Iain Banks

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Iain Menzies Banks (born on February 16, 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish writer. As Iain M. Banks he writes science fiction; as Iain Banks he writes literary fiction.

His father was an officer in the Admiralty and his mother was once a professional ice skater. Banks studied English, Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Stirling.

Married in 1992, he lives currently in North Queensferry, a town on the north side of the Firth of Forth near the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge. His next book will be a mainstream novel called Matter and is due for publication in March 2007.

1 Politics
2 Miscellany
3 Bibliography
4 Quotes
5 External links

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Politics

As with his friend Ken MacLeod (another Scottish writer of technical and social science fiction) a strong awareness of left-wing history shows in his writings. The argument that an economy of abundance renders anarchy and adhocracy viable (or even inevitable) attracts many as an interesting potential experiment, were it ever to become testable. He is known as a supporter of Scottish independence, and has campaigned with the Scottish Socialist Party.

In late 2004 Banks was a prominent member of a group of British politicians and media figures who campaigned to have Prime Minister Tony Blair impeached following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In protest he cut up his passport and posted it to 10 Downing Street.

Banks is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.

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Miscellany

Banks tends to produce a novel in around three months, working solidly, then take nine months off. In his leisure time, he has had flying lessons and records his own rock music.

Banks tends to alternate writing between science fiction and literary fiction novels.

Many of his science fiction books are based in the universe of 'The Culture' (a powerful, multi-species civilization living in our galaxy). The novella, The State of the Art records the Culture coming into contact with planet Earth (see Bibliography below).

Following the release of his most recent science-fiction work, The Algebraist in 2004 (a non-Culture novel), Banks has stated that he intends to write more Culture novels. However, as he intends to slow the release of such books from one every 12 months to one every 18 months, the next Culture novel cannot be expected until sometime after 2006.

Although Banks generally confines his writing to his own novels, he has written occasional reviews for The Guardian newspaper and is a semi-regular music reviewer for Marc Riley's Rocket Science radio show on BBC 6 Music. He was the subject of a South Bank Show television programme broadcast on 16 November 1997, subtitled The Strange Worlds of Iain Banks, which concentrated on his mainstream work. The Curse Of Iain Banks, a play written by Maxton Walker, was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1999, with Banks contributing as a voice on tape. He has appeared on the BBC's political discussion television programme Question Time.

Iain Banks occasionally writes letters to the editor of the New Scientist, most recently mocking creationism in November 2005.[1]

While a student at Stirling University, Banks appeared as an extra in the final battle scene of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which was filmed at the nearby Doune Castle.

At the beginning of 2006 Banks captained a team of writers to victory in a special series of University Challenge: The Professionals on BBC2, beating a team of actors 185-105 (January 1), and then the 'news' team 190-45 in the final (January 2). He also won an edition of Celebrity Mastermind, taking "Malt whisky & the distilleries of Scotland" as his specialist subject on BBC1 on January 2.

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Bibliography

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Novels 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 David 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 (1994)
A Song of Stone (1997)
The Business (1999)
Dead Air (2002)

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Novels as Iain M. Banks

Much of Banks' science fiction deals with a pan-galactic civilisation, the Culture, which he has developed in some detail over the course of six novels and a collection of short stories.

Consider Phlebas (1987)
The Player of Games (1988)
Use of Weapons (1990)
Excession (1996)
Inversions (1998) (makes covert references to the protagonists being Culture citizens)
Look to Windward (2000)

His other, non-Culture, science fiction novels are:

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Short fiction

Banks writes less short fiction but has published one collection, as Iain M. Banks:

The State of the Art (1989)

It contains both science fiction and less categorizable works of fiction. The eponymous novella deals with the Culture, as do two other of the stories contained in this collection.

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