1,241 Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Iain Banks (1954-2013) was a Scottish novelist who wrote science fiction as Iain M. Banks, adding his middle initial, to differentiate between his regular literary fiction and his science fiction novels. He's sweet; I'm a dork. All bear the indefinable stamp of Iain Banks' staggering talent. A collection of short tales, the shortest being about two pages long, the longest, eponymously titled, over a hundred and is the main filler here. It discusses policies of non-interference juggled with policies of behind the scenes intervention; "going native" versus so-called "objective" distance; the idea that a natural life and a true engagement with living must include accepting that evil will always exist, and as a counterpoint, the idea that systemic evil, all of the -isms and all of the greed and self-interest, can and should actually be eradicated. The first ever collection of Iain Banks' short fiction, this volume includes the acclaimed novella, The State of the Art. [ the Culture decides against first contact, and basically agrees to let us destroy ourselves, and the agent who was going to stay is killed in a random mugging.

I didn’t have much of a reaction one way or another to the smattering of Culture-based short stories, so this review will focus entirely on the book’s eponymous novella. Jacket has minor patchy edge/shelf wear, the odd small scratch/bump and a little pushing/rubbing to head/tail of spine and to corners. I'm glad that this sublime author soon measured such a pallid, earthbound dialectic as far too shallow a premise and soared into the outer reaches of the universe with his later, operatic Culture novels. There is a world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse. Today we’re celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Culture series by bestselling author Iain M. Banks! Please try your request again later. by Night Shade Books (San Francisco). For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. A slim collection of short stories (well under 200 pages), most of which show off the author's macabre wit. It is ostensibly science fiction. 378 It deals with the Culture discovering the Earth during 1977, and sends down agents to study and learn from our planet. Below is a list of Iain M. Banks’ books in order of publication and in chronological order: Clicking any links beside the book lists will lead you to Amazon for more details or to purchase the book. But at night there are his dreams... Dreams in which desperate men drive sealed carriages across barren mountains to a bizarre rendezvous; an illiterate barbarian storms an enchanted tower under a stream of verbal abuse; and broken men walk forever over bridges without end, taunted by visions of a doomed sexuality. ). Banks' attempts to graft some rather prosaic pop philosophy onto the magnificent muddle of the human condition failed to stick. 979

Find out more about him at www.iainbanks.net. Be the first to ask a question about The State of the Art. Read this book after a discussion with James and the realisation I had this on my kindle. - Amazon Reviewer, 5 stars. The Player of Games (A Culture Novel Book 2), ( Welcome back. Master of every board, computer and strategy. ). . When a Culture ship and some members of Contact arrive to study humanity’s home planet in the late twentieth century, they set about creating records of all present and past human knowledge, and ultimately must decide whether or not to reveal themselves to the clueless Earthlings.

Iain Banks is my most adored author; State of the Art, his only work I hadn't read.

, Consider Phlebas (A Culture Novel Book 1), ( I am glad this collection is out there, and it is an interesting addition to the Culture books, but due to the peak-valleyness of the stories, it probably has to take its place at the back of the queue when it comes to Banks' Culture output. I was a bit disappointed with most, but found Descendant a gem and worth the price of admission. Do you feel books have made your 2020 any better? The worst of the lot is "Scratch", a late cold-war-era story that depicts the escalation of human misery as the world's superpowers square off for world destruction, a premise which it tackles originally by giving us only mass-media noise, scraps of television commericals, fragments of radio announcements, etc. The meat of this collection, the Culture novella, trooped along in a heavy-handed, right-on manner. “What's one more meaningless act of violence on that zoo of a planet? Beneath this plot Banks seeks the true meaning of human nature.

Only a few of these stories are actually part of the Culture world. The meat of this collection, the Culture novella, trooped along in a heavy-handed, right-on manner. The polarizing literary debut by Scottish author Ian Banks, ( We’d love your help. Iain Banks is my most adored author; State of the Art, his only work I hadn't read. In 1993 he was acknowledged as one of the Best of Young British Writers. Iain M. Banks has 51 books on Goodreads with 616390 ratings.

534 A collection, including the title novella and some assorted short fiction from banks. It depends who and what you've left behind. ). He is perhaps best known for his The Culture series of books. At times, it sounded like a squealing monologue from Robert Lindsay in the UK sitcom, Citizen Smith. The latter and one -o perhaps two- stories are set within the universe of Culture, the rest is not.

[..] They want to own the light!”, Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire Nominee for Nouvelle étrangère (2011), Best SF Books that weren't Nominated for Hugo or Nebula, Meet the Epic and Awesome Authors of Fall's Big Fantasy Novels. “The State of the Art” is a brief but striking juxtaposition of Banks’ ultra-progressive Culture civilization and Earth circa 1977. I saw the author, the title and the fact that it was "Culture #4". For one brother it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one -- maybe two -- people who could clear his name.

The worst of the lot is "Scratch", a late cold-war-era story that depicts the escalation of human misery as the world's superpowers square off for world destruction, a premise which it tackles originally by giving us only mass-media noise, scraps of television commericals, fragments of radio announcements, etc. In recent years, I have been re-reading some of the Culture novels, and I am astonished at how mind-bogglingly great and timeless they are. Select the department you want to search in. It's the story of a Culture solider and his sentient EVA suit, both injured/damaged and stranded on a barren alien planet. A third Culture story, "A Gift from the Culture" is in my opinion sort of a dud. I didn’t have much of a reaction one way or another to the smattering of Culture-based short stories, so this review will focus entirely on the book’s eponymous novella.

Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography. The only other Banks book I have read is Player of Games which I loved. Banks made his debut as a published author with The Wasp Factory in 1984. Heady and at times heavy-handed stuff, forcefully articulated, and delivered with the usual Banks panache and wit. A unique short-story venture from Banks...most of these pieces seemed either a little odd and unfinished or preachy rants. 347

There are some authors whose short fiction I enjoy much more than their novels. Such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. Iain Banks was born in Scotland in 1954. The book is actually a miscellaneous of short stories and a novella. The State of the Art is a collection of short stories, some of which relate to the Culture novels and some of which don’t (or at least, don’t overtly).

Three stories take place in the universe of Banks' Culture novels; "Descendant" is the best of these (and the one most tenuously linked to the Culture), a harrowing tale of survival type story in which an injured soldier is marooned on an uninhabitable planet and is pushed to forge on by his autonomous artificially intelligent suit. This is a striking addition to the growing body of Culture lore, and adds definition and scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast.

RIP Mr Banks. Banks vividly depicts a sense of intense desolation as man and suit embark on a harrowing journey. The Player of Games. Signed by both the author and Iain M. Banks (who wrote the introduction) directly to limitation page in blue ink without dedication. - Amazon Reviewer, 5 stars, "Mindblowing!

If you love the fantasy genre, this is the season for you! ), Look to Windward (A Culture Novel Book 6), ( As it's Iain Banks, you probably do not need to be told the wry, quite funny at times, observations made (flawed, odd and unequal economic system, penchant for wars and killing each other and so on), and debates ensue amongst the Ships crew whether to actually intervene, to make the Culture known to the planet. (