R.I.P. Iain M. Banks

As I’m sure everyone reading this already knows, Iain Banks died today.

Inversions was the first SF novel I ever read. It made me love the genre and, if stories really are  little pieces of the people who write them, it made me love the man as well. Fifteen years ( a relatively short time by Banks-reader’s standards) of reading his other stories only strengthened that love. I never met him, and to those who did I can only offer the heartfelt condolences of a stranger.

To the man himself, I just want to say: goodbye, sir, and thank you.