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Iain Menzies Banks (born on February 16, 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish writer. As Iain M. Banks he writes science fiction; as Iain Banks he writes literary fiction.
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Bio
Married in 1992, he currently lives in North Queensferry, a town on the north side of the Firth of Forth near the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge. His next book will be a mainstream novel called The Steep Approach to Garbadale and is due for publication in March 2007.
His father was an officer in the Admiralty and his mother was once a professional ice skater. Banks studied English, philosophy and psychology at the University of Stirling.
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Politics
As with his friend Ken MacLeod (another Scottish writer of technical and social science fiction) a strong awareness of left-wing history shows in his writings. The argument that an economy of abundance renders anarchy and adhocracy viable (or even inevitable) attracts many as an interesting potential experiment, were it ever to become testable. He is known as a supporter of Scottish independence, and has campaigned with the Scottish Socialist Party.
In late 2004 Banks was a prominent member of a group of British politicians and media figures who campaigned to have Prime Minister Tony Blair impeached following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In protest he cut up his passport and posted it to 10 Downing Street.
Banks is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society (see Quotations) and a Distinguished Supporter of the Humanist Society of Scotland.
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Miscellany
Banks tends to produce a novel in around three months, working solidly, then take nine months off. In his leisure time, he has had flying lessons and records his own rock music.
Following the release of his most recent science-fiction work, The Algebraist in 2004 (a non-Culture novel), Banks has stated that he intends to write more Culture novels. However, as he intends to slow the release of such books from one every 12 months to one every 18 months, the next Culture novel cannot be expected until sometime in 2008.
Although Banks generally confines his writing to his own novels, he has written occasional reviews for The Guardian newspaper and is a semi-regular music reviewer for Marc Riley's Rocket Science radio show on BBC 6 Music. He was the subject of a South Bank Show television programme broadcast on 16 November 1997, subtitled The Strange Worlds of Iain Banks, which concentrated on his mainstream work. The Curse Of Iain Banks, a play written by Maxton Walker, was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1999, with Banks contributing as a voice on tape. He has appeared on the BBC's political discussion television programme Question Time.
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Bibliography
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Novels as Iain Banks
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Novels as Iain M. Banks
Much of Banks' science fiction deals with a vast interstellar civilisation, the Culture, which he has developed in some detail over the course of six novels and a number of short stories.
Inversions (1998) (makes covert references to the protagonists being Culture citizens)
His other, non-Culture, science fiction novels are:
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Short fiction
Banks writes less short fiction but has published one collection, as Iain M. Banks:
It contains both science fiction and less categorizable works of fiction. The eponymous novella deals with the Culture, as do two other of the stories contained in this collection.
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Non-fiction
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Introductions
Banks has written a number of introductions for works by other writers including:
The Orbit Science Fiction Yearbook Three (1990) edited by David S. Garnett, ISBN 0-07-088833-7.
The Human Front (2001) by Ken MacLeod, the PS Publishing edition, ISBN 1-902880-30-7 (hbk) and ISBN 1-902880-31-5 (pbk).
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Contributions
Banks has contributed to a number of publications, including:
The Edinburgh Pub Guide (1989) edited by James Bethell, Polygon Press, ISBN 0-7486-6053-4. A review of The Green Tree.
Forbidden Love. A photo story that Banks wrote for Viz, but which they would not publish without a cut that he would not agree to. It was written (and photographed) at the 1989 Eastercon. The words were eventually published in issue 4 of The Culture fanzine in 2001.
Isaac Asimov, in Critical Wave 26. After the death of the author, Banks contributed an appreciation for the fanzine.
Escape from the Laws of Physics (1993). An article about the science (or lack of it) in science fiction that appeared in the magazine New Scientist
A Sense of Belonging to Scotland (2002), edited by Andy Hall, The Mercat Press, ISBN 1-84183-036-4. Banks contributed a few paragraphs to this book about the "favourite places of Scottish celebrities". His chosen place was the Forth Road Bridge.
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Quotes
"I write because I love it, I enjoy it, I've spent most of my life trying to do it better, and I can make a living from it: beats a day job." *
"The Universe says simply, but with every possible complication, 'Existence' and it neither pressures us nor draws us out, except as we allow. It all boils down to nothing, and where we have the means and will to fix our reference within that flux, then there we are. Let me be part of that outrageous chaos... and I am." *
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