Line #68 Creator/IainBanks


1	[[quoteright:203:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ian_banks.jpg]]
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3	->''Writing mainstream fiction is rather like playing a beautifully tuned grand piano. it's a wonderful experience and you can get a great sound out of it. Writing science fiction is like playing a ''gigantic'' church organ, one with four keyboards, two more keyboards for your feet, a hundred different switches and a load of stops to pull out, because pulling out all the stops is very important.''
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5	Iain Banks (16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was a Scottish writer who alternated between straight fiction (as Iain Banks) and ScienceFiction (as Iain M. Banks). He was listed by the ''Times'' as one of the 50 greatest British writers.
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7	According to [[http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/banks_iain_m his entry]] in ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'', "Although differences in register can be detected between the two forms of his name, as a whole Banks's work is more usefully thought of as ranging through a wide spectrum, rather than as bifurcating into two separate categories. As in the case of Graham Greene's 'real novels' and what he called 'Entertainments', it is a distinction without visible merit, beyond its use in marketing terms."
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9	Iain Banks had a Creator/QuentinTarantino-like reputation: he was famous for his first published novel ''Literature/TheWaspFactory'' which featured murder, animal mutilation and had a darkly comic tone. Explicit depictions of horrible events is a constant. Any article about him is sure to mention exploding grannies or heads on life-support used as punching bags.
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11	However, he was not primarily a writer of horror stories. His novels were densely packed with politics, story and character. He was often pigeonholed as a member of the far-left, but his works don't read as rhetoric.
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13	To scratch the surface of his politics, we have his most famous (ScienceFiction) creation: ''Literature/TheCulture''. On the surface it is a gleeful utopia with no exploitation, rules or money, heavily supported by high technology and benign, highly capable Artificial Intelligences. A place where everyone can get their kicks, even the [=AIs=] in the virtual Infinite Fun Space. However, Banks was also a hardnosed realist: The Culture only exists because of its military and intelligence service, both of which are ruthless and bloody-handed.
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15	In effect: there are no rules in the Culture as long as you don't go breaking the rules (and if you have to ask what they are, there is clearly something ''wrong'' with you).
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17	If his take on utopia is marbled with reservations, his depiction on totalitarian societies is more stark. You would have to work hard to develop a MisaimedFandom for his fundamentalists, kings and corrupt politicians.
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19	However, Banks was a great appreciator of the ''theatre'' of fascism and the romance of warriors and weapons. This is coupled with his willingness to treat people who are doing foolish and/or evil things with seriousness and sympathy. He also liked to confront means and ends rather than glibly state that the end doesn't justify the means. Put it all together and there aren't many easy answers left.
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21	->''... a story which both embraces and rejects the romanticism of space adventure; a story which unsettles as often as it thrills.''
22	-->-- '''T. M. Wagner''', reviewing ''Literature/ConsiderPhlebas''
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24	Banks loved complexity. In ''Literature/UseOfWeapons'' alternating chapters travel in opposite directions along the timeline, with symbology and causality tying each couplet together. It also has many characters, deceptions, lies, civilisations, technologies and religions.
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26	Banks was happy to borrow ideas from all over the Science field. Sometimes this complexity gets out of hand. ''Literature/FeersumEndjinn'' is perhaps an example when the special effects take over and the story gets lost.
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28	A saving grace is the style: he was generally noted for having a clear matter-of-fact style. Coupled with an earthy directness, his writing helps ground the flights of fancy.
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30	Banks' straight fiction is often harsher. Lacking the relief of science fiction grandeur or Culture-like optimism, his straight fiction is usually laden with horror and unflinchingly negative takes on humanity. As a result, his non-genre fiction can seem nihilistic. Or to put it his way "Full of gratuitous nastiness but a cracking good read." A relatively gentle place to start is ''Espedair Street'' -- a strange rags-to-riches tale of rock megastardom finally run aground.
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32	Banks was unusual in being a cross-over author: he was as least as famous and successful as a conventional fiction author as a Science Fiction author.
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34	In his personal life he had a reputation for hard drinking, drug use, powerful cars and an interest in explosives. This rambunctious lifestyle seemed to inform his books, which exude an adolescent brio. Confoundingly, in person his appearance had been likened to a university lecturer, and for all the darkness in his novels he came across as quite upbeat and jovial. He was a regular at Science Fiction conventions -- not necessarily to promote himself but because he was JustForFun/OneOfUs. He also had one of greatest geek credentials of all time: he was an extra in the final scene of ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''.
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36	He gained some media attention for publicly cutting up his passport in response to Tony Blair's decision to take the UK into the Iraq war.
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38	He reported his childhood as being a secure and happy one. A Scottish sense of strong family ties and clannish loyalties perhaps informs his work which can be downright odd in contrast to other elements:
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40	"I'm veering wildly across the road of literature, from the cosy sentimentality of ''The Crow Road'' and ''Whit'' to the deeply unpleasant, gratuitously nasty stuff like ''Complicity''."
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42	In summary Iain Banks is not for the faint-hearted, but a lot of fun and great food for thought.
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44	On April 3rd 2013, Iain Banks announced [[http://www.orbitbooks.net/2013/04/03/a-personal-statement-from-iain-banks/ that he had gall-bladder cancer]], and only a few months left to live. And indeed, only two months later, on 9th of June 2013, [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22835047 he was gone]].
45	----
46	!!Iain Banks' works with their own pages:
47	[[index]]
48	* ''Literature/TheWaspFactory'' (1984)
49	* ''Literature/TheCulture'' series
50	** ''Literature/ConsiderPhlebas'' (1987)
51	** ''Literature/ThePlayerOfGames'' (1988)
52	** ''Literature/UseOfWeapons'' (1990)
53	** ''Literature/TheStateOfTheArt'' (1991)
54	** ''Literature/{{Excession}}'' (1996)
55	** ''Literature/{{Inversions}}'' (1998)
56	** ''Literature/LookToWindward'' (2000)
57	** ''Literature/{{Matter}}'' (2008)
58	** ''Literature/SurfaceDetail'' (2010)
59	** ''Literature/TheHydrogenSonata'' (2012)
60	* ''Literature/AgainstADarkBackground'' (1993)
61	* ''Literature/FeersumEndjinn'' (1994)
62	* ''Literature/{{Whit}}'' (1995)
63	* ''Literature/TheAlgebraist'' (2004)
64	* ''Literature/{{Transition}}'' (2009)
65	[[/index]]
66	----
67	!!Tropes in Iain Banks' works:
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69	* BigScrewedUpFamily: In several novels, most notably ''The Crow Road''.
70	* EarnYourHappyEnding: Daniel Weir really, really tries in ''Espedair Street''. [[spoiler:And succeeds.]]
71	* FictionalBoardGame: ''Walking On Glass'' mentions one-dimensional chess (the only rule that is defined is that bishops move on their own colour, ignoring pieces on the other colour), open-plan go (played on an infinite board) and spotless dominoes (played without any markings on the domino pieces). No other details are given.
72	* HighVoltageDeath: In ''Espedair Street'', [[spoiler: Davey dies this way]].
73	* INeedADrink: the inspiration for his non-fiction book ''Raw Spirit'', which recounts a trip across UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} and its many distilleries in search of 'the perfect dram.'
74	* MovingBuildings: In the short story collection ''The State of the Art'', opening tale "The Road of Skulls" features a pair of pilgrims trying to reach a city. The city is actually on huge wheels and is perpetually moving away from them, laying the road they're traveling on.
75	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Daniel Weir in ''Espedair Street'' lives off this trope, blaming himself for all the terrible things that have happened to the people in his band. [[spoiler: Justified in that the band got famous in part because the songs he wrote were so good, so without him they wouldn't have found success; but the guitarist was electrocuted after an accident with a stage effect that Daniel had dreamed up, while the singer was killed by a crazed fan for singing a blasphemous song that Daniel had written. In neither case is he directly responsible for their deaths, though.]]
76	* SecondPersonNarration: Some chapters of Creator/IainBanks's ''Complicity'' are written in this in [[PresentTenseNarrative present tense]]. These describe the actions of a murderer. It really helps to hide the identity of the killer (even their gender) but the result is also very creepy.
77	* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: ''Espedair Street'' takes you behind the scenes and gives you a rather homespun take on what happens to some kids from Scotland that make that scene.
78	* SociopathicHero: Turn up here and there in a lot of novels. And a ''lot'' of [[PsychoForHire Psychos For Hire]].
79	* SpaceOpera: Most of his Science Fiction: some of the most satisfying and intelligent Space Opera around.
80	* StarfishAliens: ''[[SignatureStyle Hoo-BOY...]]''
81	* SuperweaponSurprise: The Dwellers' hidden goodies in ''The Algebraist''.
82	* WackyFratboyHijinx: ''Espedair Street'', with planes.
83	* WarIsGlorious: There's just too much delight in the hardware and what it can do to avoid this one.
84	* WarIsHell: With Banks you get to smell the corpses and sift through the ashes.

Context Creator / IainBanks