Iain M. Banks

Author profile

born

February 16, 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, The United Kingdom

gender

male

website

http://www.iain-banks.net/

genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Literature & Fiction

About this author

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This author publishes fiction under the name "Iain Banks" and science fiction under the name "Iain M. Banks" (Menzies).
Banks's father was an officer in the Admiralty and his mother was once a professional ice skater. Iain Banks was educated at the University of Stirling where he studied English Literature, Philosophy and Psychology. He moved to London and lived in the south of England until 1988 when he returned to Scotland, living in Edinburgh and then Fife.
Banks met his wife Annie in London, before the release of his first book. They married in Hawaii in 1992. However, he announced in early 2007 that, after 25 years together, they had separated. He currently lives in North Queensferry, a town on the north s...moreThis author publishes fiction under the name "Iain Banks" and science fiction under the name "Iain M. Banks" (Menzies).
Banks's father was an officer in the Admiralty and his mother was once a professional ice skater. Iain Banks was educated at the University of Stirling where he studied English Literature, Philosophy and Psychology. He moved to London and lived in the south of England until 1988 when he returned to Scotland, living in Edinburgh and then Fife.
Banks met his wife Annie in London, before the release of his first book. They married in Hawaii in 1992. However, he announced in early 2007 that, after 25 years together, they had separated. He currently lives in North Queensferry, a town on the north side of the Firth of Forth near the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge.
As with his friend Ken MacLeod (another Scottish writer of technical and social science fiction) a strong awareness of left-wing history shows in his writings. The argument that an economy of abundance renders anarchy and adhocracy viable (or even inevitable) attracts many as an interesting potential experiment, were it ever to become testable. He was a signatory to the Declaration of Calton Hill, which calls for Scottish independence.
In late 2004, Banks was a prominent member of a group of British politicians and media figures who campaigned to have Prime Minister Tony Blair impeached following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In protest he cut up his passport and posted it to 10 Downing Street. In an interview in Socialist Review he claimed he did this after he "abandoned the idea of crashing my Land Rover through the gates of Fife dockyard, after spotting the guys armed with machine guns." He relates his concerns about the invasion of Iraq in his book Raw Spirit, and the principal protagonist (Alban McGill) in the novel The Steep Approach to Garbadale confronts another character with arguments in a similar vein.
Interviewed on Mark Lawson's BBC Four series, first broadcast in the UK on 14 November 2006, Banks explained why his novels are published under two different names. His parents wished to name him Iain Menzies Banks but his father made a mistake when registering the birth and he was officially registered as Iain Banks. Despite this he continued to use his unofficial middle name and it was as Iain M. Banks that he submitted The Wasp Factory for publication. However, his editor asked if he would mind dropping the 'M' as it appeared "too fussy". The editor was also concerned about possible confusion with Rosie M. Banks, a minor character in some of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves novels who is a romantic novelist. After his first three mainstream novels his publishers agreed to publish his first SF novel, Consider Phlebas. To distinguish between the mainstream and SF novels, Banks suggested the return of the 'M', although at one stage he considered John B. Macallan as his SF pseudonym, the name deriving from his favourite whiskies: Johnnie Walker Black Label and The Macallan single malt.
His latest book is a science fiction (SF) novel in the Culture series, called Surface Detail, published in 2010.(less)

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103 posts
Iain M. Banks's Blog

Iain M. Banks isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but he does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from his feed.

Stonemouth competition – the winners!

Thanks to everyone who entered our competition to win a signed proof of Iain Banks new novel Stonemouth. We had some great answers to why you'd like to review it (as well as some helpful spelling advice on the word 'receive':-)). And now, without further ado, the winners are . . .

Seth DeHaan

Gordon Ritchie

Jason Cordes

Louise Hunter

Vanessa Round

Congratulations! Your...

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Published on February 02, 2012 09:26 • 35 views

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Books by Iain M. Banks

Average rating: 3.82 · 65,218 ratings · 4,748 reviews · 36 distinct works

	The Wasp Factory 3.79 avg rating — 8,905 ratings — published 1984 — 42 editions	My rating:
	Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1) 3.79 avg rating — 6,893 ratings — published 1987 — 26 editions	My rating:
	The Player of Games (Culture, #2) 4.13 avg rating — 5,935 ratings — published 1988 — 25 editions	My rating:
	Use of Weapons (Culture, #3) 4.13 avg rating — 4,608 ratings — published 1990 — 21 editions	My rating:
	Excession (Culture, #5) 4.01 avg rating — 3,402 ratings — published 1996 — 12 editions	My rating:
	The Algebraist 3.81 avg rating — 3,177 ratings — published 2004 — 13 editions	My rating:
	Matter (Culture, #8) 3.79 avg rating — 3,125 ratings — published 2008 — 15 editions	My rating:
	The Crow Road 4.00 avg rating — 2,715 ratings — published 1992 — 10 editions	My rating:
	Look to Windward (Culture, #7) by Iain M. Banks, Ian M. Banks 3.91 avg rating — 2,738 ratings — published 2000 — 20 editions	My rating:
	Complicity 3.72 avg rating — 2,077 ratings — published 1993 — 14 editions	My rating:

More books by Iain M. Banks…

Series by Iain M. Banks

Culture (9 books)
by Iain M. Banks, Ian M. Banks

3.94 avg rating — 32,198 ratings

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Quotes by Iain M. Banks

“You need to read more science fiction. Nobody who reads science fiction comes out with this crap about the end of history”
― Iain M. Banks

tags: history , reading , sci-fi

49 people liked it

“Empathize with stupidity and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot”
― Iain M. Banks

tags: consider-phlebas

27 people liked it

“Oh, they never lie. They dissemble, evade, prevaricate, confound, confuse, distract, obscure, subtly misrepresent and willfully misunderstand with what often appears to be a positively gleeful relish and are generally perfectly capable of contriving to give one an utterly unambiguous impression of their future course of action while in fact intending to do exactly the opposite, but they never lie. Perish the thought.”
― Iain M. Banks, Look to Windward

23 people liked it

See all Iain M. Banks's quotes »

Polls

February Science Fiction: This poll determines which 2 novels will move on to the run-off poll for February 2010 Science Fiction Book of the Month!

Darwinia A Novel of a Very Different Twentieth Century by Robert Charles Wilson

10 votes, 18.5%

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

9 votes, 16.7%

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

9 votes, 16.7%

Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer

7 votes, 13.0%

The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt

4 votes, 7.4%

The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge

3 votes, 5.6%

Farthing by Jo Walton

3 votes, 5.6%

The Gap into Conflict The Real Story by Stephen R. Donaldson

3 votes, 5.6%

Against A Dark Background by Iain M. Banks

2 votes, 3.7%

The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley

2 votes, 3.7%

Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer

1 vote, 1.9%

Killer by David Drake

1 vote, 1.9%

World's End by Joan D. Vinge

0 votes, 0.0%

54 total votes

3 comments

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
SciFi and Fantasy...: Worst/Most Disappointing Book You've Read This Year?	79	646	Mar 10, 2009 05:30am
Beyond Reality: Nominations for July	24	116	Apr 19, 2009 08:25am
SciFi and Fantasy...: Talk about Iain M. Banks	31	247	Apr 23, 2009 09:49pm
Megan's democrati...: Nominations time!	7	12	Apr 29, 2009 12:06am
The Next Best Boo...: Worst Books	139	483	May 17, 2009 02:23pm
Beyond Reality: Nominations for August	21	72	May 20, 2009 09:17am
The Alternative W...: Is it SF/Fantasy?	114	24	May 31, 2009 07:58pm
Beyond Reality: Welcome to June!	1	38	Jun 01, 2009 08:59am
Beyond Reality: Welcome to July!	1	53	Jul 01, 2009 09:30am
Beyond Reality: What are you reading right now? (July)	66	100	Jul 30, 2009 10:14am

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Iain M. Banks

Author profile

103 postsIain M. Banks's Blog

combine editionsBooks by Iain M. Banks

Series by Iain M. Banks

Upcoming Events

Quotes by Iain M. Banks

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

103 posts
Iain M. Banks's Blog

combine editions
Books by Iain M. Banks