Iain Banks is dying. That’s not supposed to happen, and I’m quite dissatisfied with this turn of events. I would register a grievance to the appropriate authorities, but Special Circumstances won’t answer.
Banks produced a body of work that was deeply engaging and often darkly satirical. Perhaps his greatest achievement was the Culture series, a science-fiction universe of massive scope, grim wit, and oddly self-defeating optimism. The last novel in the series centers around the last days of an advanced civilization that has decided to simply walk away from this universe. I wonder now if that’s not a coincidence.
…and here I am, already talking about the man in the past tense.
He recently completed a book called The Quarry, and his publisher is moving the release date forward so Banks can live to see it on the shelves. At a recent talk, he claimed to have a new Culture novel “ready to go,” though its status is now uncertain. He’s also keeping in touch via his blog.
When he Sublimes, he can do so knowing we’re all rooting for him.