When did Iain M. Banks create The Culture?
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"A Gift from the Culture", published in 1987, is a short work of space opera, by the Scottish science fiction author Iain M. Banks. The story is an early venture into the "complex and unusual and very distant" setting of the Culture, which Banks would further develop through various of full length novels, stories, and his essay "A Few Notes on the Culture".
A Gift from the Culture
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Banks published work under two names. His parents had intended to name him "Iain Menzies Banks", but his father made a mistake when registering the birth and "Iain Banks" became the officially registered name. Despite this error, Banks used the middle name and submitted "The Wasp Factory" for publication as "Iain M. Banks". Banks's editor inquired about the possibility of omitting the 'M' as it appeared "too fussy" and the potential existed for confusion with Rosie M. Banks, a romantic novelist in the Jeeves novels by P.G. Wodehouse; Banks agreed to the omission. After three mainstream novels, Banks's publishers agreed to publish his first science fiction (SF) novel "Consider Phlebas". To create a distinction between the mainstream and SF novels, Banks suggested the return of the 'M' to his name, and it was used in all of his science fiction works.
By his death in June 2013 Banks had published 26 novels. His twenty-seventh novel "The Quarry" was published posthumously. His final work, a collection of poetry, was released in February 2015. In an interview January 2013, he also mentioned he had the plot idea for another novel in the Culture series, which would most likely be his next book and planned for publication in 2014.
Iain Banks
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The Culture is a fictional interstellar post-scarcity civilization or society created by the Scottish writer Iain M. Banks and features in a number of his space opera novels and works of short fiction, collectively called the Culture series.
The Culture
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The State of the Art is a short story collection by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1991. The collection includes some stories originally published under his other byline, Iain Banks as well as the title novella and others set in Banks' Culture fictional universe.
The State of the Art
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Look to Windward is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 2000. It is Banks' sixth published novel to feature the Culture. The book's dedication reads: "For the Gulf War Veterans".
The novel takes its title from a line in T. S. Eliot's poem "The Waste Land". It is loosely a sequel to "Consider Phlebas", Banks's first published Culture novel. "Consider Phlebas" took its name from the following line in the poem and dealt with the events of the Idiran-Culture War; "Look to Windward" deals with the results of the war on those who lived through it.
Look to Windward
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"The Culture" novels by Iain M Banks are centered on a communist post-scarcity economy where technology is advanced to such a degree that all production is automated, and there is no use for money or property (aside from personal possessions with sentimental value). Humans in the Culture are free to pursue their own interests in an open and socially-permissive society. The society has been described by some commentators as "communist-bloc" or "anarcho-communist". Banks' close friend and fellow science fiction writer Ken MacLeod has said that The Culture can be seen as a realization of Marx's communism, but adds that "however friendly he was to the radical left, Iain had little interest in relating the long-range possibility of utopia to radical politics in the here and now. As he saw it, what mattered was to keep the utopian possibility open by continuing technological progress, especially space development, and in the meantime to support whatever policies and politics in the real world were rational and humane."
Communist society
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The Hydrogen Sonata is a science fiction novel by Scottish author Iain M. Banks, set in his techno-utopian Culture universe. The hardcover edition was released on 4 October 2012 in the United Kingdom, and on 9 October in the United States. The book's release marked 25 years since the publication of Banks' first Culture novel. A paperback edition of the book was released on 5 September 2013 in the United Kingdom, and on 10 September in the United States. "The Hydrogen Sonata" was Banks' last science fiction novel, as he died of gall bladder cancer in June 2013.
The Hydrogen Sonata
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The "Culture" series is a science fiction series written by Scottish author Iain M. Banks. The stories centre on the Culture, a utopian, post-scarcity space society of humanoids, aliens, and very advanced artificial intelligences living in socialist habitats spread across the Milky Way galaxy. The main theme of the novels is the dilemmas that an idealistic hyperpower faces in dealing with civilizations that do not share its ideals, and whose behaviour it sometimes finds repulsive. In some of the stories, action takes place mainly in non-Culture environments, and the leading characters are often on the fringes of (or non-members of) the Culture, sometimes acting as agents of Culture (knowing and unknowing) in its plans to civilize the galaxy.
The Culture (series)
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Iain Banks received the following literary awards and nominations:Banks' non-SF work comprises fourteen novels and one non-fiction book. Many of his novels contain elements of autobiography, and feature various locations in his native Scotland. "Raw Spirit" (subtitled "In Search of the Perfect Dram") is a travel book of Banks' visits to the distilleries of Scotland in search of the finest whisky, including his musings on other subjects such as cars and politics.
Banks wrote thirteen SF novels, nine of which were part of the Culture series; and a short story collection called "The State of the Art" (1991) includes some stories set in the same universe. These works focus upon characters that are usually on the margins of the Culture, a post-scarcity anarchist utopia; in the same universe are other civilizations, with which the Culture sometimes enters into conflict, and sentient artificial intelligences.
Iain Banks
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His second novel "Walking on Glass" was published in 1985. "The Bridge" followed in 1986, and "Espedair Street", published in 1987, was later broadcast as a series on BBC Radio 4. His first published science fiction book "Consider Phlebas" was released in 1987 and was the first of several novels of the acclaimed Culture series. Banks cited Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Brian Aldiss, M. John Harrison and Dan Simmons as literary influences. "The Crow Road", published in 1992, was adapted as a BBC television series. Banks continued to write both science fiction and mainstream novels, with his final novel "The Quarry" published in June 2013, the month of his death.
Iain Banks