Comments on: Fannish Inquisition – Iain M Banks

By: YannR

YannR — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:30:18 +0000

I wonder if Ian M. Banks has been inspired by anarchist authors or theorists to develop the political aspects of the Culture. Has he thought in terms of political philosophy about the political implications of the socio-technical system he describes in a literary way? The proposed vision can indeed be challenging for political theory: http://yannickrumpala.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/anarchy_in_a_world_of_machines/

By: asteroid_project

asteroid_project — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:48:02 +0000

‘Consider Phlebas’ reads like an action movie, with very detailed and specific descriptions. Would you like to see one of your books adapted into a film?

By: daveh

daveh — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:56:11 +0000

How annoyed do you get when your name is spelt incorrectly?

By: maoinhibitor

maoinhibitor — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:02:50 +0000

Iain,

In your novels, and notably in your science fiction, ethics, morality, belief systems and religion all figure prominently. I could argue that philosophy is as important to your work as linguistics is to Tolkien’s.

For me, it is wild to think about a future Culture in which entities are valued for their ability to have conscious experience… from each according to his ability, to each according to her consciousness.

Of course, in our present day, nothing could be further from the truth. 12 million people were sold in to slavery in 2010, machetes are as likely to be used on people as on sugar cane, Pygmies have to beg the UN to declare cannabilism a crime, and every inhabited continent harbors gulags and mass burial sites. 100 kW battlefield lasers are exiting beta, but clean fusion and cheap renewable energy are still a dream.

Did you one day find yourself so disgusted by what humanity is capable of that you had to invent the Culture and set off our darkness against their light? To what degree are you teaching through your writing or challenging readers to embody higher ethics?

-Adam O’Toole

By: Ergates

Ergates — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 15:27:45 +0000

Hav u eva thort abowt riytin anotha larj skayl spayse opra wif a galaksee spanin intasteler war?

By: Adrian Leaf

Adrian Leaf — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 14:01:04 +0000

In “Matter” you seemed to broaden out your Culture universe with many more races and civilisations competing with each other, some on the same level as The Culture, some possibly even more powerful. Was this a concious decision to make The Culture seem less omnipotent?
Also due to this there were some larger scale threads/threats woven through the background of the story which were left open ended. Will these threads be taken up in the next or future books? And would you ever consider writing a trilogy or series of books telling one continuous story as opposed to stand-alone stories set in the same universe?

By: SF Signal: SF Tidbits for 6/12/10

SF Signal: SF Tidbits for 6/12/10 — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 07:37:01 +0000

[...] Free Press: sGustavo Bondoni.@>Fantasy Magazine: Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon.Forthcoming: SFX Magazine wants your questions for Iain M. Banks. NewsAtomic Fez's Kindle Editions Begin!Soft Skull is publishing a book about They Live written [...]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 22:26:56 +0000

My question regards the Referers from your Culture novels, the extremely intuitive humans whose predictive powers sometimes can rival or even surpass those of the Minds. They figure prominently in Consider Phlebas, are alluded to in Player of Games, and seemingly go without mention in the rest of your books.

To my question: Is the reason for the Referers’ absence merely that you’ve covered the concept sufficiently already and gone on to write about different things, or have the Minds managed to advance to the point where they can emulate Referer intuition so that they are no longer necessary?

/Warm regards from cold Sweden!

By: nuttyprofessor

nuttyprofessor — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:03:11 +0000

In the epilogue of `Excession` the Excession refers to our universe as a micro environment, does that mean its from a much larger, older universe or from somewhere else entirely?

By: mattc73

mattc73 — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:16:45 +0000

I believe you’ve said in the past that your characters serve the plot, not the other way around – you have them jump through your hoops, as it were. What’s the closest any character has gotten to gaining control and running off with the story?

By: Tweets that mention Fannish Inquisition – Ian M Banks -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention Fannish Inquisition – Ian M Banks -- Topsy.com — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:14:13 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by SFX magazine and rachaelwilliams, João Serrano. João Serrano said: RT @SFXmagazine: We'll interview Iain M Banks with YOUR questions – quiz the top SF author at http://tinyurl.com/SFXAskIain [...]

By: bluevelvet

bluevelvet — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:33:15 +0000

There are often elements of horror or past trauma in your books which don’t usually appear in epic SF. Does this come from your non-M side?

By: KevTheLostDoctor

KevTheLostDoctor — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:12:06 +0000

If one of your works was to be made into a film or television series, what one would you like to see done first and which director would you chooae?

By: Gaspar

Gaspar — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:54:04 +0000

I was delighted to read some years ago the wonderfully cryptic and “mobius strip-like” Walking on Glass (and also the perfidious The Wasp Factory).

What were your inspirations (if any) for that original narrative device?