Iain Banks at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2009
June 18, 2009The programme for this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival has been posted online and confirms that Iain Banks will be taking part in two events this year.
The first will be a reading for the Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series, on Monday 17th August, from 5.30 - 6.15 p.m.
Immediately afterwards, Iain will be reading from and discussing his latest work in the National Library of Scotland event, which runs from 6.30 to 7.30 p.m.
More details are available on the EIBF ticket booking website.
Iain Banks discusses the Future of Science Fiction with the BBC
March 19, 2009Iain has contributed to a BBC website column entitled How Sci-Fi Moves With the Times, along with fellow writers Ken MacLeod, Paul Cornell and Ian Watson.
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...
Paul Cornell ‘State of the Art’ audio interview
March 4, 2009As part of Sci-Fi London's Reality Check podcast series, Alex Fitch talks to Paul Cornell about his work on the BBC radio adaptation of 'The State of the Art', which airs on Radio 4 tomorrow (Thursday March 5th) at 2.15 p.m. as part of the current BBC R4 Sci-Fi Season.
[via the FPI Blog and Dave H]
Banksoniain #14 available for download
February 26, 2009The latest edition of the Banksoniain fanzine is now available to download from the Banksonian website.
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.
Iain Banks FAQ moves to Blogspot
December 18, 2008Had a note in from Haddonsman this afternoon to say that he's re-located his near-legendary Iain Banks FAQ to iainbanksfaq.blogspot.com, if everyone could update their links and bookmarks, please.
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.
New Iain [M] Banks Fan Forum now live
December 11, 2008The all-new Iain [M] Banks Fan Forum is now live at www.iainbanksforum.net.
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.
Iain Banks talks to Writing Magazine
October 10, 2008Iain has been interviewed for the latest edition of Writer's News Writing Magazine and talks about a number of writing-related subjects, including plotting, character development, pre-planning and avoiding the temptation to polish work until the first draft has been finished.
Interviewer Judith Spelman has posted a (1.23Mb) pdf copy of the piece on her own website at www.judithspelman.co.uk.
[Thanks to DaveH for the heads-up]
Book Aid charity auction to include Banks-signed copy of ‘Fear and Loathing’
October 10, 2008Lewis Proudfoot of Book Aid International has been in touch to tell us about an eBay auction that they're holding to raise money for literacy projects in sub-Saharan Africa. One of the items to be included in the auction ought to be of interest to Banks-collectors, as Lewis explains:
"Visitors to the Iain Banks site may be interested in one of the items: a copy of Hunter S Thompson's Fear and Loathing, illustrated by Ralph Steadman, and signed and inscribed by Iain Banks ('May the spirit of the blessed Saint Hunter be with you')."
This item will be one of those listed on Book Aid International's 'Books Change Lives' eBay for Charity page on Monday October 13th.
A press release about the auction adds: "As well as a fantastic array of signed books, Book Aid International will also be auctioning a number of original illustrations by some of the UK's best-loved illustrators including Nick Sharrat, Satoshi Kitamura and Sue Heap."
Iain Banks Q&A Session III - call for Q’s
September 16, 2008Email Q&A I and Email Q&A II both went extremely well, and so Iain has asked us to set up a third call for questions from fans, readers and occasional passers-by.
Slightly shorter lead-time this time around, folks: we'd like you to send in your questions to us no later than Friday October 3rd, please - so that gives you just over two weeks to think of something devastatingly interesting to put to Iain.
We do still have a few potential candidates on file from the first two rounds, so please don't feel the need to repeat yourself if you've already submitted a question that hasn't quite made the cut yet. On the other hand, if you'd like to try a new angle, or follow-up on something that was mentioned in the first two Q&A sessions, then that's always worth a try.
Same procedure as before, folks: send your best question (just the one per correspondent, please), by email, to orbit@littlebrown.co.uk, with the subject line 'Iain [M] Banks Q&A Suggestion'.
We're hoping to post the answers sometime during the week commencing October 6th, Iain's schedule allowing, of course...
A few more Banks-esque links
September 12, 2008The Guardian asks Iain a few quick-fire questions about his environmental credentials in their Green Room column.
Independent columnist Matthew Bell makes a brief mention of Iain's recent appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Webzine Dazed & Digital has a brief interview with Iain, also conducted during the EIBF.
Paul Cornell gives a brief progress report on his BBC radio adaptation of 'The State of the Art' during an interview with IO9.com.
Iain Banks at the IBF this weekend
September 5, 2008A quick reminder: Iain will be appearing at the Islay Book Festival this weekend, with a Where Do You Get Your Ideas From? Q&A session taking place on Saturday at 10.30 and a session focusing on Matter on Sunday at 14.00.
See the Islay Book Festival website for more information on Iain's appearances, plus details of the other attendees.
More reviews, Q&A II on the way…
August 29, 2008We're just putting the finishing touches to the next Iain Banks Q&A session and are hoping to post that later today. But in the meantime, here are a few more recently-posted reviews of two Banks classics:
Hungarian webzine Ekultura has posted Bors Csaba's review of The Player of Games (the link is to an English translation). Bors concludes: "[T]he novel rocks. The plot is thick with thrills and chills, twists and turns, it grasps the reader and just won
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:
Iain Banks interviewed and ‘Matter’ reviewed for Time Magazine Online
March 4, 2008Lev Grossman has posted a review of Matter over at www.Time.com as well as an interview with Iain, which you can find over at his and Matt Selman's Time.com hosted Nerd World blog.
In the interview, Iain reveals the secret of his amazing ability to transcribe fluent technobabble almost as if he were making it all up:
"I suspect it's just the right balance of wide-eyed, totally fascinated enthusiasm for 'real' tech speak along with a healthy dose of cynicism regarding how easy it is to make up such stuff without really having any idea what in the hell you're talking about. I am happy to report I have both, in spades."
Read the full interview at time-blog.com/nerd_world and thanks again to Alex for the heads-up.
