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

This week on my #scifi #writing #podcast I continue my exploration of #TheCulture with a comparison of Contact with the Federation of #StarTrek and their #PrimeDirective. Spoiler: They're almost completely opposite.

https://lexstarwalker.com/lol/103

#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #AmWritingSciFi #ScienceFiction

#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.

Butlerian Jihad!

Plunder Speculative Fiction for your grifts, and we'll do the same for revenge!

Going to make a chair our of Elon for ripping off Iain M Banks!

#SamAltman #ButlerianJihad #TormentNexus #SpeculativeFiction #Hustle #Grift #GenAI #LLMs #TheCulture #Dune

RE: https://mastodon.social/@ScienceScholar/116296570108149184

Isn't this what ran the Minds in The Culture novels?

#IanMBanks #TheCulture #Science

I finally finished Iain M. Banks' series of "Culture" SF novels and thoroughly enjoyed it. There's an overview of the series on my blog at:

https://leejrussell.com/2026/03/22/iain-m-banks-culture-seriesutopia-power-and-moral-complexity/

Highly recommended reading!

#scifi #scifiReading #books #TheCulture #IainBanks

spoilers

I've always been a bit confused by the infinite pregnancy relationship plot in this book.

In retrospect it seems like a terrible idea to send Byr Genar-Hofoen, and Dajeil Gelian off to a remote research outpost together. The Sleeper admits to Byr this was their call. And it says "it was a mistake"

Did the ship know that when it made the choice? Is it "eccentric" after all or just pretending?

#theCulture #excession #bookTalk

Currently on BBC Sounds: THE STATE OF THE ART by Iain M. Banks

In 1977, the Culture starship GCU ARBITRARY discovers Earth: a primitive society on the edge of self-destruction.

When Contact agent Dervley Linter decides to go native, can Diziet Sma change his mind?

@bookstodon

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hv1dz

#Scottish #literature #sciencefiction #scifi #IainBanks #IainMBanks #TheCulture #audiobook