Iain M Banks is dying.

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Iain M Banks is dying.

#1 polishgenius

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 11:03 AM

Terrible news. One of the leading lights of sci-fi is going out.

I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you.

#2 Serenity

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 11:10 AM

Just heard about this. So sad. I hope he and his wife can make the most of the time he has left.

#3 Tiste Simeon

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 11:37 AM

Yeah I just saw this too. One of my all time favourite authors!

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#4 D'iversify

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 11:46 AM

Sad sad news.

This post has been edited by D'iversify: 03 April 2013 - 11:46 AM

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#5 McLovin

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 12:21 PM

I thought this was going to be some April Fool's thing.

Shit.

OK, I think I got it, but just in case, can you say the whole thing over again? I wasn't really listening.

#6 Morgoth

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 12:23 PM

oh no

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#7 Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 01:31 PM

This is very unfortunate news, perhaps more so because he has so little time left.

I can only hope that his last few months are enjoyable (shame about the current weather here!) and fingers crossed that he hangs about for longer than he expects!

On a selfish note, I hope his last book will be a goodun! If it's available, I may go and preorder it now!

When that website is running, I may also be tempted to leave a short message there...

The love I bear thee can afford no better term than this: thou art a villain.

"Perhaps we think up our own destinies and so, in a sense, deserve whatever happens to us, for not having had the wit to imagine something better." ― Iain Banks

#8 Abyss

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 01:57 PM

Fuck.

THIS IS YOUR REMINDER THAT THERE IS A
'VIEW NEW CONTENT' BUTTON THAT
ALLOWS YOU TO VIEW NEW CONTENT

#9 Traveller

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 03:49 PM

That really is.. shit.

If that's pancreatic, a few months is a bit generous.

Sad news.

I love his books, too.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 03 April 2013 - 07:17 PM

So that's the story. And what was the real lesson? Don't leave things in the fridge.

#10 Vengeance

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very good...;)

Posted 03 April 2013 - 03:59 PM

Fuck that sucks.

How many fucking people do I have to hammer in order to get that across.
Hinter - Vengy - DIE. I trusted you you bastard!!!!!!!
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#11 Aptorian

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 05:28 PM

God dammit, cancer! We talked about this. You need to stop killing good people!

#12 stone monkey

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 07:07 PM

This is officially fucking horrible.

If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If some one maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction. … So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants. Bertrand Russell

#13 Salt-Man Z

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 07:52 PM

It's settled: I've never read any Banks before, but I've got two of his books on my shelf, Consider Phlebas and Use of Weapons. When I'm done with my current read, I'll tackle them.

"Here is light. You will say that it is not a living entity, but you miss the point that it is more, not less. Without occupying space, it fills the universe. It nourishes everything, yet itself feeds upon destruction. We claim to control it, but does it not perhaps cultivate us as a source of food? May it not be that all wood grows so that it can be set ablaze, and that men and women are born to kindle fires?"
―Gene Wolfe, The Citadel of the Autarch

#14 Tiste Simeon

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 08:43 PM

Salt-Man Z, on 03 April 2013 - 07:52 PM, said:

It's settled: I've never read any Banks before, but I've got two of his books on my shelf, Consider Phlebas and Use of Weapons. When I'm done with my current read, I'll tackle them.

You won't regret it on either choice. Especially Use of Weapons!

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We all Scream
For I Scream.

#15 Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 09:45 PM

Briar King, on 03 April 2013 - 07:07 PM, said:

Damn I was just looking at his bks a few weeks ago wanting to try some Sci Fi out and not knowing where to start with him. This is sad news for anyone.

Start anywhere! And then read all the rest!

I've decided that I'll give The Business a second chance, at some point soonish. I don't really know anything about The Quarry but I hope it'll be a damn fine parting novel. I want to read all of his books again.

EDIT: Aside from minor references between Culture books, they're all stand-alone. For lack of any better idea, you might as well just read them in publication order, otherwise you'll just be reading someone else's favourites.

Fiction as Iain Banks

The Wasp Factory (1984)
Walking on Glass (1985)
The Bridge (1986)
Espedair Street (1987) – adapted for BBC radio in 1998 (directed by Dave Batchelor).
Canal Dreams (1989)
The Crow Road (1992) – adapted for BBC TV in 1996 (directed by Gavin Millar).
Complicity (1993) – filmed in 2000 (directed by Gavin Millar), retitled Retribution for its US DVD/video release.
Whit (1995)
A Song of Stone (1997)
The Business (1999)
Dead Air (2002)
The Steep Approach to Garbadale (2007)
Transition (2009) - published in the U.S.A. as Iain M. Banks
Stonemouth (2012)
The Quarry (forthcoming 2013)

[edit]Science fiction as Iain M. Banks

[edit]Novels

[edit]The Culture series

Consider Phlebas (1987)
The Player of Games (1988)
Use of Weapons (1990)
Excession (1996)
Inversions (1998)
Look to Windward (2000)
Matter (2008)
Surface Detail (2010)^[20]
The Hydrogen Sonata (2012)

[edit]Other novels

I never realised The Crow Road was published so late. I think that was my first non-M read.

This post has been edited by Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast: 03 April 2013 - 09:51 PM

#16 Tiste Simeon

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 10:52 PM

I have only read the Wasp Factory of his non-M books! As for Culture doesn't matter as any links between books are minor & don't really add/detract from each other... I second the idea of reading Against A Dark Background if for no other reason because of the Lazy Gun...

A Haunting Poem
I Scream
You Scream
We all Scream
For I Scream.

#17 Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 11:12 PM

His regular fiction books are not to be underestimated just because they aren't SFF! Go read. Now. Transition kinda borders on being SF anyway. But (aside from The Wasp Factory) The Crow Road, Complicity and The Bridge are probably the next best three, in my opinion. Walking On Glass is a weird book, too...but a Banks-weird...I love that one.

I think somebody left a message on his site saying that The Crow Road was their favourite...until they read Stonemouth, which has got me really excited because I have Stonemouth in a stack of books yet to be read.

#18 polishgenius

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 11:33 PM

In terms of links between Culture books, there are thematic reasons that mean Look to Windward should be read after Consider Phlebas, Surface Detail after Use of Weapons and Hydrogen Sonata after Excession. Other than that, all fair game really.

I need to read more non-M books. Only read The Crow Road yet.

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#19 Stalker

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Posted 03 April 2013 - 11:53 PM

Terrible news.

I figured that the best way to celebrate him would be to read one of his books that I haven't gotten to yet, so trying to pick between The Algebraist, Look to Windward, or The Wasp Factory. Haven't read any of his non sci-fi books, so we'll see.