated the following Sunday at 10.30 BST. More info at the BBC Radio Scotland website. The show should also be available post-broadcast, via the BBC's iPlayer service.

Thanks to David H of The Banksoniain for the heads-up.

• Prague Writers' Festival 2010 from June 6th-10th 2010
• Literary Dundee 2010 on Saturday June 26th, 2010
• Novacon 40 from November 12th-14th 2010

See the Appearances page for a bit more information on these and other events that Iain will be attending.

Thanks (as always!) to Dave H of The Banksoniain for the heads-up on these events.

David H, editor of the Bansksoniain fanzine, has been in touch to let us know about some of the Banks-related events taking place at the convention:

• David himself will be giving a talk called "Iain Banks: Before The Wasp Factory" on Friday at 13:00
• Iain is on a panel called "Utopia - How the Concept Has Developed in Philosophy and SF" on Friday at 16:00
• Iain is being interviewed by Jane Killick on Saturday at 11:00 (and in an autograph session afterwards)
• Iain is hosting a whisky tasting on Saturday at 16:00
• Iain is on a panel called "Language and Dialect in Writing" on Monday at 11:00

Full details are available in the Eastercon events programme. David has also suggested that we remind everyone that you can pay for a full weekend Convention membership on the door, and day-memberships are also available. See the Odyssey 2010 website for full details.

And if you're going to be at Eastercon and end up taking any photos of Iain, or manage to capture any decent audio or video footage (assuming that it's allowed under Convention rules, of course) then do feel free to upload your stuff to a suitable online sharing service and then send in a link (to webguy [at] iain-banks.net) and I'll post a selection of the best examples to the site next week.

David tells us: "Banksoniain #15 looks back at 2009, the publication of Transition and Iain's appearances during the year, including his My Planet Rocks musical choices and interview. It also assess the 2008 theatre production of The Wasp Factory and talks to director Ed Robson. Looking forward there is news of his next book's working title, and some movement of the film front."

Download a pdf copy of Banksonian #15 from the Banksoniain website.

Various websites carry versions of the news: www.slashfilm.com, screendaily.com and hollywoodreporter.com included. At the moment there really isn't anything to add to those announcements. I'll certainly try to post fresh updates as and when they become available (hopefully with a little more alacrity...) and in the meantime, do feel free to join in the discussion of the project over at the Iain Banks Fan Forum (you'll need to be a forum member in order to post replies to the thread).

The site is back in action now, as you'll have noticed if you're reading this article on the Latest News page. On the other hand, if you're reading on RSS, do click on over to the website, take a quick look around, maybe let us know what you think of the new look.

We've added a bit more functionality to the news items. If you regulalry use one of the major bookmark and / or link-sharing apps or online services then you'll hopefully find an appropriate shortcut button at the end of each item to help you post and share a link. There's also a link on each news item to a suitable section of the Iain Banks Forum, to make it quicker and easier for you to talk things over with your fellow Banks fans and readers (although you'll still need to register as a forum member before you'll be able to join or start a conversation thread).

Alternatively, if you have something useful and relevant to add to a news item, then you can do so via the Comments form on the article in question. We are going to be quite strict with the comments submitted to the site to make sure that irritations from spammers (zero-tolerance there) and time-wasters are kept to an absolute minimum. So: all comments will be moderated (for the time being, anyhow) and anything non-relevant will be politely declined.

We've also improved the main bibliography section, merging Iain's SF and non-SF titles into a single list and then providing chronological listings of his SF, non-sf and Culture books, as well as his entire output to-date.

Anyhow, do have a look around, and if you feel like letting us know what you think of the new site, please do so over on the Forum or via the contact page.

Hopefully everything will be working smoothly, although it's fairly inevitable that gremlins will have messed with something during the switch-over. If you spot a problem, please do let us know and we'll fix it as soon as we can. One thing we do already know about is that the extracts are temporarily missing from the site. That's because we had a bit of an issue with a database backup a while ago and some of the content was unfortunately truncated. We'll get the extracts back up and properly linked in before too long, all being well.

Cheers!

Darren Turpin, Site Admin
pp the Iain Banks website team

Here's a round-up of some of the pieces of online coverage that have caught our eye in the past few weeks:

John O'Connell, in a lead review in The Times, hailed Transition as "a reminder of how intelligent and imaginative [Banks] is ... Baroque, digressive, kinetic, teeming with big ideas and grand theories, it's a novel to get lost in ... a gripping, thought-provoking experiment."

Michael Marshall, reviewing for The New Scientist commented on Transition high-quality construction: "Banks deploys his usual complex structure, using multiple narrators, variously in the first and third person, and intricately nested flashbacks. In some of his books these structural gymnastics seem precious, but here they heighten the alien mood and help build the tension, leading to a nail-biting finale."

Liviu Suciu said, in the course of a review for fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com: "As core sf, its subtlety will be appreciated only on the reread when much more will make sense, though the novel raises more questions than brings answers and offers a great opportunity for a Culture-like cycle of novels in this extraordinary milieu."

Aaron Lavery's review for metro.co.uk concludes that the genre-crossover works well: "Fans of Banks's more conventional work might be initially put off, but they shouldn't be; it's an engrossing, futuristic fable with plenty to say about the here and now."

'ZS' covered Transition in a review column for business website cityam.com, saying "what this book offers is a disturbing, sweeping and customarily imaginative foray into the most sinister reaches of possibility" whilst also lamenting an apparent randomness and incoherency to the plot (you have to wonder at this point whether 'ZS' has encountered much of Iain's fiction before..?)

Brian J. Robb, reviewing for totalscifionline.com found a few parallels with recent TV sci-fi tropes, but still appreciated the mental gymnastics involved: "Banks presents an imagined series of worlds and puts his characters through the wringer. There are some nice games with chronology and point-of-view, which would certainly reward a sustained reading of the book in as few sessions as possible."

Nat Smith, writing for theskinny.co.uk gives Transition four stars, saying "initially a complicated book, [it] quickly becomes a fascinating one."

The Ex-Communicator, writing on LiveJournal said: "It's the best SF novel I have read (listened to) this year."

Patrick Ness reviewing for The Guardian on 26th Sept muses on the wasn't quite as impressed, concluding "this is an airport novel ... You're welcome to take that for as much of a recommendation as you choose." Ah well, each to their own, eh?

Do feel free to let us know if you've spotted any reviews online that we haven't mentioned here.

Yes, that Ken Livignstone, the former Mayor of London. Turns out he's something of an sf fan: he name-checks David Brin and mentions putting in an appearance at the Brighton SF Festival in 1987, and says he reads sf classics. You live and learn, eh?

Read the full piece at www.newstatesman.com.

Good reading over at www.guardian.co.uk.

Well worth a visit to www.independent.co.uk to read the full article.

Read the full interview at news.scotsman.com.

That is all.

Thanks yet again to Dave H of the Banksoniain for the heads-up!

More info at the BBC Radio 6 website.

Thanks to Dave H of The Banksoniain for the heads-up!

"Transition is a book that makes you think, one that makes you look at the world around you in a different light, and it's also a properly thrilling read. If only more contemporary fiction was like it."

Read the full review (although be warned: there are a couple of spoilers in there) at www.independent.co.uk.

And here, for your visual edification, are the UK, US and UK Audio covers:

Click on a cover to see a larger image.

When asked about forthcoming brand new novel Transition's placement in the M / non-M spectrum of his work, Iain said:

"The template I had in mind was The Bridge, my third novel, from 1986. I still think very highly of it, and I liked the way its structure let me use different voices and approaches. So, for Transition, I was trying to come up with something as different and challenging. I still think of Transition as basically mainstream, but I guess there's enough sci-fi in there to justify publishing it as such in a market where my sci-fi has generally done better."

Visit www.praguepost.com to read the rest of the interview.

Many thanks to Joe G of FPI Blog fame for the heads-up!

Iain is doing two signings. The first at the Big Ben Bookshop at 12:00 on Monday, 8 June. The second is at the Academia Bookstore at 17:00 the same day.

Then he is part of the Guardian Conversation called "The Freedom to Lie" at 18:00 on Tuesday, 9 June in the Laterna Magika Theatre, along with Wolf Biermann, Ma Jian, Jaroslav Rudiš, moderated by Max Rudin.

Later that evening he is part of the International Reading session in the same location at 20:00 along with Jaroslav Rudiš, Jaromir Švejdík and Yang Lian.

Both these events are listed as having simultaneous translation.

Tickets are available at the Laterna Magika, from Ticketpro or reservations can be made by email at info@pwf.cz.

The full Festival Programme is available at www.pwf.cz/en.

We are very pleased to announce that Iain Banks / Iain M Banks, author of The Wasp Factory, The Crow Road, Consider Phlebas, The State of the Art, and many more, will be signing in Chapters Bookstore, Parnell Street, Dublin 1 on Friday 15th of May from 5pm to 6pm.

Please contact Chapters for more information on the signing and if you plan to attend, don't forget to check with them before you travel, in case of last-minute alterations or a cancellation.

The discussion ranges across Iain's love of Risk!, the 'anorak' label as applied to science fiction fans, the possibility of a Wasp Factory movie, Iain's reaction to reviews, his taken on the publishing industry and more.

This award is given by the Libertarian Futurist Society in recognition of the best pro-freedom novel published during the previous year.

The award will be presented during Anticipation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention, which takes place from August 6-10, 2009, in Montréal, Quebec, Canada.

Congratulations to Iain on his nomination!

In the course of describing his general approach to the degree of scientific realism he includes in his different writing modes, Iain also lets slip a tantalising hint about his next novel:

My new book is a mainstream novel that borrows science fiction tropes. It plays with the idea that there are an infinite number of different worlds.

So it's using speculative hard science. And it's important to the book that there's a degree of respectability about the idea of the multiverse, or the many-worlds theory.

You can discuss the implications of this little snippet over on the Iain [M] Banks fan forum, should you be so inclined...

Here's the info from the BBC Radio4 website:

Writer China Miéville talks to American science fiction writer Ursula Le Guin.

Le Guin was a trailblazer - writing in the 1960s, her series of books about the adventures of a boy wizard, Ged, included characters of every race and colour. Her fiction has been acutely concerned with politics, portraying worlds destroyed by environmental catastrophe that prefigured modern concerns about global warming, and societies without gender just as modern-day feminism began to take off.

Featuring contributions and tributes from Iain Banks and Margaret Atwood.

[Thanks to The Banksoniain's David H for the heads-up]

[via the FPI Blog and Dave H]

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Wasp Factory we revisit Banks's first published novel. The timeline of Paul Cornell's radio adaptation of The State of the Art is examined and the production is reviewed, along with a trip to Diziet Sma's Paris. We also look back on Banks appearances at Gateshead Library, Lincoln Book Festival and Newcon4, and a quick look at the geography of chapter 2 of Complicity, along with the usual chronicling of Banks's media coverage.

More details to follow, as they become available.

Update, 13.01.09 The transfer is now complete and normal service appears to have been restored.

The four-day convention, which in 2010 will return to the London Heathrow Radisson Edwardian; scene of this year's Orbital 2008 event.

For more information, see www.Odyssey2010.org.

The new site also has an RSS Feed to help you keep up with updates and is sub-divided into easy-to-navigate sections. Plus, you can add your comments to any of the FAQs on show.

This new forum replaces the old installation which has been largely defunct and closed to new members for quite some time. Former and brand new members alike are most welcome to sign up for an account and join the conversation. Your frienfly, neighbourhood Forum Admin, along with moderators 'edash' and 'rac', will be on hand to help new members settle in and will be happy to answer any queries you might have.

See you there!