Matter

Iain’s latest Culture novel, Matter – currently available in the UK, US and Australia in Orbit paperback – has been shortlisted for the 2009 Prometheus Award. 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 […]

Over at blog.wired.com/geekdad/, reviewer John Baichtal takes a look at Matter and definitely likes what he sees: “By the time I’d read fifty pages, not only was I hooked, but I was sure Matter was this year’s Hugo award winner.” Well, I think that’s the sort of sentiment we can all get behind. But wait, […]

Four of the UK’s top genre bloggers / reviewers / commentators – James Bloomer, Niall Harrison, Jonathan MacCalmont and Paul Raven – have been holding a round-robin discussion of the latest Iain Banks Culture novel, Matter. The team-review starts with a general over view of Iain Banks’ place in the respective reviewer’s hearts and libraries […]

Award-winning author Gwyneth Jones has penned a long, thoughtful and insightful review of Matter, which has been posted online at Strange Horizons. Gwyneth draws intriguing parallels between certain plot elements the new Culture novel and a certain ring-themed classic of the fantasy genre and also makes some interesting observations on the nature of Space Opera […]

Nick Ryan has reviewed Matter for UK newspaper The Daily Express. As well as describing Iain as “quite simply, a prodigy”, he concludes his review with a ringing endorsement: “It’s grand, stirring stuff with a hint of the space opera to it. A more than welcome return of the master of sci-fi.” Read Nick’s full […]

John Joseph Adams talks to Iain [M] Banks about Matter, over at SciFi.com. [Thanks to Gary W for the heads-up]

Matt Kavanagh dropped us a line to say that his review of Matter has been posted on the Globe and Mail website. Here’s what he said in his introduction: “Named one of the top 50 writers in postwar Britain by The Times of London, Iain Banks boasts the greatest range of any of his contemporaries. […]

Alongside some familiar musing on Iain’s bemusingly low profile in the US market, reviewer Adrienne Martini says in her piece for the Baltimore City Paper: “Like most other [Iain] M. Banks books, Matter twists in completely unanticipated ways and offers up ampules of philosophy along with its plot. His characters – even the most minor […]

In a lengthy and detailed review for www.computercrowsnest.com, RJ Barker says: “Dipping back into ‘The Culture’ felt like a joyous return to a long missed and familiar place. Banks has such a clever way with words that he makes it seem effortless and you don’t realise how cleverly he constructs brilliantly clear images.”

If you didn’t manage to get to Glasgow for the AyeWrite! Book Festival earlier this month and therefore missed the on-stage appearance of Iain Banks and Ken MacLeod, then do not despair, you now have a chance to catch up… A video excerpt of the reading and discussion session has now been posted over at […]

Reviewer Simon DeDeo has posted a review of Matter up on Slashdot. Simon makes a very intriguing point about the underlying ‘Britishness’ of The Culture: “Banks’ prose is free-flowing and liberally dosed with a kind of cynical, post-colonial British humanism; as the Culture meddles and blunders Banks’ narrators look on with a sad half-smile. The […]

Lev 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 […]