On Sunday the news science fiction fans had known would
come, but were all hoping would be delayed, happened. Iain M Banks sadly lost his battle with
cancer. Back in April he had announced
he had inoperable gall cancer and much like his writing, he said with a dark
humorous way that he had asked his partner “to do him the honor of being his widow”.
Now, I’m not going to claim to be his biggest fan; I’m not,
having only really discovered him last year when I finally decided to give his
‘Culture’ books a go. I was aware of him
as a writer but I was a little scared to read him due to his big reputation for
being very deep. I am also a big
Alastair Reynolds fan and in particular the way he blends real science theories
into his narrative, which is usually a future history of mankind, whilst trying
to keep within the confines of the universal laws of physics. I was both wary but also fascinated by the
concept of ‘The Culture’. Wary, because
I wasn't sure if I could enjoy science fiction based around a humanoid alien
race that is out there in the galaxy without us knowing. Fascinated by the idea of a Utopian society
where nobody had to work and technology was extremely far advanced when
compared to our own. I was also drawn to
the frankly, excellent covers - colorful images of far off worlds. I know you should never judge a book by its
cover, but they intrigued me further and I figured that I watch Star Trek, Star
Wars and Battlestar Galactica and none of them exactly follow the laws of physics
with their FTL drives.
I purchased his first SF novel and the opening culture novel
‘Consider Phlebras’ last year and read it within a couple of weeks. At first I found the going hard as I got used
to his style of writing, the dark but sometimes witty musings, and the weird
names. But after a while I started to
settle into the narrative and got drawn in.
The huge planet size orbital that is destroyed, or the gruesome scenes
concerning the cannibals on the beach have stuck in my mind ever since. By the end I wanted more. The flawed and tragic lead characters were
brilliantly written and one thing I liked about the culture was that they were
all separate stories, so I wasn't tied to a continuing story and could dip in
and out of them as and when I wanted.
After a few months, I dipped back in and read his second
‘culture’ novel ‘Player of games’. I
found this a little easier to get immersed into. It was a simpler narrative featuring, again,
on the surface a very talented character, who showed basic human like flaws and
imperfections as he tried to have his greatest victory. Much like his previous book, Banks inserted
some truly gruesome scenes and ideas – the games in the book don’t just have a
winner and a loser, competitors ‘bet’ using body parts to add extra spice to
proceedings. This book also introduced
the idea of The Culture interfering in other more basic societies/empires, a
recurring theme in the books.
Finally last Christmas, having received all the books on the
list from my mum and her partner, I read ‘Use of Weapons’ his 3rd
‘Culture’ novel. This introduced me to
his infamous ‘multi-narrative’ style of writing. Two narratives ran through the novel,
alternating between chapters with one the main current story ark of the lead
character, with the other narrative looking at his previous missions – but in
reverse order. Looking back I should
have left this book until after I had gotten over a bout of sinusitis as the
banging pain between my eyes made me struggle with the confusing narrative
structure! Ultimately I believe it was a
good book, but I need to re-read it when I can give it my 100% concentration,
then I think I will enjoy it more.
During this time I learnt a bit more about his non SF output
under his own name of Iain Banks (adding the M for his SF work is a great touch). A friend from work describes ‘The Bridge’ as
his all time favourite book but hasn't tried his SF work. Its on my list to read, but it would mean
taking a break from reading SF, but there is so much I need and want to
read! But some of this SF does include
more of his Culture novels.
My final thoughts though concern one part of his background
I love, and one I have stolen from him for my own writing quest. Long before he even had work published, he
described himself as a writer, even to the point he put writer as his
occupation when applying for a passport.
I love this optimism and use it on my Twitter profile (@morg007 for
those wanting to follow me). In some
ways that is my tribute to him, because if I’m even as tenth as good a writer
as he is, I will be a happy man.
RIP Iain M Banks
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