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| iain banks the culture series: The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks Simone Caroti, 2018-07-26 This critical history of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels covers the series from its inception in the 1970s to the The Hydrogen Sonata (2012), published less than a year before Banks' death. It considers Banks' origins as a writer, the development of his politics and ethics, his struggles to become a published author, his eventual success with The Wasp Factory (1984) and the publication of the first Culture novel, Consider Phlebas (1987). His 1994 essay A Few Notes on the Culture is included, along with a range of critical responses to the 10 Culture books he published in his lifetime and a discussion of the series' status as utopian literature. Banks was a complex man, both in his everyday life and on the page. This work aims at understanding the Culture series not only as a fundamental contribution to science fiction but also as a product of its creator's responses to the turbulent times he lived in. |
| iain banks the culture series: Look to Windward Iain Banks, 2002 Eight hundred years after the most horrific battle of the Idiran war, light from its world-destroying detonations is about to reach the Masaq Orbital, home to the Culture. Major Quilan has supposedly come to take the exiled Composer Ziller back to their war-ravaged home world, Chel. But despite the major's civilized veneer, his true mission may be the death and destruction of an entire civilization. |
| iain banks the culture series: Consider Phlebas Iain M. Banks, 2009-12-01 The first book in Iain M. Banks's seminal science fiction series, The Culture. Consider Phlebas introduces readers to the utopian conglomeration of human and alien races that explores the nature of war, morality, and the limitless bounds of mankind's imagination. The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it. It was the fate of Horza, the Changer, and his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries, human and machine, actually to find it, and with it their own destruction. The Culture Series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata |
| iain banks the culture series: Use of Weapons Iain M. Banks, 2008-12-22 The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks and military action. The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him towards his present eminence, but despite all their dealings she did not know him as well as she thought. The drone known as Skaffen-Amtiskaw knew both of these people. It had once saved the woman's life by massacring her attackers in a particularly bloody manner. It believed the man to be a lost cause. But not even its machine could see the horrors in his past. Ferociously intelligent, both witty and horrific, Use of Weapons is a masterpiece of science fiction. The Culture Series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata |
| iain banks the culture series: Surface Detail Iain M. Banks, 2010-10-28 Surface Detail is among Iain M. Banks' Culture novels, a breathtaking achievement from a writer whose body of work is without parallel in the modern history of science fiction. It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters. It begins with a murder. And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself. Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release, when it comes, is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture. Benevolent, enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful though it may be, the Culture can only do so much for any individual. With the assistance of one of its most powerful -- and arguably deranged -- warships, Lededje finds herself heading into a combat zone not even sure which side the Culture is really on. A war -- brutal, far-reaching -- is already raging within the digital realms that store the souls of the dead, and it's about to erupt into reality. It started in the realm of the Real and that is where it will end. It will touch countless lives and affect entire civilizations, but at the center of it all is a young woman whose need for revenge masks another motive altogether. The Culture Series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata |
| iain banks the culture series: The Hydrogen Sonata Iain M. Banks, 2012-10-09 The New York Times bestselling Culture novel. . . The Scavenger species are circling. It is, truly, provably, the End Days for the Gzilt civilization. An ancient people, organized on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture ten thousand years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. Now they've made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilizations; they are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost infinitely more rich and complex existence. Amid preparations though, the Regimental High Command is destroyed. Lieutenant Commander (reserve) Vyr Cossont appears to have been involved, and she is now wanted -- dead, not alive. Aided only by an ancient, reconditioned android and a suspicious Culture avatar, Cossont must complete her last mission given to her by the High Command. She must find the oldest person in the Culture, a man over nine thousand years old, who might have some idea what really happened all that time ago. It seems that the final days of the Gzilt civilization are likely to prove its most perilous. The Culture Series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata |
| iain banks the culture series: Transition Iain M. Banks, 2009-09-05 There is a world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse. Such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organization with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers? Among those operatives are Temudjin Oh, of mysterious Mongolian origins, an un-killable assassin who journeys between the peaks of Nepal, a version of Victorian London and the dark palaces of Venice under snow; Adrian Cubbish, a restlessly greedy City trader; and a nameless, faceless state-sponsored torturer known only as the Philosopher, who moves between time zones with sinister ease. Then there are those who question the Concern: the bandit queen Mrs. Mulverhill, roaming the worlds recruiting rebels to her side; and Patient 8262, under sedation and feigning madness in a forgotten hospital ward, in hiding from a dirty past. There is a world that needs help; but whether it needs the Concern is a different matter. |
| iain banks the culture series: The Player of Games Iain M. Banks, 2009-12-01 The Culture — a human/machine symbiotic society — has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game. . . a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life — and very possibly his death. The Culture Series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata |
| iain banks the culture series: Matter Iain M. Banks, 2009-02-10 A novel of dazzling wit and serious purpose. An extraordinary feat of storytelling and breathtaking invention on a grand scale, it is a tour de force from a writer who has turned science fiction on its head. Unexpectedly savage, emotionally powerful, and impossible to forget. —The Times In a world renowned even within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one brother it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one — maybe two — people who could clear his name. For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. And for their sister, even without knowing the full truth, it means returning to a place she'd thought abandoned forever. Only the sister is not what she once was; Djan Seriy Anaplian has changed almost beyond recognition to become an agent of the Culture's Special Circumstances section, charged with high-level interference in civilizations throughout the greater galaxy. Concealing her new identity — and her particular set of abilities — might be a dangerous strategy, however. In the world to which Anaplian returns, nothing is quite as it seems; and determining the appropriate level of interference in someone else's war is never a simple matter. The Culture Series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata |
| iain banks the culture series: Inversions Iain M. Banks, 2023-12-05 Originally published: London: Orbit, 1998. |
| iain banks the culture series: The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks Simone Caroti, 2015-04-01 This critical history of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels covers the series from its inception in the 1970s to the The Hydrogen Sonata (2012), published less than a year before Banks' death. It considers Banks' origins as a writer, the development of his politics and ethics, his struggles to become a published author, his eventual success with The Wasp Factory (1984) and the publication of the first Culture novel, Consider Phlebas (1987). His 1994 essay A Few Notes on the Culture is included, along with a range of critical responses to the 10 Culture books he published in his lifetime and a discussion of the series' status as utopian literature. Banks was a complex man, both in his everyday life and on the page. This work aims at understanding the Culture series not only as a fundamental contribution to science fiction but also as a product of its creator's responses to the turbulent times he lived in. |
| iain banks the culture series: The Business Iain Banks, 2013 Kate is a senior executive officer in a powerful and massively discreet transglobal organization. The character of The Business seems, even to her, to be vague to the point of invisibility. Her job is to keep abreast of technological developments, but she must let go the assumptions of a lifetime. |
| iain banks the culture series: Excession Iain M. Banks, 2023-11-30 The novels of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. His Culture books combine breathtaking imagination with exceptional storytelling, and have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre. 'Banks is a phenomenon' William Gibson Two and a half millennia ago in a remote corner of space, beside a trillion-year-old dying sun from a different universe, the artifact appeared. It was a perfect black-body sphere, and it did nothing. Then it disappeared. Now it is back. Diplomat Genar-Hofoen of Special Circumstances is sent to investigate but, sidetracked by an old flame and the spoiled-brat operative Ulver Seich, and faced with the systematic depravities of a race who call themselves the Affront, it's anyone's guess whether he'll succeed . . . Praise for the Culture series: 'Epic in scope, ambitious in its ideas and absorbing in its execution' Independent on Sunday 'Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future' Guardian 'Jam-packed with extraordinary invention' Scotsman 'Compulsive reading' Sunday Telegraph The Culture series: Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata The State of the Art Other books by Iain M. Banks: Against a Dark Background Feersum Endjinn The Algebraist Also now available: The Culture: The Drawings - an extraordinary collection of original illustrations faithfully reproduced from sketchbooks Banks kept in the 1970s and 80s, depicting the ships, habitats, geography, weapons and language of Banks' Culture series of novels in incredible detail. |
| iain banks the culture series: The Culture Iain M. Banks, Ken MacLeod, 2019-11-26 Iain M. Banks, the modern master of SF, created many original drawings detailing the universe of his bestselling Culture novels. Now these illustrations - many of them annotated - are being published for the very first time in a book that celebrates Banks's grand vision, with additional notes and material by Banks's longtime friend and fellow SF author Ken MacLeod. Praise for the Culture series:'Epic in scope, ambitious in its ideas and absorbing in its execution' Independent on Sunday'Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future' Guardian'Jam-packed with extraordinary invention' Scotsman'Compulsive reading'Sunday Telegraph The Culture series: Consider PhlebasThe Player of GamesUse of WeaponsThe State of the ArtExcessionInversionsLook to WindwardMatterSurface DetailThe Hydrogen Sonata Other books by Iain M. Banks: Against a Dark BackgroundFeersum EndjinnThe Algebraist |
| iain banks the culture series: The State Of The Art Iain M. Banks, 2010-03-04 The works of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. With breathtaking imagination and extraordinary storytelling, they have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre. 'Banks is a phenomenon' William Gibson The State of the Art is the only collection of Iain M. Banks's short fiction and includes the acclaimed Culture novella of the same name. From science fiction to horror, dark fantasy to twisted comedy, all eight stories bear the indefinable stamp of Banks's staggering talent. Praise for the novels of Iain M. Banks: 'Epic in scope, ambitious in its ideas and absorbing in its execution' Independent on Sunday 'Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future' Guardian 'Jam-packed with extraordinary invention' Scotsman 'Compulsive reading' Sunday Telegraph The novels of Iain M. Banks: The Culture series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata The State of the Art Other books by Iain M. Banks Against a Dark Background Feersum Endjinn The Algebraist Also now available: The Culture: The Drawings - an extraordinary collection of original illustrations faithfully reproduced from sketchbooks Banks kept in the 1970s and 80s, depicting the ships, habitats, geography, weapons and language of Banks' Culture series of novels in incredible detail. |
| iain banks the culture series: A Song of Stone Iain Banks, 1999-09-07 Set in a war-torn country not unlike Bosnia, this internationally bestselling novel concerns a band of soldiers who find refuge in a rural castle. |
| iain banks the culture series: Let All the Children Boogie Sam J. Miller, 2021-01-06 From the Nebula-Award-winning author of The Art of Starving comes Sam J. Miller's sci-fi time traveling tale, Let All the Chlidren Boogie, a Tor.com Original As the Cold War stalls and the threat of nuclear warfare dominates the news, small-town misfits Laurie and Fell bond over a shared love of music and the mystery of the erratic radio messages that hint at the existence of a future worth reaching out for. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied. |
| iain banks the culture series: The Quarry Iain M. Banks, 2014-05-13 Eighteen-year-old Kit is weird: big, strange, odd, socially disabled, on a spectrum that stretches from highly gifted at one end, to nutter at the other. At least Kit knows who his father is; he and Guy live together in a decaying country house on the unstable brink of a vast quarry. His mother's identity is another matter. Now, though, his father's dying, and old friends are gathering for one last time. Uncle Paul's a media lawyer now; Rob and Ali are upwardly mobile corporate bunnies; pretty, hopeful Pris is a single mother; Haze is still living up to his drug-inspired name twenty years on; and fierce, protective Hol is a gifted if acerbic critic. As young film students they lived at Willoughtree House with Guy, and they've all come back because they want something. Kit, too, has his own ulterior motives. Before his father dies he wants to know who his mother is, and what's on the mysterious tape they're all looking for. But most of all he wants to stop time and keep his father alive. Fast-paced, gripping and savagely funny, The Quarry is a virtuoso performance whose soaring riffs on the inexhaustible marvel of human perception and rage against the dying of the light will stand among Iain Banks' greatest work. |
| iain banks the culture series: Complicity Iain Banks, 2002-11-12 In Scotland, a self-appointed executioner dispenses justice to fit the crime. Thus the lenient judge who let a rapist go is punished by being raped, while a man who killed is killed in turn. By the author of The Wasp Factory. |
| iain banks the culture series: The Stone Canal Ken MacLeod, 2001-03-15 Science fiction-roman. |
| iain banks the culture series: Railhead Philip Reeve, 2016-01-01 Zen Starling is a petty thief from the filthy streets of Thunder City who aimlessly rides the rails of the Network. When the mysterious stranger Raven offers Zen a chance to escape the squalor of the city and live the rest of the day in luxury, Zen can't believe his luck. But the offer just might bring everything in this galaxy and the next to the end of the line. |
| iain banks the culture series: Against a Dark Background Iain M. Banks, 2009-07-01 From science fiction master Iain M. Banks comes a standalone adventure of one woman on the run in an isolated galaxy. Sharrow was once the leader of a personality-attuned combat team in one of the sporadic little commercial wars in the civilization based around the planet Golter. Now she is hunted by the Huhsz, a religious cult which believes that she is the last obstacle before the faith's apotheosis, and her only hope of escape is to find the last of the apocalyptically powerful Lazy Guns before the Huhsz find her. Her journey through the exotic Golterian system is a destructive and savage odyssey into her past, and that of her family and of the system itself. |
| iain banks the culture series: A Larger Universe James L. Gillaspy, 2012-01-13 The broadcast interview of a young computer prodigy attracts the attention of aliens aboard an interstellar trading ship. The kidnapping of Tommy (and his cat) begins an adventure among the stars, a coming of age story entangled with computers, faster-than-light travel, a dying civilization, and an ancient evil. Once on board a five-thousand-meter starship, Tommy meets a crew of humans, descended from peasants, priests, and soldiers taken from Earth a thousand years before, all slaves to seldom-seen aliens inhabiting the upper third of the ship Tommy is expected to replace the ancient and failing computers on the ship with computers taken from Earth, beginning with the long-dead missile controller, without which the ship is defenseless. After the new missile controller, with Tommy as its operator, successfully defends the ship against attack, his “benefactor,” one of the alien Nesu masters, directs him to replace the environmental and navigation computers. This work leads to the discovery that the star drive is from still another alien group who, fifteen hundred years before, destroyed the Nesu home world and now limit all scientific advancement in the local arm of the galaxy, including Earth. |
| iain banks the culture series: The Algebraist Iain M. Banks, 2024-04-02 As complex, turbulent and spectacular as the gas giant on which it is set, this novel from Iain M. Banks is space opera on a truly epic scale. “An enormously enjoyable book, full of wonderful aliens, a sense of wonder and subtle political commentary on current events.” –Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) It is 4034 AD. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers, will be fortunate if he makes it to the end of the year. The Nasqueron Dwellers inhabit a gas giant on the outskirts of the galaxy, in a system awaiting its wormhole connection to the rest of civilization. In the meantime, they are dismissed as decadents living in a state of highly developed barbarism, hoarding data without order, hunting their own young and fighting pointless formal wars. Seconded to a military-religious order he's barely heard of - part of the baroque hierarchy of the Mercatoria, the latest galactic hegemony - Fassin Taak has to travel again amongst the Dwellers. He is in search of a secret hidden for half a billion years. But with each day that passes a war draws closer - a war that threatens to overwhelm everything and everyone he's ever known. “Banks is a phenomenon...writing pure science fiction of a peculiarly gnarly energy and elegance.” –William Gibson “Banks writes with a sophistication that will surprise anyone unfamiliar with modern science fiction.” –The New York Times For More from Iain M. Banks, check out: The Culture series: Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata |
| iain banks the culture series: The Quiet War Paul Mcauley, 2009-12-04 Twenty-third century Earth, ravaged by climate change, looks backwards to the holy ideal of a pre-industrial Eden. Political power has been grabbed by a few powerful families and their green saints. Millions of people are imprisoned in teeming cities; millions more labour on Pharaonic projects to rebuild ruined ecosystems. On the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, the Outers, descendants of refugees from Earth's repressive regimes, have constructed a wild variety of self-sufficient cities and settlements: scientific utopias crammed with exuberant creations of the genetic arts; the last outposts of every kind of democratic tradition. The fragile detente between the Outer cities and the dynasties of Earth is threatened by the ambitions of the rising generation of Outers, who want to break free of their cosy, inward-looking pocket paradises, colonise the rest of the Solar System, and drive human evolution in a hundred new directions. On Earth, many demand pre-emptive action against the Outers before it's too late; others want to exploit the talents of their scientists and gene wizards. Amid campaigns for peace and reconciliation, political machinations, crude displays of military might, and espionage by cunningly wrought agents, the two branches of humanity edge towards war... |
| iain banks the culture series: A Higher Calling Harold Earls, IV, Rachel Earls, 2021-06-08 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • ECPA BESTSELLER • The husband and wife behind the popular Earls Family Vlogs share their inspiring love story of how an expedition to climb Mount Everest deepened their faith, strengthened their commitment, and sharpened their vision to make a difference in the world. As a senior at West Point, Harold Earls dreamed of summiting Mount Everest after graduation and bringing awareness to the issue of PTSD in soldiers and veterans. But as a novice mountain climber and newlywed, could he really leave his wife, Rachel, on the other side of the world to pursue such a dangerous quest? After all, Rachel’s dream was to be a wife and mother. She knew that her husband’s audacious goal might lead to her to give up everything. A Higher Calling takes us on a beautiful journey through the ups and downs of their relationship, from their unlikely introduction and whirlwind romance to their fairy-tale wedding and the dreams they shared. Dreams that required tremendous sacrifice and faith—in each other and in God. As their dreams are realized, witness how Harold and Rachel used their powerful bond of love to overcome obstacles and learn that life is about doing versus having, serving versus getting, being versus wanting. A Higher Calling shows each of us that when God’s purpose and our passion meet, we can transcend any sacrifice we make on the mountains of adversity. And as we approach life with an attitude of thanksgiving, we realize that being joyful and living in love is worth it. Every time. |
| iain banks the culture series: Reason Fulfilled by Revelation Gregory B. Sadler, 2011-03-16 This selection of previously untranslated documents from the French debates about Christian philosophy provides a long-needed complement to available English-language literature on the subject. |
| iain banks the culture series: In the Orbit of Sirens T. A. Bruno, 2020-10-04 Nightmarish machines have driven humanity into the depths of space. The survivors are forced to adapt to a planet filled with monsters. |
| iain banks the culture series: The Cassini Division Ken MacLeod, 1999 Now Ellen has a plan to rid humanity of this threat once and for all. But she needs to recruit the right people to her cause - and convince them to mistrust the post-humans as much as she does.--BOOK JACKET. |
| iain banks the culture series: Macrolife George Zebrowski, 2014-04-08 Subtitled “A Mobile Utopia,” this pioneering novel about the meaning of space habitats for human history, presents spacefaring as no work did in its time, and since. A utopian novel like no other, presenting a dynamic utopian civilization that transcends the failures of our history. Epic in scope, Macrolife opens in the year 2021. The Bulero family owns one of Earth’s richest corporations. As the Buleros gather for a reunion at the family mansion, an industrial accident plunges the corporation into a crisis, which eventually brings the world around them to the brink of disaster. Vilified, the Buleros flee to a space colony where young Richard Bulero gradually realizes that the only hope for humanity lies in macrolife—mobile, self-reproducing space habitats. A millennium later, these mobile communities have left our sunspace and multiplied. Conflicts with natural planets arise. John Bulero, a cloned descendant of the twenty-first century Bulero clan, falls in love with a woman from a natural world and experiences the harshness of her way of life. He rediscovers his roots when his mobile returns to the solar system, and a tense confrontation of three civilizations takes place. One hundred billion years later, macrolife, now as numerous as the stars, faces the impending death of nature. Regaining his individuality by falling away from a highly evolved macrolife, a strangely changed John Bulero struggles to see beyond a collapse of the universe into a giant black hole. Inspired by the possibilities of space settlements, projections of biology and cosmology, and basic human longings, Macrolife is a visionary speculation on the long-term future of human and natural history. Filled with haunting images and memorable characters, this is a vivid and brilliant work. |
| iain banks the culture series: The Dispossessed Ursula K. Le Guin, 2001 A brilliant physicist attempts to salvage his planet of anarchy. |
| iain banks the culture series: Terminal World Alastair Reynolds, 2021-12-21 In the last surviving human city, an ex-spy gets sucked into a dangerous quest that will take him beyond the city walls when a winged man turns up dead in his morgue in this innovative and original dystopian space adventure. Spearpoint, the last human city, is an enormous atmosphere-piercing spire. Clinging to its skin are the zones, a series of semi-autonomous city-states, each of which enjoys a different—and rigidly enforced—level of technology. Following an infiltration mission that went tragically wrong, Quillon has been living incognito, working as a pathologist in the district morgue. But when a near-dead angel drops onto his dissecting table, Quillon's world is wrenched apart one more time, for the angel is a winged posthuman from Spearpoint's Celestial Levels—and with the dying body comes bad news. If Quillon is to save his life, he must leave his home and journey into the cold and hostile lands beyond Spearpoint's base, starting an exile that will take him further than he could ever imagine. But there is far more at stake than just Quillon's own survival, for the limiting technologies of the zones are determined not by governments or police, but by the very nature of reality—and reality itself is showing worrying signs of instability . . . |
| iain banks the culture series: Walking On Glass Iain Banks, 2008-09-04 'Establishes beyond doubt that Iain Banks is a novelist of remarkable talents' Daily Telegraph Graham Park is in love. But Sara Fitch is an enigma to him, a creature of almost perverse mystery. Steven Grout is paranoid - and with justice. He knows that They are out to get him. They are. Quiss, insecure in his fabulous if ramshackle castle, is forced to play interminable impossible games. The solution to the oldest of all paradoxical riddles will release him. But he must find an answer before he knows the question. Park, Grout, Quiss - no trio could be further apart. But their separate courses are set for collision. Praise for Iain Banks: 'The most imaginative novelist of his generation' The Times 'His verve and talent will always be recognised, and his work will always find and enthral new readers' Ken MacLeod, Guardian 'His work was mordant, surreal, and fiercely intelligent' Neil Gaiman 'An exceptional wordsmith' Scotsman |
| iain banks the culture series: Sisters of the Vast Black Lina Rather, 2019-10-29 The sisters of the Order of Saint Rita captain their living ship into the reaches of space in Lina Rather's debut novella, Sisters of the Vast Black. A Golden Crown Literary Society Award Finalist Years ago, Old Earth sent forth sisters and brothers into the vast dark of the prodigal colonies armed only with crucifixes and iron faith. Now, the sisters of the Order of Saint Rita are on an interstellar mission of mercy aboard Our Lady of Impossible Constellations, a living, breathing ship which seems determined to develop a will of its own. When the order receives a distress call from a newly-formed colony, the sisters discover that the bodies and souls in their care—and that of the galactic diaspora—are in danger. And not from void beyond, but from the nascent Central Governance and the Church itself. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied. |
| iain banks the culture series: The Wasp Factory Iain Banks, 2013-07-02 The polarizing literary debut by Scottish author Ian Banks, The Wasp Factory is the bizarre, imaginative, disturbing, and darkly comic look into the mind of a child psychopath. Meet Frank Cauldhame. Just sixteen, and unconventional to say the least: Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim. That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again. It was just a stage I was going through. |
| iain banks the culture series: Iain M. Banks Paul Kincaid, 2017-05-12 The 1987 publication of Iain M. Banks's Consider Phlebas helped trigger the British renaissance of radical hard science fiction and influenced a generation of New Space Opera masters. The thirteen SF novels that followed inspired an avid fandom and intense intellectual engagement while Banks's mainstream books vaulted him to the top of the Scottish literary scene. Paul Kincaid has written the first study of Iain M. Banks to explore the confluence of his SF and literary techniques and sensibilities. As Kincaid shows, the two powerful aspects of Banks's work flowed into each other, blurring a line that critics too often treat as clear-cut. Banks's gift for black humor and a honed skepticism regarding politics and religion found expression even as he orchestrated the vast, galaxy-spanning vistas in his novels of the Culture. In examining Banks's entire SF oeuvre, Kincaid unlocks the set of ideas Banks drew upon, ideas that spoke to an unusually varied readership that praised him as a visionary and reveled in the distinctive character of his works. Entertaining and broad in scope, Iain M. Banks offers new insights on one of the most admired figures in contemporary science fiction. |
| iain banks the culture series: Sisters of the Forsaken Stars Lina Rather, 2022-02-22 The sisters of the Order of Saint Rita navigate the far reaches of space and challenges of faith in Sisters of the Forsaken Stars, the follow-up to Lina Rather's Sisters of the Vast Black, winner of the Golden Crown Literary Society Award. “We lit the spark, maybe we should be here for the flames.” Not long ago, Earth’s colonies and space stations threw off the yoke of planet Earth’s tyrannical rule. Decades later, trouble is brewing in the Four Systems, and Old Earth is flexing its power in a bid to regain control over its lost territories. The Order of Saint Rita—whose mission is to provide aid and mercy to those in need—bore witness to and defied Central Governance’s atrocities on the remote planet Phyosonga III. The sisters have been running ever since, staying under the radar while still trying to honor their calling. Despite the sisters’ secrecy, the story of their defiance is spreading like wildfire, spearheaded by a growing anti-Earth religious movement calling for revolution. Faced with staying silent or speaking up, the Order of Saint Rita must decide the role they will play—and what hand they will have—in reshaping the galaxy. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied. |
| iain banks the culture series: The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy Megan Bannen, 2022-08-23 A uniquely charming mixture of whimsy and the macabre that completely won me over. If you ever wished for an adult romance that felt like Howl's Moving Castle, THIS IS THAT BOOK. —Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient Hart is a marshal, tasked with patrolling the strange and magical wilds of Tanria. It’s an unforgiving job, and Hart’s got nothing but time to ponder his loneliness. Mercy never has a moment to herself. She’s been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son Undertakers afloat in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart, who seems to have a gift for showing up right when her patience is thinnest. After yet another exasperating run-in with Mercy, Hart finds himself penning a letter addressed simply to “A Friend”. Much to his surprise, an anonymous letter comes back in return, and a tentative friendship is born. If only Hart knew he’s been baring his soul to the person who infuriates him most—Mercy. As the dangers from Tanria grow closer, so do the unlikely correspondents. But can their blossoming romance survive the fated discovery that their pen pals are their worst nightmares—each other? Set in a world full of magic and demigods, donuts and small-town drama, this enchantingly quirky, utterly unique fantasy is perfect for readers of The House in the Cerulean Sea and The Invisible Library. Truly outstanding romantic fantasy. —India Holton An unabashedly offbeat adventure. —Freya Marske I cried twice and smiled plenty. —Olivia Atwater A little sweet, a little spicy, a little sharp and entirely moreish! —Davinia Evans I showed up for the fantastic, fun fantasy setting but it was Hart and Mercy that kept me reading. —Ruby Dixon |
| iain banks the culture series: The Steep Approach To Garbadale Iain Banks, 2008-09-04 Dark family secrets and a long-lost love affair lie at the heart of Iain Banks's fabulous new novel. The Wopuld family built its fortune on a board game called Empire! - now a hugely successful computer game. So successful, the American Spraint Corp wants to buy the firm out. Young renegade Alban, who has been evading the family clutches for years, is run to ground and persuded to attend the forthcoming family gathering - part birthday party, part Extraordinary General Meeting - convened by Win, Wopuld matriarch and most powerful member of the board, at Garbadale, the family's highland castle. Being drawn back into the bosom of the clan brings a disconcerting confrontation with Alban's past. What drove his mother to take her own life? And is he ready to see Sophie, his beautiful cousin and teenage love? Grandmother Win's revelations wll radically alter Alban's perspective for ever. |
| iain banks the culture series: The Garden of Empire J.T. Greathouse, 2022-08-04 J.T. Greathouse continues his Pact and Pattern fantasy series, hailed by New York Times bestselling author Anthony Ryan as “a captivating epic of conflicted loyalties and dangerous ambition.” The boy once known as Wen Alder has become the rebel witch Foolish Cur. Schooled in both the powers that bound him to serve the emperor as well as the furious, wild magic of his mother’s ancestors, he was torn between two worlds, until he realized the brutal nature of the emperor and his rule. Joining the rebellion, he soon experienced the painful sacrifices that come with defiance. Now the emperor—covetous of all the magic he controls—has decided to take his ruthless quest for power to the gods themselves. If he succeeds, the gods will unleash a storm of death and destruction unlike any even imagined. Only Foolish Cur has the skills and strength to stave off such a nightmare. While Foolish Cur fights the Empire in Nayen, others wage their own rebellions. A successful tutor opens a school to preserve his own dying culture while a warrior of the plains discovers powers long thought lost. And a servant of the empire begins to question the violence that threatens to engulf them all... Praise for The Hand of the Sun King: “An original fantasy filled with magic and culture.” — New York Times bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson An outstanding debut novel with ... twists that will keep you reading late into the night. — Michael Mammay, author of the Planetside series “A great coming of age story about a foolish boy who seeks to unravel the secrets of magic and maybe do something good in the process. I absolutely loved it.” — Nick Martell, author of Kingdom of Liars “Set in a fantastical world of magic with a rich history, this novel fits beautifully into its genre while also addressing some failings of the genre by turning them on their head.” — Dawn Vogel, author of History That Never Was |
IAIN BANKS – THE CULTURE SERIES - Jazzcomputer.org
The Culture series is a whole universe built by the Scottish writer Iain Banks. The nine novels, which can be read separately, will remain unfortunately too few due to the death of the author in 2013 …
The Culture Series Of Iain M Banks Simone Caroti (book)
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks Simone Caroti,2018-07-26 This critical history of Iain M Banks Culture novels covers the series from its inception in the 1970s to the The Hydrogen Sonata 2012 …
THE CULTURE OF ‘THE CULTURE’: UTOPIAN PROCESSES IN IAIN …
This thesis provides a comprehensive critical analysis of Iain M. Banks’s Culture series, ten science fiction (SF) texts concerned with the Culture, Banks’s vision of his “personal utopia”: Consider …
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks: A Critical Introduction - SFRA …
In its eight chapters (and preface, introduction, conclusion, chapter notes, bibliography and index) Caroti presents what he promises: a critical introduction to this important writer’s Culture series. …
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks - dandelon.com
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks. A Critical Introduction. Simone Caroti. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Jefferson, North Carolina. Table of Contents. Preface: The Early Days of a Better …
The Culture Series Of Iain M Banks Simone Caroti
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks Simone Caroti,2018-07-26 This critical history of Iain M Banks Culture novels covers the series from its inception in the 1970s to the The Hydrogen Sonata 2012 …
Iain Banks Culture Series Reading Order (PDF)
Publication Order: A list of the novels in their original publication order, with brief descriptions. Chronological Order: A list of the novels in their chronological order within the Culture's history, …
‘Better to Create Your Own’: On the Legacy and Utopianism of Iain …
The Culture – Iain M. Banks’s ‘personal utopia’ or ‘secular heaven’, explored and expanded in ten sprawling, epic texts published between 1987 and 2012 – is one of the most radical creations in …
Iain Banks Culture Series Reading Order - stg2.ntdtv.com
5 Iain Banks Culture Series Reading Order Published at stg2.ntdtv.com significantly enrich your understanding and appreciation of this complex and fascinating universe. Experiment with …
Iain Banks The Culture Series - rdoforum.gov.ie
2 Apr 2024 · extraordinary collection of original illustrations faithfully reproduced from sketchbooks Banks kept in the 1970s and 80s, depicting the ships, habitats, geography, weapons and …
Iain M Banks Culture Series Reading Order (PDF)
Don't miss a single detail in the Iain M. Banks Culture series. Our comprehensive guide outlines the best sequence to explore this extraordinary world. Discover the perfect reading order for Iain M. …
Iain M Banks - space-opera.net
This Campaign is mainly based upon the Culture series of books by Ian M Banks. I have also drawn material from Greg Bears Moving Mars amongst a whole list of other science-fiction writers.
ENTERTEXT - Brunel University London
In his ‘Culture’ series, Iain M. Banks explores the nature of a utopia where scientific and technological progress has reached its zenith. His novels offer an extensive critique of his …
Surface Detail Culture 9 By Iain M Banks [PDF]
Culture Series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata Surface …
The Machine Minds in Iain M. Banks’s Culture Series
Within the scope of this essay I am analyzing the cognitive similarities between the humans and AIs in Iain M. Banks’s chosen Culture novels: Excession, Look to Windward, and Surface Detail. In my …
The Player Of Games Culture 2 Iain M Banks
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks Simone Caroti,2018-07-26 This critical history of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels covers the series from its inception in the 1970s to the The Hydrogen Sonata …
Iain M. Banks – Human, Posthuman and Beyond Human
the first culture novel, Consider Phlebas, in 1987. Upon Banks’ death in 2013. the culture series became a complete body of work. Whilst some criticism has focused on the social and...
Can technology save the environment? Lessons from Iain M. Banks ...
through engagement with the “Culture” novels of Iain M. Banks. The Culture novels chronicle a space-faring, post-scarcity civilization, and stand as a kind of best-case extension, in …
State Of The Art Stories By Iain M Banks - Simone Caroti (PDF) …
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks Simone Caroti,2015-04-01 This critical history of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels covers the series from its inception in the 1970s to the The Hydrogen Sonata …
The Player Of Games Culture 2 Iain M Banks / Iain Banks (2024 ...
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks Simone Caroti,2018-07-26 This critical history of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels covers the series from its inception in the 1970s to the The Hydrogen Sonata …
IAIN BANKS – THE CULTURE SERIES - Jazzcomputer.org
The Culture series is a whole universe built by the Scottish writer Iain Banks. The nine novels, which can be read separately, will remain unfortunately too few due to the death of the author in 2013 at the age of 59 years. Here is their list: - Consider Phlebas (1987) - Use of Weapons (1990) - The Player of Games (1988), the most accessible to ...
The Culture Series Of Iain M Banks Simone Caroti (book)
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks Simone Caroti,2018-07-26 This critical history of Iain M Banks Culture novels covers the series from its inception in the 1970s to the The Hydrogen Sonata 2012 published less than a year before Banks
THE CULTURE OF ‘THE CULTURE’: UTOPIAN PROCESSES IN IAIN M. BANKS…
This thesis provides a comprehensive critical analysis of Iain M. Banks’s Culture series, ten science fiction (SF) texts concerned with the Culture, Banks’s vision of his “personal utopia”: Consider Phlebas (1987), The Player of Games (1988), Use of Weapons (1990), The State of the Art (1991), Excession (1996), Inversions (1998),
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks: A Critical Introduction
In its eight chapters (and preface, introduction, conclusion, chapter notes, bibliography and index) Caroti presents what he promises: a critical introduction to this important writer’s Culture series. Like Caroti, I remember my first encounter with Iain M. Banks, if less clearly.
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks - dandelon.com
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks. A Critical Introduction. Simone Caroti. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Jefferson, North Carolina. Table of Contents. Preface: The Early Days of a Better Nation. Introduction: The Many Faces of Iain (M.) Banks. Beginnings. The Culture Militant: Consider Phlebas. 5. 21. 42. 63. 3.
The Culture Series Of Iain M Banks Simone Caroti
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks Simone Caroti,2018-07-26 This critical history of Iain M Banks Culture novels covers the series from its inception in the 1970s to the The Hydrogen Sonata 2012 published less than a year before Banks
Iain Banks Culture Series Reading Order (PDF)
Publication Order: A list of the novels in their original publication order, with brief descriptions. Chronological Order: A list of the novels in their chronological order within the Culture's history, with brief descriptions.
‘Better to Create Your Own’: On the Legacy and Utopianism of Iain …
The Culture – Iain M. Banks’s ‘personal utopia’ or ‘secular heaven’, explored and expanded in ten sprawling, epic texts published between 1987 and 2012 – is one of the most radical creations in all of literature.
Iain Banks Culture Series Reading Order - stg2.ntdtv.com
5 Iain Banks Culture Series Reading Order Published at stg2.ntdtv.com significantly enrich your understanding and appreciation of this complex and fascinating universe. Experiment with different approaches, find what works best for you, and prepare to be captivated by Iain M. Banks' visionary storytelling. 6.
Iain Banks The Culture Series - rdoforum.gov.ie
2 Apr 2024 · extraordinary collection of original illustrations faithfully reproduced from sketchbooks Banks kept in the 1970s and 80s, depicting the ships, habitats, geography, weapons and language of Banks' Culture series of novels in incredible detail.
Iain M Banks Culture Series Reading Order (PDF)
Don't miss a single detail in the Iain M. Banks Culture series. Our comprehensive guide outlines the best sequence to explore this extraordinary world. Discover the perfect reading order for Iain M. Banks' Culture series, and experience the fascinating intricacies of this advanced civilization.
Iain M Banks - space-opera.net
This Campaign is mainly based upon the Culture series of books by Ian M Banks. I have also drawn material from Greg Bears Moving Mars amongst a whole list of other science-fiction writers.
ENTERTEXT - Brunel University London
In his ‘Culture’ series, Iain M. Banks explores the nature of a utopia where scientific and technological progress has reached its zenith. His novels offer an extensive critique of his fictional, technocratic society, as well as using it as a
Surface Detail Culture 9 By Iain M Banks [PDF]
Culture Series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata Surface Detail Iain M. Banks,2010-10-07 The novels of Iain M Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction His Culture books combine breathtaking imagination with
The Machine Minds in Iain M. Banks’s Culture Series
Within the scope of this essay I am analyzing the cognitive similarities between the humans and AIs in Iain M. Banks’s chosen Culture novels: Excession, Look to Windward, and Surface Detail. In my discussion, I am combining references to cognitive studies with the analysis of …
The Player Of Games Culture 2 Iain M Banks
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks Simone Caroti,2018-07-26 This critical history of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels covers the series from its inception in the 1970s to the The Hydrogen Sonata (2012), published less than a year before Banks' death. It considers Banks' origins as a writer, the development of his politics and ethics, his ...
Iain M. Banks – Human, Posthuman and Beyond Human
the first culture novel, Consider Phlebas, in 1987. Upon Banks’ death in 2013. the culture series became a complete body of work. Whilst some criticism has focused on the social and...
Can technology save the environment? Lessons from Iain M. Banks ...
through engagement with the “Culture” novels of Iain M. Banks. The Culture novels chronicle a space-faring, post-scarcity civilization, and stand as a kind of best-case extension, in environmental terms, of humanity’s present technological trajectory. The article wrestles with the potential for great benefit but
State Of The Art Stories By Iain M Banks - Simone Caroti (PDF) …
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks Simone Caroti,2015-04-01 This critical history of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels covers the series from its inception in the 1970s to the The Hydrogen Sonata (2012), published less than a year before Banks' death. It considers Banks' origins as a writer, the development of his politics and ethics, his ...
The Player Of Games Culture 2 Iain M Banks / Iain Banks (2024 ...
The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks Simone Caroti,2018-07-26 This critical history of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels covers the series from its inception in the 1970s to the The Hydrogen Sonata (2012), published less than a year before Banks' death. It considers Banks' origins as a writer, the development of his politics and ethics, his ...
