Iain Banks/Iain M Banks

So the last few years this Scottish bearded DUDE has become a staple part of my library, not only is his writing spot on, above and below the belt, raw, funny, enigmatic, totally creative and pretty damn sexy.... not only that but he has given me the thirst for writing myself, being slightly popular by creating the kind of stories I want to read, in a certain style that just appeals to me, that the culture novels haven't been made into the most popular sci fi franchise of all time is just odd and could be made (apparently they are making some short story now) but i guarantee that in twenty years when Hollywood has run out of remakes of remakes, that someone will have the balls to capture his stuff on screen.... there have been a few tries at his Iain Banks early works for the BBC but I mean the real shit. Terry Gilliam could do a good job if he is not trying to get investors for Don Quixote and not spending his own god damned precious money (but that's another topic)

He's pretty prolific and I've only read about 60% of his entire work and that's about 40 novels.... almost finished the M Banks stuff and have read the few Iain Banks books, Walking on Glass / The Bridge / Transitions, leaving The Wasp Factory to last as I'm an asshole.

I recommend reading;

first if you like epic parallel universe stories splattered with assassins, mystery and torturers that thrill and do drugs,

then make your way through everything....

anyone else a fan? favorites etc.....

bit more than the now reading thread so leave it be hot fingered mod boys :)

i'm a massive fan of the sci-fi stuff, just recently read the hydrogen sonata and thoroughly enjoyed it... i think my favourite 3 are:

Feersum Endjinn

Consider Phlebas

Excession

in that order.

YES BCM :)

Consider Phlebas (the first culture novel) is pretty perfect yes..... can't wait to read that one again, and I've read it twice already while travleing

Excession is like 2001 on steroids from the point of view of the minds.... great !

haven't got as far as Feersum Endjinn and the hydrogen sonata.... sounds like my balls will be slobbered on by words

have you read transitions?

Feersum Endjinn is relatively unpopular I think, due to the phonetic spelling used by one character for the duration of every chapter from his point of view - extract:

  Quote

 

Woak up. Got dresd. Had brekfast. Spoke wif Ergates thi ant who sed itz juss been wurk wurk wurk 4 u lately master Bascule, Y dont u ½ a holiday? & I agreed & that woz how we decided we otter go 2 c Mr Zoliparia in thi I-ball ov thi gargoyle Rosbrith.

I fot Id bettir clear it wif thi relevint oforities furst & hens avoyd any truble (like happind thi lastime) so I went 2 c mentor Scalopin.

Certinly yung Bascule, he sez, i do beleave this is a day ov relativly lite dooties 4 u u may take it off. ½ u made yoor mattins calls?

O yes, I sed, which woznt stricktly tru, in fact which woz pretti strikly untru, trufe btold, but I cude always do them while we woz travelin.

Wots in that thare box yoor holdin? he asks.

Itz a ant, I sez, waven thi box @ his face.

O this is yoor litil frend, is it? i herd u had a pet. May i see him?

Iss not a pet, iss a frend; u woz rite thi furst time, & iss not a im iss a she. Luke.

O yes very pretti, he sez, which is a pretti strainge thing 2 say about a ant if u ask me but thare u go.

Duz it - duz she ½ a naim? he asks.

Yes, I sez, sheez calld Ergates.

Ergateez, he sez, thatz a nyce name whot maid u call her that?

Nuffink, I sez; itz her reel name.

A I see, he sez, & givs me 1 ov thoze lukes.

& she can tok 2, I tel him, tho I doan xpect yule b able 2 here hir.

(Shh, Bascule! goze Ergates, & I go a bit red.)

Duz she, duz she now? mentor Scalopin sez wif wunna them tolerint smylez. Very wel then he sez, pattin me on thi hed (which I doan much like, frangly, but sum times u jus ½ 2 pool up wif these things. N-way whare wer we? O yes he woz pattin me on thi hed & sayin), off yugo (he sez) but b bak by supper.

Ritey-ho, I sez, all breezy like, nevir thinkin.

i really love it though, and the story itself is pretty fucking mindblowing. not read transitions no...plan to!

Yeah one of the characters in the bridge does that as well, the guy that goes around killing in the underworld.... suppose its a little trick to characterise.... just tried to phonetically do what i wrote and it's pretty time consuming/hard :p

yeah i always think it must have taken him fucking ages to transcribe it all...wonder if he's got some kind of macro on his word processor to automatically type like that?

i love all the iain m. banks stuff though, my favourite of his more recent releases is i think surface detail - the imagery used in the hells is amazing/disturbing... i love the minds too, and the ship names...all so good!

I've just read his Culture stuff, will be picking up the latest at some point. But I have thoroughly enjoyed them. Excession was great with the Mind's being the main characters. Player of Games is probably the best introduction to the Culture universe. Use of Weapons was also pretty damn good and the descriptions of Hell in Surface Detail was quite rough.

I love the idea of the Culture, so haven't really thought about reading his other stuff, mainly the sci-fi. Is the Algebraist worth checking out? I am currently on a Alistair Reynolds diet trying to read the Revelation Space novels. Recommended for the sci-fi buff.

I have read the first three or four Culture novels, and think they were pretty great.

I loved one scene in Excession that was a several page long description on a Minds thought process and I think on a missiles journey to destroy a target and it all ended with a note that it all had happened in a span of just seconds. I so want to live on a Culture hub.

Living on a culture hub would be amazing, fancy a drug bowl?

that's what I love about the culture novels, it's pretty much the way it would turn out if Sagan had his way.... the mind aspect is what I love about Excession, the first chapter just sets it up perfectly with the drone/mind escaping the ship being attacked....

love the ship names also :)

• Consider Phlebas
  • Nervous Energy (GCU)
  • Prosthetic Conscience (GCU)
  • The Ends Of Invention (ex-Culture GSV)
  • Eschatologist (GSV; temporary name)
  • Irregular Apocalyse (GSV)
  • No More Mr Nice Guy (GSV)
  • Determinist (GSV)
  • Bora Horza Gobuchul (GSV)
  • Profit Margin (LSV)
  • Trade Surplus (ROU)
  • Revisionist (ROU)
• The Player of Games
  • Screw Loose (Clipper)
  • Flexible Demeanour (GCU)
  • Just Read The Instructions (GCU)
  • Of Course I Still Love You (GCU)
  • Limiting Factor (GOU)
  • Cargo Cult (GSV)
  • Little Rascal (GSV)
  • So Much For Subtlety (GSV)
  • Unfortunate Conflict Of Evidence (GSV)
  • Youthful Indiscretion (GSV)
  • Gunboat Diplomat (LOU)
  • Zealot (dROU)
  • Kiss My Ass (Superlifter)
  • Prime Mover (Superlifter)

Yeah, big fan. Feersum Endjinn is amazing. Use of Weapons probably my favourite culture book.

algebraist is pretty good and Surface Detail has perhaps the most horrible things that I've ever read, but the ending was good.

Transition was pretty good too.

In all his books: There's always a castle, and usually some crows.

i like the player of games, can't get into his other stuff.

My brother turned me onto his writing, he's read most of Iain's books. I've read Matter and The Player of Games. Both pretty good, Matter was a lot different from your average culture novel apparently, it was much more fantasy than sci-fi. Player of Games was a really cool idea but the beginning portion was the main character being bored which subsequently made me bored. The rest is really good tho

I read Look to Windward a very long time ago, I thought it was really good. I have no idea why I never bothered with the rest of his novels, this thread has changed my mind.

Nice to see some loving going on :) kind of knew the minds around here would probably like the culture stuff....

The algerbraist was a bit slow going :D , would be okay if I hadn't read any culture novels, the thing with 'the quick' and 'the slow' gas dwellers I felt had been done in the culture novels before for some reason, and a bit treading on excession with not much of a resolve.... but a good standalone with earth included i guess..... reading them in order has made me want to get on the case more, i find a bit of comfort knowing there are some more to read....

purpose of the thread was to get anyone who didn't know about them but should into the series really, sure there are a few out there that it would appeal to like a fine object worth observing at least..... going to go play real life minecraft while glanded on my hub with mountains and boobs, later!

I've only read The Wasp Factory but it was pretty damn enjoyable. I'd like to check out his sci-fi stuff.

what should i start with if i have not read any of his stuff before

Consider Phlebas

Big fan of his iain banks books. couldn't get into the sci-fi books though. i stopped reading him when I was gifted his whiskey book one xmas a few years back. walking on glass was my favourite which is oddly probably his most fantasy of the regular fiction books

  On 3/14/2013 at 4:01 PM, BCM said:

Consider Phlebas

While it's the first Culture novel, it sort of throws you right into the world and is a pretty dense read. I think Player of Games gives you a better introduction of what the Culture is about and is overall an easier read. IMO.

walking on glass was very fantasyish, one of the best non-sci-fi that's I've read so far though! That's definatly got some crows and castles :)

agree consider phlebas would be a good starting point, maybe transion as that's what got me addicted + it's one of his later works so style is more evolved......

Nothing to add in here apart from i've read all of his sci-fi stuff and I think its brilliant. Except for the last one, (the hydrogen sonata) I feel like hes starting to run out of wind with the culture stuff. He may have built the Culture up to be far too all powerful and sound to actually generate tension in the books, it's starting to feel like there isn't anywhere left to go, and ive not been enjoying him trying to describe sublimation.

In fact I feel like sublimation is the weakest aspect of the books, its way too fantasy for a sci-fi story.

But yeah, reading excession when i was about 16 was one of my most amazing book experiences ever.

He should pit the Culture against something even more advanced and perhaps malevolent. He did imply that there is something like that with the entity in Excession, but that seemed more benevolent. Although the trope of something far more ancient and advanced stalking at the edges of the known universe is something that has popped up recently with Mass Effect and goes farther back with the Cthulhu mythos, so it's not exactly an original idea. But I get what you are saying about the Culture being too powerful. The latest books have been more about the moral dilemmas of being such a powerful entity and how to deal with lesser civilizations.

  On 3/14/2013 at 4:49 PM, messiaen said:

I feel like hes starting to run out of wind with the culture stuff. He may have built the Culture up to be far too all powerful and sound to actually generate tension in the books, it's starting to feel like there isn't anywhere left to go

yeah, i kind of agree with this... though i do think there's places left to go, as azatoth said - pitting the culture against something malevolent and more advanced could be awesome. i do know what you mean about the hydrogen sonata though - although i still really liked it overall, it did feel a little tired i guess.

Weirdly, I don't like Consider Phledbas that much. Technically, he wrote Use of Weapons before, although it was published later, so I tend to think of that as the original Culture book.

But really the Culture books can be read in any order. There are no repeating characters (with one exception) and they are all hundreds of years apart.