Welcome to www.Iain-Banks.net
Welcome to the new-look Iain [M] Banks website. This site contains a wealth of information on the fiction of Iain Banks and the science fiction of Iain M Banks. New content is being added to the site on a regular basis. If there's anything you'd particularly like to see on the site, please contact the site editors and let us know.
Latest Iain [M] Banks Books
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MatterOrbit Books (UK / US)Hardback January 31st 2008 (UK) / February 27th 2008 (US) 978-1841494173 (UK) / 978-0316005364 (US) [paperback release date: February 5th 2009] more info |
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The Steep Approach to GarbadaleAbacus Books (UK)Paperback February 28th 2008 (UK) 978-0349119281 more info |
Latest Iain [M] Banks News
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...
Out Now: Iain Banks’ ‘The Wasp Factory’, Audio CD, read by Peter Kenny
March 6, 2008A brand new audio adaptation of Iain Banks' career-launching debut novel, The Wasp Factory, is available now on CD Audiobook from Hachette Audio.
The narrator is Peter Kenny, an actor and singer who has worked widely in theatre and broadcasting, appearing with, amongst others, the Royal Shakespeare Company, A&BC, Coventry Belgrade, and the BBC Radio Repertory Company.
Click on the cover for more info on The Wasp Factory:
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.
Donna Bowman reviews ‘Matter’ for The Onion’s AVClub.com
February 29, 2008Another terrific review of Matter, this time over at The Onion's A.V. Club. Reviewer Donna Bowman really gets under the skin of the novel's over-arcing plot devices in Matter, concluding that with Matter, our author:
"...achieves an urgency born of fascinating, fallible, but always relateable characters in microcosm to balance his enormous science-fiction edifice in macrocosm. Then he refuses to settle for the easy answers and predictable arcs that his adventure-genre plotting would lead readers to expect."
Read the full review over at www.avclub.com. Many thanks to Alex Lencicki of Orbit's US office for the heads-up.
New issue of ‘The Banksoniain’ fanzine out now
February 29, 2008Been meaning to mention for a while now that the new issue of regular Banks-fanzine The Banksoniain is available now to download from banksoniain.netfirms.com.
The latest issue, #13 includes a round-up of Matter reviews, info on a new touring season for the stage adaptation of The Wasp Factory, write-ups of a couple of Iain's recent appearances, a list of his forthcoming appearances, and more. Go. Download. Read.
Out Now: ‘The Steep Approach to Garbadale’ UK paperback edition
February 28, 2008Another official Iain Banks release date today, this time for the UK paperback edition of The Steep Approach to Garbadale, although copies may already be available in UK bookstores.
Click on the cover image to read an extract from this novel of families and the games they play:
Out Now: ‘Matter’ - US hardback edition
February 27, 2008Today is the official publication date for the US edition of Matter (although there's a good chance you may already have seen copies of the book in US stores).
Click on the cover image to read an extract from the new Culture novel, courtesy of publisher Orbit Books:
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.
Paul Cornell to adapt ‘State of the Art’ for BBC Radio 4
February 25, 2008Over on his LiveJournal, science fiction writer Paul Cornell has announced that he has been commissioned to adapt the Iain Banks novella 'State of the Art' into a play for broadcast on BBC Radio 4 later this year.
Paul, who is best known for his work as a writer for Doctor Who and also writes novels and comics, said of the project:
"My producer is the wonderful Nadia Molinari, and we're looking to keep all the SF goodness of the original. I'm enjoying how serious and thoughtful the brief is. The story is about Banks' spaceborne utopian civilisation, the Culture, encountering Earth. Some interesting casting of a Ship voice ahead, I should think, and who should be Diziet Sma? I'm anticipating the process hugely."
Further details as they become apparent...
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.
Quick reminder: Iain Banks signing tour starts Monday Feb 25th
February 22, 2008Iain Banks will be meeting his public and signing copies of his brand new Culture novel Matter (and, most probably, the paperback edition of The Steep Approach to Garbadale) at City Books in Hove, Waterstone's Bristol, Waterstone's Norwich and Waterstone's Lincoln from Monday to Thursday next week.
Full details can be found in the Appearances section of the Extras page of the site.
Iain Banks named in Times list of ‘50 greatest postwar writers’
February 21, 2008Iain Banks has been named alongside 49 other British literary luminaries in the (London) Times' list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.
In their quick summary of Mr Banks' achievements to-date, they note:
"Although reviewers of Iain Banks’s debut The Wasp Factory were not entirely convinced of its moral value, they couldn’t deny that it heralded the arrival of a brilliant new imagination ... An entertaining and outspoken writer, at 53 Banks still has something of the enfant terrible about him."
Visit the Times website to read their Iain Banks profile piece and see the full list of 50.
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.
James Lovegrove reviews ‘Matter’ for The Financial Times
February 19, 2008Author James Lovegrove was suitably impressed with Matter and said so in his Financial Times review last week. He begins:
"When Iain Banks slots the middle initial between his forename and surname, you can expect science fiction on a grand scale, replete with brain-busting concepts and a dry wit..."
and concludes:
"Does Matter matter? Matter of fact, it does, and its action-propelled narrative means that any newcomer to Banks's universe could do worse than start here. The already initiated will be anything but disappointed."
Read the full review over at www.ft.com.
Site update: forthcoming appearances info added to Extras
February 15, 2008Just a quick note to say that information on a number of Iain Banks' forthcoming public appearances has been added to the Extras section of the site.
Currently listed are Iain's forthcoming signing tour to promote Matter, as well as later appearances at the 'Aye! Write' festival in Glasgow (March '08), the Lincoln Book Festival (May '08) and the Newcon4 sf convention in Northampton (October '08).
He's also making an appearance (so we understand) at the Islay Book Festival / Port Ellen Book Festival, but details are currently a bit sketchy. Info will be posted as soon as the details have been confirmed.
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.
io9 says ‘Welcome to The Culture’
February 13, 2008To mark the release of Matter, science fiction mega-blog io9 has posted a handy, print-out-and-keep guide to the Culture, including a synopsis / mini-review of each Culture novel to-date, plus a link to an essay that Iain wrote back in 1994 to explain a few things about the Culture, that was originally posted to the rec.arts.sf.written newsgroup by Ken MacLeod.
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.
Andrew McKie reviews ‘Matter’ for the Telegraph
February 10, 2008Andrew McKie sounds like a dyed-in-the-wool Culture fan (good man!) who says, at the conclusion of his Telegraph.co.uk review of Matter:
"I have returned repeatedly to the early Culture novels, particularly Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games. This is a major sequence for anyone who cares about science fiction, and I recommend it to all but those seriously allergic to spaceships."
Read the rest of Andrew's review at www.telegraph.co.uk.
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