Iain Banks | |
|---|---|
 Banks at theEdinburgh International Book Festival, 2009 | |
| Born | Iain Menzies Banks 16 February 1954 Dunfermline,Fife, Scotland |
| Died | 9 June 2013(2013-06-09) (aged 59) Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland |
| Pen name | Iain M. Banks |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Education | University of Stirling (BA) |
| Period | 1984–2013 |
| Genre | |
| Spouse | [1][2][3] |
| Website | |
| iain-banks | |
Iain Menzies Banks (/ˈmɪŋɪz/ ⓘ; 16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was a Scottish author, writingmainstream fiction asIain Banks andscience fiction asIain M. Banks. After the success ofThe Wasp Factory (1984), he began to write full time. His first science fiction book,Consider Phlebas, appeared in 1987, marking the start of theCulture series. His books have been adapted for theatre, radio, and television. In 2008,The Times named Banks in their list of the 50 greatestBritish writers since 1945.[5]
In April 2013, Banks revealed he had inoperable cancer and was unlikely to live beyond a year.[6] He died on 9 June 2013.[7]
Banks was born inDunfermline,Fife, to a mother who was a professionalice skater and a father who was an officer in theAdmiralty. An only child, he lived inNorth Queensferry until the age of nine, near the naval dockyards inRosyth, where his father was based.[8][9] The family then moved toGourock due to his father's work.[10] When someone introduced him to science fiction by giving himKemlo and the Zones of Silence byReginald Alec Martin, he continued reading the series, which encouraged him to write science fiction himself.[11][12] Banks attended Gourock and Greenock High Schools. From 1972 to 1975, Banks studiedEnglish,philosophy, andpsychology at theUniversity of Stirling.[10][13]
After graduation, Banks took a succession of jobs that left him free to write in the evenings. These supported his writing throughout his twenties and allowed him to take long breaks between contracts, during which time he travelled throughEurope andNorth America. During this period, he worked as anIBM 'Expediter Analyser' (a kind of procurement clerk), a testing technician for theBritish Steel Corporation, and a costing clerk for a law firm in London'sChancery Lane.[8]
Banks took up writing at the age of 11. He completed a first novel,The Hungarian Lift-Jet, at 16 and a second,TTR (also entitledThe Tashkent Rambler) in his first year at Stirling University in 1972.[8][14] Though he saw himself mainly as a science fiction author, his publishing problems led him to pursue mainstream fiction. His first published novelThe Wasp Factory, appeared in 1984, when he was thirty.[15] After the success ofThe Wasp Factory, Banks began to write full time. His editor at Macmillan, James Hale, advised him to write a book a year, which he agreed to do.[8]
His second novelWalking on Glass followed in 1985, thenThe Bridge in 1986, and in 1987Espedair Street, which was later broadcast as a series on BBC Radio 4.[13] His first published science fiction book,Consider Phlebas, emerged in 1987 and was the first of several in the acclaimedCulture series. Banks citedRobert A. Heinlein,Isaac Asimov,Arthur C. Clarke,Brian Aldiss,M. John Harrison andDan Simmons as influences.[16]The Crow Road, published in 1992, was adapted as a BBC television series.[17] Banks continued to write both science fiction and mainstream works. In 2004, Banks wroteRaw Spirit (subtitledIn Search of the PerfectDram), atravel book of Banks's visits to thesingle malt distilleries of Scotland in search of the finest whisky, including his musings on other subjects such as roads, cars and politics.[18]
Banks published work under two names. His parents had named him "Iain Menzies Banks", but his father mistakenly omitted the middle name when registering his son. Banks still used the middle name and submittedThe Wasp Factory for publication as "Iain M. Banks". Banks's editor inquired about the possibility of omitting the 'M' as it appeared "too fussy" and the potential existed for confusion withRosie M. Banks, a romantic novelist in theJeeves novels byP. G. Wodehouse; Banks agreed to the omission. After three mainstream novels, Banks's publishers agreed to publish his first science fiction novelConsider Phlebas. To create a distinction between the mainstream and the science fiction, Banks suggested returning the 'M' to his name, which was then used in all of his science fiction works.[9][19] Banks was due to be a guest of honour at the 2014 World Science Fiction Convention,Loncon 3 but died the previous year.[20]
By his death in June 2013, Banks had published 26 novels. His final novelThe Quarry appeared in June 2013, the month of his death published posthumously as his 27th novel.[21] His final work, a poetry collection, appeared in February 2015.[22] In an interview in January 2013, he also mentioned he had the plot idea for another novel in the Culture series, which would most likely have been his next book and was planned for publication in 2014.[23] Banks wrote in various categories, but had said that he enjoyed science fiction most.[24]
In February 2018, a project to publish Banks's unseen early drawings, maps and sketches from the Culture universe alongs with his writings and notes on the setting was underway.[25] In 2021, the delayed single volume ofThe Culture: Notes and Drawings was cancelled and replaced with two separate volumes: a landscape artbook ofThe Culture: The Drawings and a companion volume containing notes, excerpts and new text fromKen MacLeod.[26]The Culture: The Drawings was released on 7 November 2023, while the still-untitled companion volume was scheduled for late 2024.[27][28]
Banks was the subject ofThe Strange Worlds of Iain BanksSouth Bank Show (1997), a TV documentary that examined his mainstream writing, and was an in-studio guest for the final episode ofMarc Riley'sRocket Science radio show, broadcast onBBC Radio 6 Music.[29] An audio version ofThe Business, set to contemporary music, arranged byPaul Oakenfold, was broadcast in October 1999 on Galaxy Fm as the tenthUrban Soundtracks.Banks'sThe State of the Art, adapted for radio byPaul Cornell, was broadcast onBBC Radio 4 in 2009 with Nadia Molinari producing and directing.[30][31] In 1998Espedair Street was dramatised as a serial for Radio 4, presented byPaul Gambaccini in the style of a Radio 1 documentary.
In 2011 Banks featured on the BBC Radio 4 programmeSaturday Live. Banks reaffirmed his atheism in this appearance, explaining death as an important "part of the totality of life" that should be treated realistically instead of feared.[32][33]
Banks appeared on the BBC television programmeQuestion Time, a show that features political discussion. In 2006 he captained a team of writers to victory in a special series ofBBC Two'sUniversity Challenge. Banks also won a 2006 edition ofBBC One'sCelebrity Mastermind; the author selected "Malt whisky and the distilleries of Scotland" as his specialist subject.[29][34]
His final interview was withKirsty Wark, broadcast on BBC2 Scotland asIain Banks: Raw Spirit 12 June 2013.[35]
BBC One Scotland and BBC2 broadcast an adaptation of his novelStonemouth in June 2015.
Banks was involved in the stage productionThe Curse of Iain Banks, written by Maxton Walker[36] and performed at theEdinburgh Fringe festival in 1999. Banks collaborated frequently with its soundtrack composerGary Lloyd, for instance on a song collection they co-composed as a tribute to the fictional bandFrozen Gold from Banks's novelEspedair Street. Lloyd also scored for a spoken word and music production of his novelThe Bridge,[37] which Banks himself voiced and which featured a cast of 40 musicians, released on CD by Codex Records in 1996. Lloyd recorded Banks for including in the play as a disembodied voice of himself in one of the cast member's dreams. Lloyd explained his collaboration with Banks on their first versions ofEspedair Street (later versions being dated between 2005 and 2013) in aGuardian article prior to the opening ofThe Curse of Iain Banks:
When he [Banks] first played them to me, I think he was worried that they might not be up to scratch (some of them dated back to 1973 and had never been heard). He needn't have worried. They're fantastic. We're slaving away to get the songs to the stage where we can go into the studio and make a demo. Iain bashes out melodies on his state-of-the-art Apple Mac in Edinburgh and sends them down to me in Chester where I put them onto my Atari.[37]
Banks's political stance has been termed "left of centre"[38] and in 2002 he endorsed theScottish Socialist Party.[39]
He was an Honorary Associate of theNational Secular Society and a Distinguished Supporter of theHumanist Society Scotland. As a signatory to theDeclaration of Calton Hill,[40] he supportedScottish independence.[41] In November 2012, Banks backed the campaign group emerging from the Radical Independence Conference held in that month. He opined that the independence movement was marked by cooperation: "Scots just seem to be morecommunitarian than the consensus expressed by the UK population as a whole."[42]
In late 2004, Banks joined a group of UK politicians and media figures campaigning to have Prime MinisterTony Blair impeached after the2003 invasion of Iraq. In protest, he cut up his passport and posted it to10 Downing Street. In aSocialist Review interview, Banks explained that his passport protest occurred after he had "abandoned the idea of crashing my Land Rover through the gates of Fife dockyard, after spotting the guys armed with machine guns."[34][43] Banks relayed his concerns about the Iraq invasion in his bookRaw Spirit and through the protagonist Alban McGill in the novelThe Steep Approach to Garbadale, who confronts another character with arguments of a similar kind.[34][43]
In 2010, Banks called for a cultural and educational boycott of Israel after theGaza flotilla raid incident. In a letter toThe Guardian newspaper, Banks said he had instructed his agent to turn down any further book translation deals with Israeli publishers:
Appeals to reason, international law, U. N. resolutions and simple human decency mean – it is now obvious – nothing to Israel... I would urge all writers, artists and others in the creative arts, as well as those academics engaging in joint educational projects with Israeli institutions, to consider doing everything they can to convince Israel of its moral degradation and ethical isolation, preferably by simply having nothing more to do with this outlaw state.[44]
An extract from Banks's contribution to the written collectionGeneration Palestine: Voices from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, entitled "Our People", appeared inThe Guardian in the wake of the author's cancer revelation. The extract conveys the author's support for theBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign issued by a Palestinian civil society against Israel until the country complies with what it holds are international law and Palestinian rights. This commenced in 2005 and applies lessons from Banks's experience with South Africa'sapartheid era. The continuation of Banks's boycott of Israeli publishers for the sale of rights to his novels was confirmed in the extract and Banks further explained, "I don't buy Israeli-sourced products or food, and my partner and I try to support Palestinian-sourced products wherever possible."[45]
Banks met his first wife Annie in London before the 1984 release of his first book.[34] They lived inFaversham in the south of England, then split up in 1988. Banks returned toEdinburgh and dated another woman for two years. Iain and Annie were reconciled a year later and they moved to Fife.[46] They were married in Hawaii in 1992,[34] but in 2005, after 15 years of marriage, they separated.[47]
In 1998 Banks was in a near-fatal accident when his car rolled off the road.[8] In February 2007, Banks sold his extensive car collection, including a 3.2-litrePorsche Boxster, aPorsche 911 Turbo, a 3.8-litreJaguar Mark II, a 5-litreBMW M5 and a daily-use dieselLand Rover Defender, whose power he had boosted by about 50 per cent. All these Banks exchanged for aLexus RX 400h hybrid – later replaced by a dieselToyota Yaris, and said in future he would fly only in emergencies.[34][48]
_of_the_ScienceFictionBookClub.org_-_October_2012.jpg)
In April 2012 Banks became the "Acting Honorary Non-Executive Figurehead President Elect pro tem (trainee)" of the Science Fiction Book Club based in London. The title was his creation and on 3 October 2012 Banks accepted a T-shirt inscribed with it.[49]
From 2006 Banks lived inNorth Queensferry on the north side of theFirth of Forth, with his girlfriend Adele Hartley, an author and founder of theDead by Dawn film festival.[34] She and Banks met in 1990,[34] and married on 29 March 2013[50] after he asked her to "do me the honour of becoming my widow."[6][51]
On 3 April 2013, Banks revealed that he had been diagnosed withterminalgallbladder cancer and was unlikely to live beyond a year.[6] He stated he would be withdrawing from all public engagements and thatThe Quarry would be his last novel.[52][53] The dates of publication ofThe Quarry were brought forward at Banks's request,[54] to 20 June 2013 in the UK[55] and 25 June 2013 in the US[21][56] and Canada.[57] He died on 9 June 2013.[58]
Banks's publisher called him "an irreplaceable part of the literary world". This was reaffirmed by fellow Scottish author and friend since secondary schoolKen MacLeod: his death "left a large gap in the Scottish literary scene as well as the wider English-speaking world."[58] British authorCharles Stross wrote, "One of the giants of 20th and 21st century Scottish literature has left the building."[59] Other authors includingNeil Gaiman,Ian Rankin,Alastair Reynolds andDavid Brin also paid tribute in blogs and elsewhere.[60][61][62][63]
The asteroid5099 Iainbanks was named after him shortly after his death.[64] On 23 January 2015,SpaceX's CEOElon Musk named two of the firm'sautonomous spaceport drone shipsJust Read The Instructions andOf Course I Still Love You, after ships in Banks's novelThe Player of Games.[65] Another,A Shortfall of Gravitas, began construction in 2018. This refers to the shipExperiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall, first mentioned inLook to Windward.[66]
The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia, the 2016 graphic biography ofLouise Michel byMary M. Talbot andBryan Talbot, is "Dedicated to the memory of Iain (M) Banks, friend and sorely missed creator of socialist utopias."[67]
Empire Games, the seventh book inThe Merchant Princes series byCharles Stross published in 2017, is dedicated "For Iain M. Banks, who painted a picture of a better way."[68]
On 13 May 2019, theFive Deeps Expedition broke the deepest ocean dive record in theDSV Limiting Factor.[69] The support ship was namedDSSV Pressure Drop. Both vessels were named after ships in the Culture series, which is much admired by the explorerVictor Vescovo, also the financial sponsor behindLimiting Factor's design and construction. They also have landers named "Flere," "Skaff," and "Closp," named after Culture drones.[70]
Iain Banks received the following literary awards and nominations:[71][72]
Banks's non-SF work comprises fourteen novels and one non-fiction book. Many of his novels contain elements of autobiography,[82] and feature various locations in his native Scotland.[83]
Banks wrote thirteen SF novels, nine of which were part of theCulture series, and a short story collection calledThe State of the Art (1991), which includes some stories set in the same universe. These works focus upon characters that are usually on the margins of the Culture, apost-scarcityanarchistutopia.[85] In the same universe are other civilizations, which the Culture sometimes attempts to influence or "contact", occasionally resulting in conflict.[86] The culture has achieved utopia by handing control of all of their worlds and ships over tosentientartificial intelligences referred to as "Minds".[85]
Banks wrote introductions for works by other writers including:
Until the last few years or so, when the SF novels started to achieve something approaching parity in sales, the mainstream always out-sold the SF – on average, if my memory isn't letting me down, by a ratio of about three or four to one. I think a lot of people have assumed that the SF was the trashy but high-selling stuff... while I wrote the important, serious, non-genre literary novels. Never been the case, and I can't imagine that I'd have lied about this sort of thing, least of all as some sort of joke. The SF novels have always mattered deeply to me – the Culture series in particular – and while it might not be what people want to hear (academics especially), the mainstream subsidised the SF, not the other way round.
The couple's wedding certificate shows that Banks, 59, of North Queensferry, married 42-year-old Miss Hartley at the five-star hotel [Inverlochy Castle Hotel, The Highlands], in a short humanist ceremony on Good Friday.
