localnotail wrote:I should be trying to read that while listening to sad music. It's quite tragic. |
Iain M Banks - 'Culture series' • Page 10
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localnotail 23,079 posts
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Registered 13 years agoYes, but such a calm attitude to his ending. Wonderful man. -
barchetta 3,335 posts
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Registered 20 years ago@localnotail
It is indeed. Sat reading the paper this morning, waiting for my lads' drama class to finish, with a lump in my throat, hoping not to shed some very public tears...
He still had such an appetite to say more, it was cruel he went so quickly.
A final TV interview runs on Tuesday night at 10pm - BBC2 -
Khanivor 44,800 posts
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Registered 20 years agoFeersum Endjinn is a bugger to read but damn if you don't feel very pleased with yourself when you finish it. Bonus points if you end under the impression you know what had been going on. -
BlackJedi 388 posts
Seen 6 years ago
Registered 17 years agobarchetta wrote:
The full-length, 60-minute, interview that was broadcast on BBC 2 Scotland is already on iPlayer - the version to be broadcast on BBC2 on Tuesday has been edited down to 30 minutes.
A final TV interview runs on Tuesday night at 10pm - BBC2
The full thing is well worth watching, even if, like me, it makes you terribly sad at the thought of his passing.
I've been reading his books all my adult life, since I read The Bridge in about 1987. In 1989 I saw him give a talk at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and managed to screw up the courage to ask him to come to St. Andrews to do a talk at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Society - to which he agreed straight away. When he turned up, three of us from the society took him out for a meal before the talk - I was starstruck and probably gibbered like a loon. They say you should never meet your heroes, as you'll only be disappointed, but he was every bit as witty and entertaining and likeable as you'd expect. After the talk, he came down the bar with a bunch of us (most stories about Iain Banks involve bars!) and I discovered that the setting of The Wasp Factory was inspired by the coast at Portmahomack - the village where I grew up between the ages of 8 and 12.
Since I heard the news of his illness, I've been re-reading the Culture books in order. Its a tiny and pathetic and inadequate show of respect, but it's about all I can do. -
barchetta 3,335 posts
Seen 3 hours ago
Registered 20 years ago@BlackJedi
Ah, cheers for the heads up on the longer version. Going crack open my Laphroaig to toast the chap whilst I watch.
That's a cracking memory you have to keep there... The Portmahomack/Wasp Factory connection is interesting - lovely part of the world which I know quite well - spent holidays in the area, having family living in Edderton & Tain.
Loved The Wasp Factory but the Culture novels blew my mind.
Edited by barchetta at 18:20:20 15-06-2013 -
BlackJedi 388 posts
Seen 6 years ago
Registered 17 years ago@barchetta Enjoy your Laphroaig!
Small world - not many people have even heard of Portmahomack. In fact Banks introduced it as "a tiny village you won't have heard of". I think he lived there when he was working at Nigg. -
barchetta 3,335 posts
Seen 3 hours ago
Registered 20 years agoThe rigs in the firth..... actually, I can see the connection to vast starships and space docks with the beauty of the lights of those hulking great constructions reflecting off the dark water.
It's been a good many years since I was last up there - family deceased and long since scattered - I wonder if the rigs are still coming in? -
colinmac 774 posts
Seen 6 months ago
Registered 19 years agoI live on the north banks of the Forth - no rigs in these days that I've seen. Lots of ships, cruisers and ferries - and of course, there's a bustle of construction as the new road bridge is having its foundations poured by massive barges with mixers and cranes.
It's still a beautiful place....
IMB is (was) my favourite author of all time and he lived just around the corner!
RIP. His friends of banks site is a tough read, I find, but have still had a nose at some of the tributes... -
localnotail wrote:
I found that a very hard read. I'll probably have to read it again. The guy's still alive, in my head.
Lovely last interview
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BlackJedi 388 posts
Seen 6 years ago
Registered 17 years agoBremenacht wrote:
It's a hard read, for sure, but what I'm most worried about is reading The Quarry when it comes out.
localnotail wrote:
I found that a very hard read. I'll probably have to read it again. The guy's still alive, in my head.
Lovely last interview
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evild_edd 4,334 posts
Seen 18 hours ago
Registered 14 years agoI'm not sure i can fax The Quarry. Too much (coincidental) connection to reality.... :'( -
barchetta 3,335 posts
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Registered 20 years agoJust finished 'The Quarry'. Pretty linear and altogether straightforward (and a very quick read which comes as a bonus for my time poor/slow reading behavior). However, it was no less enjoyable for it.
Some very dark humour and great outbursts from a central character.
Despite the spectre of the novel's prescient subject matter it won't stop me revisiting the older works. Certainly had the twinkle of Banks' humourous eye and left me with a tear in mine by the end.
Toasted the memory of the chap with a freshly cracked bottle of Laphroaig.
To you, Mr. Banks. -
Do I need to read these books in order, or are they unrelated to each other? I picked up 3 cheap in a second hand book shop and really enjoyed the first one so far. -
ardamillo 638 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 15 years agoThey don't reference each other, so you can read them in pretty much any order. I think the first one (Consider Phlebas) has a bit more background about the Culture though. -
There is a bit of referencing. Look to Windward refers directly to events in an earlier book. Excession and The Hydrogen Sonata make some form of indirect reference to earlier events, I think. -
wayneh 2,599 posts
Seen 1 day ago
Registered 13 years agoSurface Detail references the main character from the Use of Weapons at the end but if you hadn't read the Use of Weapons it would just pass over your head and you wouldn't be missing anything. -
colinmac 774 posts
Seen 6 months ago
Registered 19 years agoAnyone still got a live link to the 1hr documentary ? Missed it off iplayer as was on hols..Grr. -
Inversions is a bit shit really -
colinmac 774 posts
Seen 6 months ago
Registered 19 years agoInterview is on youtube. Excellent! *
Interview
* Not actually of course. I'd rather he was still here, and there were more Culture novels on the horizon. RIP Mr B, but I wish my kindle brimmeth more....
Edited by colinmac at 13:40:36 08-08-2013 -
mumtoucher 805 posts
Seen 19 minutes ago
Registered 15 years agoCan't believe he's gone, saving Hydrogen Sonata for when I have the perfect time to read it. -
mcmonkeyplc wrote:
I initially thought it was shit because I wanted a Culture novel, but if you reread it, you'll find it's exactly what you got. Thought it was quite clever.
Inversions is a bit shit really -
Just about to finish Look to windward and it's pretty damn awesome. A return to form after Inversions.
I suppose if you treat Inversions as a non-culture novel it's pretty good but I wanted culture!.gif)
It's sad realising that there will never be another one written again
Edited by mcmonkeyplc at 09:45:53 28-02-2014 -
elstoof 28,125 posts
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Registered 16 years agoI think Windward is my choice from all I've read. -
Psychotext 70,652 posts
Seen 1 day ago
Registered 15 years agoPreviously unpublished interview with Banks on The Culture.
http://strangehorizons.com/2014/20141103/1banks-a.shtml -
Always interesting. -
@Psychotext
Nice find, thanks. I was saying to my wife just yesterday, whilst looking over possible Christmas book pressies, that I'm missing having an 'M' Banks to dig into.
.gif)
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