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]
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 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 video interview on CNN.com
May 16, 2008During his recent appearance at the Lincoln Book Festival, Iain Banks talked to CNN's Linnie Rawlinson about a wide range of topics and subject areas, including the appeal of science fiction, his sf-nal influences, the social impact of post-scarcity economics in The Culture (and whether he's like to live there) as well as his vision for the future of humanity, including the one Culture-based gift he'd give the human race, if he could...
You can check out the video version (in two parts) over on the CNN website, or if you don't have a broadband connection handy right now, you can read the text version of the interview instead.
Quickfire Iain M Banks interview online at SciFi.com
April 10, 2008John Joseph Adams talks to Iain [M] Banks about Matter, over at SciFi.com.
[Thanks to Gary W for the heads-up]
Iain Banks interviewed for The Edinburgh Evening News
March 25, 2008Iain talks to Edinburgh Evening News interviewer Sandra Dick about his writing habits, his political views and his hankering for the Tesla Roadster...
Iain Banks interviewed for The Independent
March 12, 2008Cole Moreton interviewed Iain for British daily The Independent back at the beginning of the month. The interviewer was very interested in Iain's politics and the fact that he's now renewed his UK passport, which he famously cut up and sent to Number 10, Downing Street in protest at the UK's involvement in the Iraq War.
Style-watchers will note that Iain is also very pleased indeed with his new leather jacket...
Anatomy of an interview: Craig McGill posts his Iain Banks source material
February 26, 2008Journalist Craig McGill has posted a piece on his blog that offers an insight into the journalistic / editorial processes of the UK's tabloid papers.
Craig recently interviewed Iain Banks for The Scottish Sun. In his blog piece he has posted the original audio file of the interview, along with the copy that he submitted to The Sun and a pdf of the final article as it was printed in the paper. He also invites journalism students to prepare their own piece from the audio transcript and submit it to the site for comparison purposes.
Iain Banks chats to The Cambridge Student online
February 25, 2008There's a quick-fire interview / chat with Iain Banks over at The Cambridge Student Online. Iain talks about his writing habits, touches on politics and religion, and then finishes with mention of an intriguing new creative angle, which he plans to explore over the summer:
"I shall be using a staggeringly complicated but brilliantly capable music processing program called Logic 7 to make music on. Objectively the results might be unlistenable rubbish but as I can finally hear through my ears what I've only ever heard in my head all these years, I remain resolutely tickled pink by the whole process."
We'll be doing our best to blag some MP3 downloads for the site, of course, but can make no promises whatsoever...
Iain Banks interviewed for The Australian
February 25, 2008Peter Wilson, Eurocorrespondent for The Australian, visited Iain Banks in Edinburgh and wrote up an interview that's available now on the website under the tag-line Two Curmudgeons for the Price of One.
Iain talks more about his life than his writing in this one (or at least, that's how it's written up), so it makes for some interesting background reading.
io9.com Iain Banks interview + ‘Matter’ review
February 20, 2008io9.com blogger Annalee Newitz posted a double-dose of Banks-related content yesterday.
In her interview with Iain Banks Annalee asks questions like: "Do you suspect that a little weirdness is a necessary component of longevity for a species or civilization?" (answer: "Absolutely...") and in her accompanying review of Matter, she declares:
"Told with Banks' usual nihilistic humor and flair for outlandish description, this is a novel that will grab you by the shorthairs, scream at you about realpolitik, and then smack you on the head with a laser blast. And of course, you'll love every minute of it."
Head on over to io9.com to read the full interview and review.
Iain Banks interviewed for The Socialist Review
February 13, 2008The February 2008 issue of The Socialist Review carries an interview with Iain, conducted by Patrick Ward. As you'd anticipate, there's plenty of political discussion, along with questions about both Matter and The Steep Approach to Garbadale and some thoughts on 'The Culture as Utopia'.
Iain also talks about his current plans for the next book...
"I'm thinking about thinking about the next book. I'm going to start typing it in October. So I'm not thinking about it. I'm thinking about thinking about it. There's a distinction I hope you appreciate."
...just in case you were wondering.
You can read the full interview at www.socialistreview.org.uk, as well as Patrick Ward's (brief) review of Matter.
Quick reminder: Iain Banks interview in Interzone #214
February 12, 2008Just a quick reminder for anyone who missed issue #214 of Interzone, the UK's longest-running original short science fiction magazine, this particular issue (January 2008) contains a lengthy feature interview with Iain, conducted by Paul Raven of Velcro City Tourist Board and Futurismic.com.
Iain tells Paul about the background and inspiration for the major themes in Matter, the conceptual basis of The Culture, and his brief flirtation with short fiction. Well worth tracking down a copy.
Iain Banks interviewed for The Guardian
February 7, 2008The Guardian's Sarah Kinson has conducted a quick-fire interview with Iain, that's available to read at The Guardian Unlimited.
The topic of the interview is 'Why I Write', and Iain talks about his inspiration and motivation for living the writer's life, plus the joy of getting up and writing at 4 a.m. if that's when inspiration happens to strike: "Which is good because then I can finish my allocation of words for the day by breakfast and have the day off."
Iain Banks talks to John Naish for the Times Online
February 3, 2008John Naish talks to Iain for the Life & Style section of The Times Online about his increasingly laid-back, green and low-octane approach to life. The opening paragraph reads:
"Iain Banks lifts a corduroy trouser leg to reveal a nasty-looking scar line just below his kneecap. It's the last physical mark of the best-selling author's rock'n'roll days as he renounces his decades of high-octane, health-shunning hedonism and embraces rather calmer ways of greener, cleaner living."
Read the full interview over at women.timesonline.co.uk.
