It's our monthly scifi #bookgroup in @thegamerclub #Glasgow this Wed (20th May) from 6pm. We're talking about The Culture & Iain M Banks.

A Few Notes on the Culture, by Iain M Banks: http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/cultnote.htm

All welcome. RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/the-glasgow-geeks/events/314310826/

#iainmbanks #theculture #geeksocial

Hot Take: Vyr Cossont¹ is basically Trixie Lulamoon² with extra arms and a Culture budget.

Both are genuinely talented performers who work obsessively at their craft, but both also confuse “I am extremely good at this niche thing” with “I am objectively Great and Powerful.”

Then they run headfirst into entities so far beyond them that the contest is meaningful only as an event that might spark contemplation and personal growth: Twilight Sparkle in one case, a Culture Mind in the other. (But don’t hold your breath; Twilight Sparkle still lives with imposter syndrome.)

The tragedy is not that they lack talent. The tragedy is that their egos interpret talent as proof of cosmic importance.

Also, in Fallout: Equestria³, Trixie may have been denied her redemption arc but she wound up with more limbs even without the benefits of living in a post-scarcity near-utopia. What do you mean it’s not a contest? The Great and Powerful Goddess’ patience can only go so far!

———

¹ Character from Iain M. Banks’ The Hydrogen Sonata.

² Character from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, first appearing in the Season 1 episode “Boast Busters.”

³ Fan fiction by Kkat, longer than War and Peace and twice the fun. Later expanded by Somber’s Fallout: Equestria: Project Horizons, which explores many of the same themes from another angle — and is longer.

#VyrCossont #Trixie #TrixieLulamoon #MLP #HydrogenSonata #FalloutEquestria #ProjectHorizons #IainMBanks #CultureNovels #MLPFIM

#IainMBanks #TheCulture #SurfaceDetail

I've decided to re-read the entire series of Culture novels and short stories this summer. Been musing which one to start with. Not by order of publication. I'll take them in whichever order I feel like, one-by-one, starting today with Surface Detail because I remember fondly the character Lededje Y'breq who is taught and trained by the Mind on her ship Of Course I Still Love You.

Mmm, delicious Culture immersion.

If Angine de Poitrine is an Aggressive Hegemonizing Swarm then consider me consumed and crusading!

https://youtu.be/Te1HkBx7rDw

#AngineDePoitrine #Music #IainMBanks

Naming your rocket "Never Tell Me The Odds" sounds awesome right up until the point where you fail to beat the odds.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/04/19/blue-origin-new-glenn-launch-satellite-not-useful/9591776621057/

I hope the insurance company is amused that #BlueOrigin managed to make both a #StarWars and #IainMBanks reference at the same time while they are writing a multi-million dollar check.

h/t @NatalieDavis @YakyuNightOwl