Iain Banks

Author

Iain Banks was a Scottish novelist who achieved the rare distinction of being equally acclaimed in literary fiction and science fiction — writing literary novels under his own name and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, and excelling at both. Born in Dunfermline, Fife in 1954, Banks studied English, philosophy, and psychology at the... University of Stirling. The Wasp Factory (1984), his debut, was a literary sensation — a dark, disturbing, blackly comic novel that divided critics but announced a major new voice in British fiction. Walking on Glass, The Bridge, Espedair Street, The Crow Road, and Complicity are among his most celebrated literary novels. As Iain M. Banks, he created the Culture series — one of the most ambitious and influential science fiction sequences ever written. The Culture is a post-scarcity, pan-galactic civilisation run by benevolent artificial intelligences, and the novels — including Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games, Use of Weapons, and Excession — explore its moral complexities with intelligence, wit, and dazzling imagination. The series is widely regarded as one of the greatest achievements in space opera. Banks was known for his warmth, his wit, his love of whisky, and his fierce political convictions. He died of gallbladder cancer on 9 June 2013, aged fifty-nine, shortly after announcing his illness in a characteristically frank public statement. The audiobook editions of Banks's novels — both literary and science fiction — are brilliant listening experiences. His books and audiobooks are essential for readers who love ambitious fiction, whether literary or science fiction, written with intelligence, humanity, and style. Read more Show less