flâneur

Iain Banks' Culture novels

vavatch.co.uk · 1,150 words · saved by 1 readers

Link to: Ratings Guide | Isaac Asimov | Iain Banks | Ken Macleod | David Brin | Stephen Baxter | Peter F Hamilton | Greg Egan Iain Banks has only a few science fiction books, most of which are set in the Culture Universe. Courtesy of the man himself, Iain Banks posted a long (yet eminently readable and funny) description of the Culture universe, which is worth reading. You can read it here. Keep in mind, however, that you don't need to know anything about the Culture before you read any of his books - it's all explained within. The covers of the Culture series are a little more stark than the cityscapes of the Foundation series covers, but generally the trend for covers is heading towards more simple and cutting designs. They aren't exactly amazing, but they catch the eye. Want to know what Banks' next book will be called? Click here and read on... Consider Phlebas: Click here to read the book's blurb Click here to read where the title of the book comes from - a poem by T. S. Eliot Con

The State of the Art is a collection of short stories written by Banks, spanning only three years (1987-1989) yet containing eight stories, three of which are set in the Culture universe. I was quite looking forward to reading this collection, since I'd only read his novel-length books so far, and wanted to find out if the man would hold his cool in shorter stories. Also, I was told that Diziet Sma, a character from Use of Weapons, was in the short story The State of the Art. The collection kicks off with a rather odd, very short story called Road of Skulls. Since I only skimmed past it, I…

saved by

related reading