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?
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?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hv1dz
#Scottish #literature #sciencefiction #scifi #IainBanks #IainMBanks #TheCulture #audiobook
“An Outside Context Problem was the sort of thing most civilisations encountered just once, and which they tended to encounter rather in the same way a sentence encountered a full stop…”
—Iain M. Banks, EXCESSION (1996)
#Scottish #literature #sciencefiction #IainBanks #IainMBanks #TheCulture #videogames #Civ #Civilization #SidMeier
“Sid Meier’s CIVILIZATION was one of the most addicting games of my life… I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Iain M. Banks shared the addiction and that his Culture novel EXCESSION was in part inspired by it.”
—Peter Tieryas on how Sid Meier’s CIVILIZATION helped inspire Iain M. Banks’s 1996 Culture novel EXCESSION
#Scottish #literature #sciencefiction #IainBanks #IainMBanks #TheCulture #videogames #Civ #Civilization #SidMeier
Sid Meier’s Civilization was one of the most addicting games of my life. I feel like I could have learned several new programming languages in the weeks and months I spent building pixelated empires, warring with foreign nations, pursuing brand new technology, and losing everything in an inferno of digital destruction. I was pleasantly surprised Read More »
“I mean, your society’s broken, so who should we blame? Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No let’s blame the people with no power & no money & these immigrants who don’t even have the vote, yeah it must be their fucking fault.”
—Iain Banks, the final interview
13/13
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/15/iain-banks-the-final-interview
#Scottish #literature #fiction #sciencefiction #IainBanks #IainMBanks #TheCulture
“Pay attention to the moments of contradiction & uncertainty threaded through character dialogue & self-reflection…Watch his tone. Watch his humour. For me, that’s where the sharpest lessons are”
—Dr Bethany Jacobs for the New Scientist
12/13
#Scottish #literature #fiction #sciencefiction #IainBanks #IainMBanks #TheCulture
The New Scientist Book Club read the science-fiction masterpiece THE PLAYER OF GAMES by Iain M. Banks. In this video, Iain’s friend & fellow author Ken MacLeod discusses Iain’s schooldays, his literary influences, & his idea for a final Culture novel
11/13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7OW6A8XCgg
#Scottish #literature #fiction #sciencefiction #IainBanks #IainMBanks #TheCulture
Why has Iain Banks’s Culture series – “a world where your Bezoses & your Musks are not just irrelevant, but actively sought out & disempowered” – garnered a billionaire fanbase? Kurt Schiller examines ultra-rich misreadings & delusions for Blood Knife
10/13
https://bloodknife.com/culture-war-iain-m-banks-jeff-bezos/
#Scottish #literature #fiction #sciencefiction #IainBanks #IainMBanks #TheCulture #billionaires
“Our strange wee country is as complex as any alien civilization, & getting it as right as Banks did in The Crow Road required every bit as much world-building skill as his Culture”
—Simon Stephenson travels THE CROW ROAD for Reactor Magazine
9/13
https://reactormag.com/the-difference-is-entirely-one-of-setting-iain-banks-the-crow-road/
#Scottish #literature #fiction #sciencefiction #IainBanks #IainMBanks #TheCulture
It was the day my grandmother exploded. That might just be the greatest opening line ever written, and I am allowed to say that because I did not write it. It is the opening salvo to Iain Banks’ 1992 novel The Crow Road. Few Tor.com readers will need any introduction to Iain M. Banks, acclaimed […]
“Banks… envisions the overcoming of scarcity as the signal achievement of the civilization made by the Minds, & yet he focuses time and again on objects of unfulfilled desire”
—Alan Jacobs on the Ambiguous Utopia of Iain M Banks, for The New Atlantis
8/13
https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-ambiguous-utopia-of-iain-m-banks
#Scottish #literature #fiction #sciencefiction #IainBanks #IainMBanks #TheCulture #utopia
myrmepropagandist
Assoc for Scottish Literature
