RIP Iain (M) Banks

[Dirk Gently]

Sorry for the title but it's true. The author Iain (M) Banks has late stage cancer & has said he has little more than a year to live. He has asked his partner if she'll do him the 'honour of becoming his widow' (his words) & they are on their Honeymoon at the moment.

Full BBC news page here.

So his next novel will be his last & he has cancelled all public engagements.

Sad news for his many fans of which I'm sure there are some here.

[Paul Monk]

I read that earlier and that made me very sad. He's own of the UK's greatest writers.

[Dave Tudor]

Very sad news - I've read The Crow Road and The Wasp Factory, two brilliant books, perhaps two of my favourites, plus Consider Phlebas, one of his sci-fi novels, and all I can hope is that he can keep fighting for as long as he can. :-(

[Rob McCow]

It really is absolutely f***ing awful in my opinion.

Now would be a good time to read some of these recommended titles:

Non-sci-fi:
Whit
Stonemouth
Dead Air

Sci-Fi:
Surface Detail
The Player of Games
Excession

I think they're probably my favourites!

[Paul Monk]

The Player of Games was the first book I read of his whilst I was hiking along the South Downs after my A-Levels, so obviously I love that one.
Excession is brilliant. Banks does do good spaceships and drones and this book is all about them.
Use of Weapons is fantastic. It has an interesting narrative structure. Crow Road is great as is Espedair Street, if you like fictional band biographies! In fact pretty much all of this books have something good about them. The only ones I didn't get on with were Complicity and Feersum Enjinn. And you can pretty much read any of the Culture novels without having read any of the others. They're all pretty stand alone.

[SiHart]

I'm genuinely really, really upset to hear Iain Banks passed away this morning. I've never loved an author as much as I loved him and his work. It's so ****ing unfair- he had so much more to give.

[SiHart]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22835047

[Rob McCow]

Bugger.

[Rob McCow]

Some obits:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013...dies-59-cancer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22015717

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obit...ain-Banks.html

Even The Mail have put something nice together - good pics:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...nally-ill.html

[Paul Monk]

[Rob McCow]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013...inal-interview

Lovely interview on The Guardian here.

Featuring:

But Banks is off already, talking 19 to the dozen, brandishing a handkerchief with a Cyberman on it (a present) and saying, "You know, I've fallen out of love with Doctor Who, at least in its present incarnation. I just can't get along with it. People have suggested I should write for the programme, but, ach, I just couldn't. I might have been hopelessly naive but I hadn't realised there are just so many rules when you write a Doctor Who story, like the monster has to go back in the box at the end."

[Dirk Gently]

Sad news indeed. I know I posted that he had less than a year but 2 months was a bit quick.

I hoped to find a couple of his books at the airports in my recent travels, but alas none were available.

On the upside, he will always be remembered as his work will live on. And after all, we'd all want that wouldn't we?

R.I.P Iain.