This is a cut and paste of a Dummies guide to Iain M Banks I wrote for another forum, just in case you wanted more
Iain M Banks is a hairy Scottish Science Fiction author. A clever pseudonym of the non-Science Fiction author Iain Banks.
To date he has written 9 Science Fiction Novels and one short story collection under this name. These books have been fairly well received and he is a popular author in the UK, although perhaps less well known in the states. Many of his novels involve "The Culture". A massive (and massively powerful) anarchic utopian civilisation. While this is often painted as an ideal society the characters in the novels work for organisations within the Culture that exist to deal with contact with other societies (Contact) and special circumstances this can create (Special Circumstances) and the fact that the actions of these organisations often are at odds with the principles of The Culture itself.
Recurring themes
* Technology on an absolutely massive scale. Banks lets his imagination run riot with regards to future technology and has a lot of fun with the Space Operish elements of his work.
* Galactic History on an absolutely massive scale. Likewise when he writes about civilisations, wars and their histories it's all on a huge scale. that said the events of the books tend to be on a much smaller scale. They don't tend to be epics, more smaller self-contained stories set within a universe of epic scale.
* Humo(u)r. While these are not comedies by any stretch of the imagination, most have a vein of dark humour running through them. This is often due to the attitudes and personalities of the Artificial Inteligences common in The Culture who seem to have a rather warped sense of humour, possible as a tactic to avoid boredom/insanity.
* "Shaggy Dog" Endings. This is hard to put into words. His novels tend to have several characters and storylines going on, revolving around one big event. Often the resolution of that event, the reveal or climax will be either a twist, an anticlimax or sometimes almost a punchline. That doesn't mean they end abruptly, all the secondary storylines will be tied up. However, the core event will often turn out to be a gimmick that could be described in a single sentence, it's the secondary plots and the characters they contain weaving around the central plot that actually contain the bulk of the narrative. That might sound terrible but he regularly pulls it off really well.
* A flawed but likable "fish-out-of-water" protaganist. Not exactly original, but his novels tend to have a single key character who is fairly likable despite some serious character flaws or major skeletons in their closets.
* Hedonism. The Culture in general tends to promote a fairly hedonistic lifestyle. Often this ends up being on a large scale as well.
* Really Nasty Bad Guys. A lot of the times there are not "Bad Guys" or villains as such, just individuals or civilisations that we encounter that really aren't that nice. The same exagerated scale and dark humor is applied to their cruelty, actions, torture etc. The "punching bag" torture in The Algebraist is still giving me nightmares
Despite these themes there is a distinct lack of pretention in his work. Almost all can be read as straight forward, fun, science fiction. Fast paced with plenty of action. There is some depth there and some explorations of morality and perhaps some of the author's politics but these are never rammed down your throat.
The Books (in order of publication)
Consider Phlebas: One of his longer and more straightforward (in terms of narrative) books. It's pure Space Opera on a grand scale. It is a Culture novel, however the central character is actually opposed to the Culture and to some extent they are the bad guys. It follows the efforts of a mercenary to capture a powerful Culture technology during a massive, but relatively short-lived war that is a defining point in the Culture's history.
The Player of Games: A bored master games player is enticed by the Culture's black-ops arm (Special Circumstances - SC) to take part in an unusual game on a planet they have recently made contact with. The usually twists and turns followed. This is one of his most popular books and an ideal starting place, it's a tight self contained novel brimming with idea and invention.
Use of Weapons: Another one of his favourites. This one is has a more unusual narrative style as two stories are being told in alternating chapters, one going forward in time, one going backwards in time, until they meet in the middle (well at the end actually) and it all comes together in a fantastic "HOLY ****" reveal. It follows the burnt-out SC agent Cheradenine Zakalwe and his actions for the Culture while exploring some terrible events in the past.
The State of the Art: This is a short story collection. It contains a Culture Novella and a couple of Culture related short stories as well as several other stories, mostly science fiction-ish. It's a good collection, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Against a Dark Background: This is a non-culture novel, but despite the fact it's combined to a single system, things are still done on a big scale. It follows a former soldier, Sharrow and her quest to find the legendary Lazy Gun (a weapon of massive but unpredictable power) before she is killed by a bizarre religious cult. It's more action orientated that some of the other books as the entire novel is essentially one massive chase scene and it's loads of fun despite lacking the cohesion and "cleverness" of the previous two books.
Feersum Endjinn: Probably the oddest of the lot and very dificult to do a synopsis of.... so I'm not going to bother. A lot of people are put off by the fact that chapters from one of the main character's point of view are written phonetically which make them hard to read. It's a book that tends to divide Banks fans a lot, but I love it.
Excession: When this first came out I seem to remember it not being that well received, but more and more I see people citing it as their favourite. I think it's one of those books that improves on a second reading. It's a Culture novel and
not a good starting point. The story focusses on Culture Minds (AIs) especially those that control massive spaceships. There a constant presence in the other Culture novels, but this one takes a closer look. Probably my favourite of his books as it really captures all those themes I was talking about earlier in a really solid story. He also pulls off a great sleigh-of-hand ending perfectly. The novel is about the Culture's (or elements within the Culture's) reaction to an "Outside Context Problem", that is an unanticipate event that has the potential to have a massive impact on a society.
Inversions: Tells the stories of two inhabitants on a world where society is similar to fuedal Europe, but more technologically advanced. Their stories gradual entwine and the book moves towards a traditional Banks climax. It's unusual for his Science Fiction as it's on quite a small scale, and with a few changes could easily have been an historical novel. However, there are hints that there is more going on than meets the eye. One of his more subtle books, written to appeal more to Banks fans that to SF fans in general.
Look to Winward: Back to the Culture, this time exploring "Habitats", massive constructed living spaces where the bulk of the Culture's population recides. Tragic events of the war in Consider Phelbas, have ramifications for the inhabitants of a certain habitat and the again the Culture shows that the good guys can play dirty when they need to. It almost comes across as a reaction to 9/11 but it was actually published in 2000 so it ain't. Again this works well as a good solid self-contained story, but it's not Banks' best. It's also probably not a good starting point.
The Algebraist: This is his latest, just out in paperback in the UK. I've just finished it and it's what prompted me to make this post. It's a non-culture book and follows the attempts of Fassin Taak to find an important artifact among a bizzare civilasation of ancient beings before various war fleets converge on his home system and lay it to waste. While I enjoyed it, especially the first half or so, it lost steam towards the end and I felt it was a bit of a let down. It had a standard Banks ending, however there seemed to be a distinct lack of resolution on a number of secondary storylines I was really enjoying.
That's it I guess. If anyone wants to discuss their favourites go for it. If anyone wants to defend The Algebraist or talk about it feel free. If this inspires you to hunt down an Iain M Banks novel... excellent. For newcomers I'd recommend The Player of Games, Consider Phelbas or (if you like a lot of action in your Sci-Fi) Against a Dark Background as good jumpin in points.
