09 June 2013

Iain M. Banks Succumbs to Cancer


Sad news today.

Iain M. Banks, author of the 'Culture' science-fiction novels (among them, Player of Games, Use of Weapons, and Consider Phlebas) and, as 'Iain Banks', many 'mainstream' novels (including The Wasp Factory and Complicity), has passed away.  He recently had been diagnosed with cancer (mentioned here in April).

This link provides a nice overview of some of the themes of Banks's Culture novels.

EDIT: The BBC obituary.

EDIT 2: I just realised that I had misspelt 'Iain' in this post and my earlier one.  After 20 years of reading his novels, I still make this mistake.  As someone whose own name is misspelt regularly, I should know better!

EDIT 3: Economist Paul Krugman also is a fan.

EDIT 4: Charles Stross on Banks.

3 comments:

  1. Doctor Futurity10 June, 2013 11:00

    That is really sad. Iain's books were great, and he will be missed. We've lost a lot of good authors lately, but this is especially hard because he was honestly far too young.

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    Replies
    1. Akrasia10 June, 2013 19:02

      Too young indeed. I still can't believe that we'll never see another Culture novel. *sigh*

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  2. Lawrence Whitaker11 June, 2013 22:27

    Iain has Sublimed.

    It was far too soon, and the universe is already poorer without him, but at least he has a wonderful written legacy to read and re-read.

    But sad nonetheless.

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