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Culture #4
The State of the Art
The first ever collection of Iain Banks' short fiction, this volume includes the acclaimed novella, The State of the Art. This is a striking addition to the growing body of Culture lore, and adds definition and scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast. The other stories in the collection range from science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale. All bear the indefinable stamp of Iain Banks' staggering talent.
188 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1989
About the author
Iain M. Banks
63 books6,815 followersIain M. Banks is a pseudonym of Iain Banks which he used to publish his Science Fiction.
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 lived most recently 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 related 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 was a science fiction (SF) novel in the Culture series, called The Hydrogen Sonata, published in 2012.
Author Iain M. Banks revealed in April 2013 that he had late-stage cancer. He died the following June.
The Scottish writer posted a message on his official website saying his next novel The Quarry, due to be published later this year*, would be his last.
*The Quarry was published in June 2013.
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 lived most recently 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 related 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 was a science fiction (SF) novel in the Culture series, called The Hydrogen Sonata, published in 2012.
Author Iain M. Banks revealed in April 2013 that he had late-stage cancer. He died the following June.
The Scottish writer posted a message on his official website saying his next novel The Quarry, due to be published later this year*, would be his last.
*The Quarry was published in June 2013.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 977 reviews
June 10, 2019
The titular novella in this collection is a perfect distillation of the rhetoric and dialectic behind the Culture series, its themes, its very purpose for being. It features the entertaining Culture standbys of wry Ships, persnickety droids, and agents of mixed motivations. It discusses policies of non-interference juggled with policies of behind the scenes intervention; "going native" versus so-called "objective" distance; the idea that a natural life and a true engagement with living must include accepting that evil will always exist, and as a counterpoint, the idea that systemic evil, all of the -isms and all of the greed and self-interest, can and should actually be eradicated. Heady and at times heavy-handed stuff, forcefully articulated, and delivered with the usual Banks panache and wit. Very well done.
Most of the remaining stories are limp and forgettable, or strident and not particularly enjoyable, and in the case of "A Gift from the Culture", starts strong and ends far too abruptly. I did love the darkly amusing "Odd Attachment" in which a preoccupied alien shepherd - who looks like a moving tree - encounters an explorer from the stars, much to that explorer's extreme misfortune. And there was a touching kindness at the core of "Descendant" which portrays the relationship between a stranded and increasingly delirious Culture citizen and his sentient suit.
Most of the remaining stories are limp and forgettable, or strident and not particularly enjoyable, and in the case of "A Gift from the Culture", starts strong and ends far too abruptly. I did love the darkly amusing "Odd Attachment" in which a preoccupied alien shepherd - who looks like a moving tree - encounters an explorer from the stars, much to that explorer's extreme misfortune. And there was a touching kindness at the core of "Descendant" which portrays the relationship between a stranded and increasingly delirious Culture citizen and his sentient suit.
April 26, 2016
My husband overheard me muttering to myself about this book being out of print in the US, so he secretly ordered it for me from the UK. When it arrived, I somehow assumed I'd ordered it for myself and forgotten about it, so I just tossed it on the to-read stack without comment. He had to hint and prod a bit before admitting he'd bought it for me as a gift. He's sweet; I'm a dork. Anyway.
Every Culture book I've read so far has been better than the last. Though this one is actually a short-story collection, it includes the fourth installment of the Culture series, a novella called "The State of the Art" that is both funnier and more heartbreaking than the previous three novels (which are all, to varying degrees, quite funny and heartbreaking). Here we meet up again with Diziet Sma, the heroine from Use of Weapons, as her Contact Unit spaceship encounters Earth for the first time, and must investigate the planet and decide whether to formally Contact its inhabitants.
I expected this novella to be a... lesser installment among the Culture lore. The fact that it's out of print in the US (while the first three novels recently got shiny new reprints) isn't a great sign, and the premise of a mashup between the über-futuristic Culture and 1970's-era Earth sounded pretty gimmicky. I hadn't expected Earth to appear at all in this series, other than perhaps in a hazy prehistoric "Earth-that-was" sort of backstory. Instead, it seemed we would fulfill another tired science fiction trope: the dopey, pugnacious, backward species disdained by the superior aliens. But, as is often the case with Iain M. Banks, there are deeper levels here than I was expecting, and also, oh, ow, my heartstrings.
The other stories in here are hit-or-miss, but that's the nature of short story collections. The one that will stick in my mind is "Descendant", a strange little story about a man in a sentient spacesuit trekking across a deserted planet. It's somber and gruesome and eerie.
Every Culture book I've read so far has been better than the last. Though this one is actually a short-story collection, it includes the fourth installment of the Culture series, a novella called "The State of the Art" that is both funnier and more heartbreaking than the previous three novels (which are all, to varying degrees, quite funny and heartbreaking). Here we meet up again with Diziet Sma, the heroine from Use of Weapons, as her Contact Unit spaceship encounters Earth for the first time, and must investigate the planet and decide whether to formally Contact its inhabitants.
I expected this novella to be a... lesser installment among the Culture lore. The fact that it's out of print in the US (while the first three novels recently got shiny new reprints) isn't a great sign, and the premise of a mashup between the über-futuristic Culture and 1970's-era Earth sounded pretty gimmicky. I hadn't expected Earth to appear at all in this series, other than perhaps in a hazy prehistoric "Earth-that-was" sort of backstory. Instead, it seemed we would fulfill another tired science fiction trope: the dopey, pugnacious, backward species disdained by the superior aliens. But, as is often the case with Iain M. Banks, there are deeper levels here than I was expecting, and also, oh, ow, my heartstrings.
The other stories in here are hit-or-miss, but that's the nature of short story collections. The one that will stick in my mind is "Descendant", a strange little story about a man in a sentient spacesuit trekking across a deserted planet. It's somber and gruesome and eerie.
March 15, 2024
The shorter stories were actually better than the two long ones. The one comedy one really got me. xD
March 29, 2009
The first two stories are OK, but nothing special.
The third one is quite funny. I can't count the number of times I've seen a hapless spaceman get rent limb from limb by a bug-eyed monster. But what's the monster's motivation? Banks comes up with a lovely answer.
#4 is also a nice perspective flip in a classic SF scenario. The guy in the space-suit needs to walk a long way across the surface of a hostile planet to reach safety. We always see it from the guy's point of view. How about the suit?
#5 is amusing too. I liked the alien speech translator:
'First person singular obtaining colloquial orgasm within a Caledonian sandwich,' it said, then looked annoyed, and spoke incoherently into a grille set in its belly, which replied. It looked up and said, 'Sorry. As I was saying, I come in peace.'
We're always getting problems like that.
#6 is a bit too cute. The ending was nice though.
#7 is the title story: when the Culture visits Earth. It's not the most successful Culture story. Banks gets too indignant about our obvious failings, and there are a lot of rather dull discussion scenes. Enough good ideas though that it's still worth reading.
#8 is an unusual experimental piece, only half-successful.
All in all: not as good as most of his stuff. I can see why he usually sticks to novels, he's not a natural short-story writer.
The third one is quite funny. I can't count the number of times I've seen a hapless spaceman get rent limb from limb by a bug-eyed monster. But what's the monster's motivation? Banks comes up with a lovely answer.
#4 is also a nice perspective flip in a classic SF scenario. The guy in the space-suit needs to walk a long way across the surface of a hostile planet to reach safety. We always see it from the guy's point of view. How about the suit?
#5 is amusing too. I liked the alien speech translator:
'First person singular obtaining colloquial orgasm within a Caledonian sandwich,' it said, then looked annoyed, and spoke incoherently into a grille set in its belly, which replied. It looked up and said, 'Sorry. As I was saying, I come in peace.'
We're always getting problems like that.
#6 is a bit too cute. The ending was nice though.
#7 is the title story: when the Culture visits Earth. It's not the most successful Culture story. Banks gets too indignant about our obvious failings, and there are a lot of rather dull discussion scenes. Enough good ideas though that it's still worth reading.
#8 is an unusual experimental piece, only half-successful.
All in all: not as good as most of his stuff. I can see why he usually sticks to novels, he's not a natural short-story writer.
November 2, 2024
Mi-au atras atenția două nuvele din colecție, prima și ceea mai importantă „The State of the Art” și „A Gift from the Culture”.
Two short stories in the collection caught my attention, the first and most important "The State of the Art" and "A Gift from the Culture".
Two short stories in the collection caught my attention, the first and most important "The State of the Art" and "A Gift from the Culture".
October 23, 2019
-Entre sus páginas, alta irregularidad y alguna curiosidad llamativa.-
Género. Relatos.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Última generación (publicación original: The State of the Art, 1991) es una recopilación de relatos de ciencia ficción (uno, el que da título al volumen, tan largo que podríamos hablar de novela corta) del autor junto a un pequeño ensayo (algo habitual en sus libros de la saga) relativo a la visión que tenía Banks sobre La Cultura.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Relatos.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Última generación (publicación original: The State of the Art, 1991) es una recopilación de relatos de ciencia ficción (uno, el que da título al volumen, tan largo que podríamos hablar de novela corta) del autor junto a un pequeño ensayo (algo habitual en sus libros de la saga) relativo a la visión que tenía Banks sobre La Cultura.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
January 2, 2025
What an odd collection. Some are irreverent and humorous, some quite bizarre. I was a bit disappointed with most, but found Descendant a gem and worth the price of admission. It's the story of a Culture solider and his sentient EVA suit, both injured/damaged and stranded on a barren alien planet. Banks vividly depicts a sense of intense desolation as man and suit embark on a harrowing journey.
April 19, 2020
I continue to be intrigued by Banks' Culture series, so I figured I'd track this one down.... I have no idea why it never seems to be on library or bookstore shelves, but, it wasn't that hard to track down a copy....
Definitely not my favorite in the series, but worth reading. As short-story (and novella) collections go, I found it pretty uneven.
Two of the stories, A Gift From Culture and Descendant, worked well for me, and I was particularly taken with the latter.
The eponymous novella, The State of the Art, was thought-provoking, but, ultimately, it didn't feel as tightly constructed as I've found the full-length Culture books.
Two stories, Odd Attachment and Piece, built off what I found to be intriguing premises, but, nonetheless, left me cold.
One, Cleaning Up, was funnier than I expected, but, alas, wasn't that funny.
Sadly, one of the shorter offerings, Scratch, did next to nothing for me, although maybe I just didn't try hard enough.
I expect I'll keep working through the Culture series, although my sense is that many readers consider Player of Games and Use of Weapons the best in the series, and I've already read them. Still, Excession, which is next (for me) and Surface Detail appear to have been popular as well. Oh well, ... we'll just have to see how it goes.
Definitely not my favorite in the series, but worth reading. As short-story (and novella) collections go, I found it pretty uneven.
Two of the stories, A Gift From Culture and Descendant, worked well for me, and I was particularly taken with the latter.
The eponymous novella, The State of the Art, was thought-provoking, but, ultimately, it didn't feel as tightly constructed as I've found the full-length Culture books.
Two stories, Odd Attachment and Piece, built off what I found to be intriguing premises, but, nonetheless, left me cold.
One, Cleaning Up, was funnier than I expected, but, alas, wasn't that funny.
Sadly, one of the shorter offerings, Scratch, did next to nothing for me, although maybe I just didn't try hard enough.
I expect I'll keep working through the Culture series, although my sense is that many readers consider Player of Games and Use of Weapons the best in the series, and I've already read them. Still, Excession, which is next (for me) and Surface Detail appear to have been popular as well. Oh well, ... we'll just have to see how it goes.
August 7, 2022
The book is actually a miscellaneous of short stories and a novella. The latter and one -o perhaps two- stories are set within the universe of Culture, the rest is not. I understand that this should be indicated in some way to the reader before buying the book.
That said, some stories and the novella that gives the book its name are very good. Anyway, I can not get rid of the feeling of "porridge" in the book as a whole, by some intrancending stories, some that seem experimental and some other that seems that Iain M. Banks does not take himself seriously... or us readers.
Please do not misunderstand me, Iain M. Banks's talent is evident in every sentence and of course I do not regret having read this work, although actually it can not be considered -except maybe for the editors- as the fourth book of Culture series.
That said, some stories and the novella that gives the book its name are very good. Anyway, I can not get rid of the feeling of "porridge" in the book as a whole, by some intrancending stories, some that seem experimental and some other that seems that Iain M. Banks does not take himself seriously... or us readers.
Please do not misunderstand me, Iain M. Banks's talent is evident in every sentence and of course I do not regret having read this work, although actually it can not be considered -except maybe for the editors- as the fourth book of Culture series.
July 20, 2026
A collection of seven short stories and one novella first published in 1991. I have mixed feelings about the collection. Some stories add a bit to the Culture mythos, all have something to say about humanity.
1. Road of Skulls
An odd little story about two men in a cart traveling on a road paved with the skulls of vanquished enemies, trying to reach a city... No plot, all imagery. The story evokes a sense of futility, that the destination will never reached, and the trail of skulls represents the destruction left in the wake of conquest and the incessant need for more foes to vanquish (i.e. once the conquest momentum gets going, it doesn't stop until acted on by a more powerful force).
2. A Gift from the Culture
A Culture gun falls into the hands of a non-culture civilization, and a self-imposed exile from the Culture is pressured into committing an act of terrorism with that gun. This is an interesting examination of how Culture technology could effect more primitive civilizations/societies. Not much of an ending. Presumably the Culture will want their weapon back. That may have made a more interesting story.
3. Odd Attachment
First contact between a plant-like alien and a human gone wrong. "She loves me", "she loves me not". I found this macabre little story more funny than I probably should have.
4. Descendant
An injured Culture soldier and his damaged sentient spacesuit struggle to survive long enough to reach the base after being shot down and crash-landing on a barren moon - and even small moons are really large if you have to walk over them. Bleak, poignant, claustrophobic, isolating, philosophical, and... lets just say months of solitary trekking does nothing for the mental stability of man or machine.
5. Cleaning Up
I'm not sure if this is supposed to be satire, but it is amusing. An alien garbage disposal system is designed to dump rubbish into stars, in this case, the Sun. Only the transporter is faulty, and the alien garbage is accidentally dumped on Earth. Naturally, the story's version of the U.S. military, and a greedy corporation, viewed these odd items as gifts from God or aliens, and predictably attempt to exploit this advanced "trash" for military purposes... until the faulty alien teleporter itself arrives on Earth, with chaotic results. This story says volumes about human nature. The portrayal of the CEO’s waiting room is priceless!
6. Piece
An epistolary short story that didn't do much for me, until the end. An airplane passenger is writing a letter to "kid". The letter is filled with coincidences - chance encounters and subsequent conversations with random people on public transport - who all have something to say about religion. The letter is abruptly interrupted
7. The State of the Art
An overly long, but interesting, epistolary novella the relays Contact agent Diziet Sma's (from 'Use of Weapons') experience as a clandestine operative studying the humans of 1977 Earth. The novella comprises two main themes: the moral dilemma over whether a highly advanced, utopian society should interfere in a more primitive society, destroy Earth, or use it as a control "subject"; and the possible effects of contact on a Contact agent. In this case, Contact agent Linter "goes native", deciding to leave the Culture and live permanently on Earth, altering his physiology to fit in. I especially liked how Banks portrayed the insidious effects of humanity and human existence on Linter. There is also the questioning of the purpose of life, especially in a utopian society, that pervades Banks's previous Culture novels. The story is also something of a satirical criticism of human nature, politics, warfare, and societal inequality as seen from an alien perspective. Not enough snarky drone Skaffen-Amtiskaw (it translated/transcribed the chronicle).
8. Scratch
No. Just no. I'm not sure what Iain M. Banks was trying to accomplish here, but providing paragraphs of unpunctuated, repetitive gibberish just doesn't work for me.
Poking around the internet has produce the following commentary on 'Scratch'. There are days when I love the internet (other days not so much):
1. Road of Skulls
An odd little story about two men in a cart traveling on a road paved with the skulls of vanquished enemies, trying to reach a city... No plot, all imagery. The story evokes a sense of futility, that the destination will never reached, and the trail of skulls represents the destruction left in the wake of conquest and the incessant need for more foes to vanquish (i.e. once the conquest momentum gets going, it doesn't stop until acted on by a more powerful force).
2. A Gift from the Culture
A Culture gun falls into the hands of a non-culture civilization, and a self-imposed exile from the Culture is pressured into committing an act of terrorism with that gun. This is an interesting examination of how Culture technology could effect more primitive civilizations/societies. Not much of an ending. Presumably the Culture will want their weapon back. That may have made a more interesting story.
3. Odd Attachment
First contact between a plant-like alien and a human gone wrong. "She loves me", "she loves me not". I found this macabre little story more funny than I probably should have.
4. Descendant
An injured Culture soldier and his damaged sentient spacesuit struggle to survive long enough to reach the base after being shot down and crash-landing on a barren moon - and even small moons are really large if you have to walk over them. Bleak, poignant, claustrophobic, isolating, philosophical, and... lets just say months of solitary trekking does nothing for the mental stability of man or machine.
5. Cleaning Up
I'm not sure if this is supposed to be satire, but it is amusing. An alien garbage disposal system is designed to dump rubbish into stars, in this case, the Sun. Only the transporter is faulty, and the alien garbage is accidentally dumped on Earth. Naturally, the story's version of the U.S. military, and a greedy corporation, viewed these odd items as gifts from God or aliens, and predictably attempt to exploit this advanced "trash" for military purposes... until the faulty alien teleporter itself arrives on Earth, with chaotic results. This story says volumes about human nature. The portrayal of the CEO’s waiting room is priceless!
6. Piece
An epistolary short story that didn't do much for me, until the end. An airplane passenger is writing a letter to "kid". The letter is filled with coincidences - chance encounters and subsequent conversations with random people on public transport - who all have something to say about religion. The letter is abruptly interrupted
7. The State of the Art
An overly long, but interesting, epistolary novella the relays Contact agent Diziet Sma's (from 'Use of Weapons') experience as a clandestine operative studying the humans of 1977 Earth. The novella comprises two main themes: the moral dilemma over whether a highly advanced, utopian society should interfere in a more primitive society, destroy Earth, or use it as a control "subject"; and the possible effects of contact on a Contact agent. In this case, Contact agent Linter "goes native", deciding to leave the Culture and live permanently on Earth, altering his physiology to fit in. I especially liked how Banks portrayed the insidious effects of humanity and human existence on Linter. There is also the questioning of the purpose of life, especially in a utopian society, that pervades Banks's previous Culture novels. The story is also something of a satirical criticism of human nature, politics, warfare, and societal inequality as seen from an alien perspective. Not enough snarky drone Skaffen-Amtiskaw (it translated/transcribed the chronicle).
8. Scratch
No. Just no. I'm not sure what Iain M. Banks was trying to accomplish here, but providing paragraphs of unpunctuated, repetitive gibberish just doesn't work for me.
Poking around the internet has produce the following commentary on 'Scratch'. There are days when I love the internet (other days not so much):
May 24, 2026
4.5 stars
January 23, 2023
‘The State of the Art’ by Iain M. Banks is a collection of short stories, apparently Banks’ first, published in 1991. Included within is #4 in the Culture series, a novella. This book is named for it. The character Diziet Sma, introduced in the previous Culture novel, Use of Weapons, is part of a group studying the planet Earth in 1977. A Culture volunteer has gone native in studying our planet to the distress of his friends. Should Culture interfere with Earth, or should it be made a control in the experiment of human evolution?
The seven other stories are a mixed bag of short science-fiction, some involving a Culture character. One of the stories with a Culture character is somewhat noir. Others are dull, frankly. There is ‘Scratch’, which is comprised of extracted bits of reading, writing or heard material. Fortunately ‘Scratch’ is the last story. It is a scratch pad of collected words and sentences, sometimes from advertising copy or parts which are common to a lot of business letters or ads, story ideas? However, a grocery list makes more sense. Why is it included? Filler? Idk.
My favorite story is ‘Odd Attachment’. I thought it hilarious, if gruesome! Of course, a lot of Banks’ stories are gruesome, so. It is a non-Culture story involving a sentient plant. I’m still bursting out with occasional giggles over it.
Interested readers should perhaps begin with Consider Phlebas, the first in the Culture series, although so far it seems to me the books are standalone more or less. But each book adds to the fantastic and attractive (to me) world-building. I think ‘The State of the Art’ can be skipped entirely, if readers wish to go through the series in order but are finding this book difficult to get.
The real focus of these speculative brain-candy novels so far is about how the Culture, which is an extreme technologically-advanced society, interferes in or examines planetary societies. There are other species opposing the Culture which results in bloody warfare as well as in proxy skirmishes fueled by spying and sabotage and murder. The sentient drone robots are very cute and the computer ‘Minds’ are coldly, if logically, paternalistic, if I may use that characterization. The Minds would be insulted by this characterization, incidently, even if it is absolutely true. Science fiction readers will likely see similarities with the monumental Dune series. But the Culture books read more like travelogue and vignette episodes, if somewhat bloody.
Is advanced tech always a Good? I am finding myself a little uncertain sometimes after reading this series, although these fun (to me) body modifications and the end to all disease is VERY appealing.
The seven other stories are a mixed bag of short science-fiction, some involving a Culture character. One of the stories with a Culture character is somewhat noir. Others are dull, frankly. There is ‘Scratch’, which is comprised of extracted bits of reading, writing or heard material. Fortunately ‘Scratch’ is the last story. It is a scratch pad of collected words and sentences, sometimes from advertising copy or parts which are common to a lot of business letters or ads, story ideas? However, a grocery list makes more sense. Why is it included? Filler? Idk.
My favorite story is ‘Odd Attachment’. I thought it hilarious, if gruesome! Of course, a lot of Banks’ stories are gruesome, so. It is a non-Culture story involving a sentient plant. I’m still bursting out with occasional giggles over it.
Interested readers should perhaps begin with Consider Phlebas, the first in the Culture series, although so far it seems to me the books are standalone more or less. But each book adds to the fantastic and attractive (to me) world-building. I think ‘The State of the Art’ can be skipped entirely, if readers wish to go through the series in order but are finding this book difficult to get.
The real focus of these speculative brain-candy novels so far is about how the Culture, which is an extreme technologically-advanced society, interferes in or examines planetary societies. There are other species opposing the Culture which results in bloody warfare as well as in proxy skirmishes fueled by spying and sabotage and murder. The sentient drone robots are very cute and the computer ‘Minds’ are coldly, if logically, paternalistic, if I may use that characterization. The Minds would be insulted by this characterization, incidently, even if it is absolutely true. Science fiction readers will likely see similarities with the monumental Dune series. But the Culture books read more like travelogue and vignette episodes, if somewhat bloody.
Is advanced tech always a Good? I am finding myself a little uncertain sometimes after reading this series, although these fun (to me) body modifications and the end to all disease is VERY appealing.
May 8, 2012
The only other Banks book I have read is Player of Games which I loved.
I think, as a compilation, this book fell a little short for me. I actually love short stories, so I was left feeling a little disappointed.
A couple thoughts on the individual stories:
Road of Skulls - I felt like this wasn't quite long enough or focused enough.
A Gift From the Culture - I liked this one. Kind of a little slice of life showing someone who has left the culture for something much more gritty.
Odd Attachment - I liked this one until the very end. I honestly think it got a little juvenile. The end didn't need to be that cheap.
Descendant - This was my favorite story in the book. It was well paced and interesting.
Cleaning Up - I thought this was an amusing premise.
Piece - Classic SF with the ending that makes you grin. I do think too many stories in this book focused on philosophical ramblings about religion, though.
The State of the Art - The longest story in the book. I like the idea. I like the base story. This story was the WORST offender for just waxing philosophical and being boring.
Scratch - I found this difficult to read, and not interesting.
So to sum up, I feel like there was more bad than good in this book. Definitely not my favorite compilation of short stories.
I think, as a compilation, this book fell a little short for me. I actually love short stories, so I was left feeling a little disappointed.
A couple thoughts on the individual stories:
Road of Skulls - I felt like this wasn't quite long enough or focused enough.
A Gift From the Culture - I liked this one. Kind of a little slice of life showing someone who has left the culture for something much more gritty.
Odd Attachment - I liked this one until the very end. I honestly think it got a little juvenile. The end didn't need to be that cheap.
Descendant - This was my favorite story in the book. It was well paced and interesting.
Cleaning Up - I thought this was an amusing premise.
Piece - Classic SF with the ending that makes you grin. I do think too many stories in this book focused on philosophical ramblings about religion, though.
The State of the Art - The longest story in the book. I like the idea. I like the base story. This story was the WORST offender for just waxing philosophical and being boring.
Scratch - I found this difficult to read, and not interesting.
So to sum up, I feel like there was more bad than good in this book. Definitely not my favorite compilation of short stories.
August 13, 2025
I am glad this collection is out there, and it is an interesting addition to the Culture books, but due to the peak-valleyness of the stories, it probably has to take its place at the back of the queue when it comes to Banks' Culture output.
The title story, The State of the Art, isn't my highest peak, but I imagine it is for most fans because it gives us the tasty return of Diziet Sma (Zakalwe's minder in [books:Use of Weapons]) and her ever arrogant and sarcastic partner, the drone Skaffen-Amtiskaw. Plus, it's set on late-70s Earth: this puts paid to the idea that we Earthers might be the progenitors of the Culture, and it lets Banks have some serious atmospheric fun with a decade he knew and loved well. Not my higheset peak, but still quite lofty.
My highest peak has to be Descendent. It is a man and his conscious, AI spacesuit trying to stay alive after a nasty crash on an unfriendly planet. It's stream-of-consciousness; it's raw; it's sad and thought provoking, and I wish I had written it.
As for the deepest valley: that would have to be the final story, Scratch OR: The Present and Future of Species HS (sic) Considered as The Contents of a Contemporary Popular Record (qv). Report Abstract/Extract Version 4.2 Begins (after this break). Now let me be clear ... Scratch is the lowest valley in this book, but that doesn't make it crap. It is Banks challenging us with something that is simultaneously playful, experimental, existential, aggravating, dense, cryptic and a little insane. It is -- perhaps -- the most perfectly Iain M. Banks of any story in this collection. But it isn't what I think anyone would call a fun or entertaining read. It is, however, vital, and that makes it well worth the time before you close the covers on The State of the Art.
The title story, The State of the Art, isn't my highest peak, but I imagine it is for most fans because it gives us the tasty return of Diziet Sma (Zakalwe's minder in [books:Use of Weapons]) and her ever arrogant and sarcastic partner, the drone Skaffen-Amtiskaw. Plus, it's set on late-70s Earth: this puts paid to the idea that we Earthers might be the progenitors of the Culture, and it lets Banks have some serious atmospheric fun with a decade he knew and loved well. Not my higheset peak, but still quite lofty.
My highest peak has to be Descendent. It is a man and his conscious, AI spacesuit trying to stay alive after a nasty crash on an unfriendly planet. It's stream-of-consciousness; it's raw; it's sad and thought provoking, and I wish I had written it.
As for the deepest valley: that would have to be the final story, Scratch OR: The Present and Future of Species HS (sic) Considered as The Contents of a Contemporary Popular Record (qv). Report Abstract/Extract Version 4.2 Begins (after this break). Now let me be clear ... Scratch is the lowest valley in this book, but that doesn't make it crap. It is Banks challenging us with something that is simultaneously playful, experimental, existential, aggravating, dense, cryptic and a little insane. It is -- perhaps -- the most perfectly Iain M. Banks of any story in this collection. But it isn't what I think anyone would call a fun or entertaining read. It is, however, vital, and that makes it well worth the time before you close the covers on The State of the Art.
May 2, 2015
The State of the Art is a collection of short stories, some of which relate to the Culture novels and some of which don’t (or at least, don’t overtly). I actually wasn’t much impressed by Iain M. Banks as a short story writer, it seems: the best of the stories was the titular story itself, which is both a Culture story and rather longer than the other stories in the collection, which gave it more space to interest me, and more space for him to set up the kind of story that’s grabbed me in his novels.
There’s nothing wrong with the stories per se, but they didn’t grab me at all (with the exception of the one already mentioned and ‘A Gift from the Culture’). Where I was interested was when it was closest to Banks’ other SF work, but otherwise the stories seemed fairly unremarkable. There are some interesting bits of humour; wry looks at staples of the genre.
I’m hoping that’s not a reaction to Banks’ work in general, as I know I did enjoy several of his Culture novels and I was looking forward to reading the rest. Perhaps he just isn’t to my taste as a short story writer.
Originally reviewed here.
There’s nothing wrong with the stories per se, but they didn’t grab me at all (with the exception of the one already mentioned and ‘A Gift from the Culture’). Where I was interested was when it was closest to Banks’ other SF work, but otherwise the stories seemed fairly unremarkable. There are some interesting bits of humour; wry looks at staples of the genre.
I’m hoping that’s not a reaction to Banks’ work in general, as I know I did enjoy several of his Culture novels and I was looking forward to reading the rest. Perhaps he just isn’t to my taste as a short story writer.
Originally reviewed here.
September 12, 2017
From BBC Radio 4 - Afternoon Drama:
The State of The Art
By Iain M. Banks
Dramatised by Paul Cornell
The Culture ship Arbitrary arrives on Earth in 1977 and finds a planet obsessed with alien concepts like 'property' and 'money' and on the edge of self-destruction. When Agent Dervley Linter, decides to go native can Diziet Sma change his mind?
The Ship ...... Antony Sher
Diziet Sma ...... Nina Sosanya
Dervley Linter ...... Paterson Joseph
Li ...... Graeme Hawley
Tel ...... Brigit Forsyth
Sodel ...... Conrad Nelson
Directed by Nadia Molinari.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hv1dz
4* Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1)
4* The Player of Games (Culture, #2)
4* Use of Weapons (Culture, #3)
4* The State of the Art (Culture, #4)
TR Excession (Culture, #5)
TR Inversions (Culture, #6)
TR Look to Windward (Culture, #7)
TR Matter (Culture, #8)
TR Surface Detail (Culture #9)
TR The Hydrogen Sonata (Culture #10)
The State of The Art
By Iain M. Banks
Dramatised by Paul Cornell
The Culture ship Arbitrary arrives on Earth in 1977 and finds a planet obsessed with alien concepts like 'property' and 'money' and on the edge of self-destruction. When Agent Dervley Linter, decides to go native can Diziet Sma change his mind?
The Ship ...... Antony Sher
Diziet Sma ...... Nina Sosanya
Dervley Linter ...... Paterson Joseph
Li ...... Graeme Hawley
Tel ...... Brigit Forsyth
Sodel ...... Conrad Nelson
Directed by Nadia Molinari.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hv1dz
4* Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1)
4* The Player of Games (Culture, #2)
4* Use of Weapons (Culture, #3)
4* The State of the Art (Culture, #4)
TR Excession (Culture, #5)
TR Inversions (Culture, #6)
TR Look to Windward (Culture, #7)
TR Matter (Culture, #8)
TR Surface Detail (Culture #9)
TR The Hydrogen Sonata (Culture #10)
May 17, 2018
A selection of short fiction set in the Culture universe, where your tools and equipment have opinions too and can talk back to you. My own tendency to talk to my surroundings would definitely have to change.
I really wanted to like the story where the Culture visits Earth. Is it still a first contact story if the Earth doesn’t know it’s been contacted? A bit on the preachy side, obviously written when Banks was annoyed with our treatment of our environment and each other, but acknowledging that we’ve got something special here. I liked it without have my socks blown off.
Banks is such a good writer, but not all of these stories demonstrate his best efforts. It does rather feel like a catch-all, displaying varying degrees of polish. Still, well worth reading for fans of the Culture!
Book number 285 in my Science Fiction and Fantasy reading project.
I really wanted to like the story where the Culture visits Earth. Is it still a first contact story if the Earth doesn’t know it’s been contacted? A bit on the preachy side, obviously written when Banks was annoyed with our treatment of our environment and each other, but acknowledging that we’ve got something special here. I liked it without have my socks blown off.
Banks is such a good writer, but not all of these stories demonstrate his best efforts. It does rather feel like a catch-all, displaying varying degrees of polish. Still, well worth reading for fans of the Culture!
Book number 285 in my Science Fiction and Fantasy reading project.
January 13, 2015
Just generally not very good writing, to me at least.
Short stories:
Road of Skulls: short and pretty flimsy, only the very ending is much interesting.
A Gift from the Culture: pretty decent. Has a kind of interesting premise but it's hard to sympathise with someone who leaves utopia in general given it's far beyond our own experience
Odd Attachment: vaguely amusing, pretty gross, a little confusing, eh
Descendant: best story of the book, about a human and their sentient spacesuit. Not perfect but it's interesting with a well done ending and a pretty unusual perspective.
Cleaning Up: Reminds me of some 50s/60s pulp story - some humour that sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, cold war theme, generic giant bad corporation. It's ok but written kind of confusingly and not that interesting
Piece: Rolled my eyes hard at the end. Pretty incoherent with some bad poetry stuck in for some reason. Neither a clear "point" or a decent plot or mood or setting or anything.
Scratch: "experimental" writing that's like an expression of anger over the Thatcher era and politics/economy in general. Alright over it's pretty hard to read and you get the point pretty quick (luckily it's short)
The main novella (State of the Art) itself kind of sucks because it's from the perspective of the Culture looking at Earth and it just feels... wrong. It sort of does an "Earth is unique" thing and tries to justify why we haven't been contacted (which is always a bad idea for a sci-fi thing to do imo) but it's just not convincing. And a lot of the speeches and stuff that go on don't really make sense - they don't fit with what you'd expect from the culture and they just seem silly. I dunno. It felt like another expression of anger but what's cathartic to one person generally isn't cathartic to another. Oh well
Short stories:
Road of Skulls: short and pretty flimsy, only the very ending is much interesting.
A Gift from the Culture: pretty decent. Has a kind of interesting premise but it's hard to sympathise with someone who leaves utopia in general given it's far beyond our own experience
Odd Attachment: vaguely amusing, pretty gross, a little confusing, eh
Descendant: best story of the book, about a human and their sentient spacesuit. Not perfect but it's interesting with a well done ending and a pretty unusual perspective.
Cleaning Up: Reminds me of some 50s/60s pulp story - some humour that sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, cold war theme, generic giant bad corporation. It's ok but written kind of confusingly and not that interesting
Piece: Rolled my eyes hard at the end. Pretty incoherent with some bad poetry stuck in for some reason. Neither a clear "point" or a decent plot or mood or setting or anything.
Scratch: "experimental" writing that's like an expression of anger over the Thatcher era and politics/economy in general. Alright over it's pretty hard to read and you get the point pretty quick (luckily it's short)
The main novella (State of the Art) itself kind of sucks because it's from the perspective of the Culture looking at Earth and it just feels... wrong. It sort of does an "Earth is unique" thing and tries to justify why we haven't been contacted (which is always a bad idea for a sci-fi thing to do imo) but it's just not convincing. And a lot of the speeches and stuff that go on don't really make sense - they don't fit with what you'd expect from the culture and they just seem silly. I dunno. It felt like another expression of anger but what's cathartic to one person generally isn't cathartic to another. Oh well
May 12, 2024
These were kind of uneven stories and yet all were fairly pessimistic and dark. I preferred the ones that were placed in the Culture universe, in particular the title story. I enjoyed the Sma character from Use of Weapons and was glad to see here again here. She had some great lines:
'Naturalness?" I said, loudly. 'This lot'll tell you anything is natural; they'll tell you greed and hate and jealousy and paranoia and unthinking religious awe and fear of God and hating anybody who's another colour or thinks different is natural. Hating blacks or hating whites or hating women or hating men or hating gays; that's natural. Dog-eat-dog, looking out for number one, no lame ducks... Shit, they're so convinced about what's natural it's the more sophisticated ones that'll tell you suffering and evil are natural and necessary because otherwise you can't have pleasure and goodness. They'll tell you any one of their rotten stupid systems is the natural and right one, the one true way, what's natural to them is whatever they can use to fight their own grimy corner and fuck everybody else. They're no more natural than us than an amoeba is more natural than them just because it's cruder.'
Linter was a great protagonist as well:
I wanted to go. I wanted to get out of this city and off this continent and up from this planet and onto the ship and out of this system ... but something kept me walking with him, walking and stopping, stepping down and out, across and up, like another obedient part of the machine, designed to move, to function, to keep going regardless, to keep pressing on and plugging away, warming up or falling down but always always moving, down to the drug store or up to company president or just to stay a moving target, hugging the rails on a course you hardly needed to see so could stay blinkered on, missing the fallers and the lame around you and the trampled ones behind. Perhaps he was right and any one of us could stay here with him, just vanish into the city-space and disappear forever and never be thought of again, never think again, just obey orders and ordinances and do what the place demands, start falling and never stop, never find any other purchase, and our twistings and turnings and writhings as we fall, exactly what the city expects, just what the doctor ordered... (page 164)
One last quote that truly shows how amazing Banks could write:
I mentioned the Arbitrary collected snowflakes. Actually it was searching for a pair of identical ice crystals. It had - has - a collection; not holos or figure break-downs, but actual samples of ice crystals from every part of the galaxy it has ever visited where it found frozen water. It only ever collects a few flakes each time, of course; a saturation pick-up would be ... inelegant.
I suppose it must still be looking. What it will do if it ever does find two identical crystals, it has never said. I don't know that it really wants to find them, anyway:
But I thought of that, as I left the glittering, grumbling city beneath me. I thought - and I still dream about this, maybe once or twice a year - of some drone, its flat back star-dappled, quietly in the steppes or at the edge of a polynya oft Antarctica, gently lifting a single flake of snow, teasing it away from the rest, and hesitating perhaps, before going, displaced or rising, taking its tiny, perfect cargo to the orbiting starship, and leaving the frozen plains, or the waste of ice, once more at peace. (p. 171)
The idea here was whether Culture would interfere with Earth of not. That was really fascinating because it is typically the other way around or Earth is the lost homeland. It was really cool to see the Earth as more of a violent backwater. Just wow.
Fino Reviews Iain M Banks Sci-Fi and Culture series
Culture Series
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Non-Culture Sci-Fi
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
'Naturalness?" I said, loudly. 'This lot'll tell you anything is natural; they'll tell you greed and hate and jealousy and paranoia and unthinking religious awe and fear of God and hating anybody who's another colour or thinks different is natural. Hating blacks or hating whites or hating women or hating men or hating gays; that's natural. Dog-eat-dog, looking out for number one, no lame ducks... Shit, they're so convinced about what's natural it's the more sophisticated ones that'll tell you suffering and evil are natural and necessary because otherwise you can't have pleasure and goodness. They'll tell you any one of their rotten stupid systems is the natural and right one, the one true way, what's natural to them is whatever they can use to fight their own grimy corner and fuck everybody else. They're no more natural than us than an amoeba is more natural than them just because it's cruder.'
Linter was a great protagonist as well:
I wanted to go. I wanted to get out of this city and off this continent and up from this planet and onto the ship and out of this system ... but something kept me walking with him, walking and stopping, stepping down and out, across and up, like another obedient part of the machine, designed to move, to function, to keep going regardless, to keep pressing on and plugging away, warming up or falling down but always always moving, down to the drug store or up to company president or just to stay a moving target, hugging the rails on a course you hardly needed to see so could stay blinkered on, missing the fallers and the lame around you and the trampled ones behind. Perhaps he was right and any one of us could stay here with him, just vanish into the city-space and disappear forever and never be thought of again, never think again, just obey orders and ordinances and do what the place demands, start falling and never stop, never find any other purchase, and our twistings and turnings and writhings as we fall, exactly what the city expects, just what the doctor ordered... (page 164)
One last quote that truly shows how amazing Banks could write:
I mentioned the Arbitrary collected snowflakes. Actually it was searching for a pair of identical ice crystals. It had - has - a collection; not holos or figure break-downs, but actual samples of ice crystals from every part of the galaxy it has ever visited where it found frozen water. It only ever collects a few flakes each time, of course; a saturation pick-up would be ... inelegant.
I suppose it must still be looking. What it will do if it ever does find two identical crystals, it has never said. I don't know that it really wants to find them, anyway:
But I thought of that, as I left the glittering, grumbling city beneath me. I thought - and I still dream about this, maybe once or twice a year - of some drone, its flat back star-dappled, quietly in the steppes or at the edge of a polynya oft Antarctica, gently lifting a single flake of snow, teasing it away from the rest, and hesitating perhaps, before going, displaced or rising, taking its tiny, perfect cargo to the orbiting starship, and leaving the frozen plains, or the waste of ice, once more at peace. (p. 171)
The idea here was whether Culture would interfere with Earth of not. That was really fascinating because it is typically the other way around or Earth is the lost homeland. It was really cool to see the Earth as more of a violent backwater. Just wow.
Fino Reviews Iain M Banks Sci-Fi and Culture series
Culture Series
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Non-Culture Sci-Fi
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
October 18, 2017
It took me quite some time to get really into this collection because -you'll laugh- I didn't actually realise it was a collection of short stories when I grabbed it from the library. I saw the author, the title and the fact that it was "Culture #4".
So the first chapter takes us along a road that has been paved in the skulls of defeated enemies in a cart, only it bears no resemblance to the second chapter which is about a culture citizen who has joined another civilisation covertly. Well, maybe it was a prologue? Thus went my thinking, I was at about the fourth story before I googled and realised that the book was a collection of short stories and once I realised that and stopped trying to make them fit together my reading experience improved.
As a book for short stories, some excellent some mildly enjoyable, this book works beautifully. Despite being up to the #4 in the Culture series, I didn't feel I really knew much about the culture because most of the books are from the points of view of non-culture individuals.After this book I feel like I have a much better idea about what the civilisation of the Culture is actually about and how the individuals within it regard their own empire and the ones surrounding them.
So the first chapter takes us along a road that has been paved in the skulls of defeated enemies in a cart, only it bears no resemblance to the second chapter which is about a culture citizen who has joined another civilisation covertly. Well, maybe it was a prologue? Thus went my thinking, I was at about the fourth story before I googled and realised that the book was a collection of short stories and once I realised that and stopped trying to make them fit together my reading experience improved.
As a book for short stories, some excellent some mildly enjoyable, this book works beautifully. Despite being up to the #4 in the Culture series, I didn't feel I really knew much about the culture because most of the books are from the points of view of non-culture individuals.After this book I feel like I have a much better idea about what the civilisation of the Culture is actually about and how the individuals within it regard their own empire and the ones surrounding them.
August 26, 2023
Weird and wonderful collection of stories about the Culture and earth (and in the particularly excellent titular novella, both). I think what I enjoy about these stories, and Banks’ work in general, is you can feel how much fun he’s having in his own intergalactic playground. (Honestly inspiring me to keep writing my own stuff, just by the scope and style of stories covered here!) Strong faves were the Earth contact story, the long walk of the dying man and his smart suit across a dead planet, the lovestruck herder and the astronaut who’s unfortunate enough to encounter him and the ennui refugee who’s forced to shoot down a starship. Thrilling and enjoyable stuff.
February 10, 2013
A collection, including the title novella and some assorted short fiction from banks.
Road of Skulls - more an introduction than a story,this short prelude is chock full of references, 'in'-jokes and served its purpose of making me go "OH YEAH! I am totally thrilled to be starting another book by Iain Banks!"
A Gift from the Culture - set in the 'Culture' universe (as one might have guessed from the title; most of the stories here can be construed to be set in the same universe, although they don't all specify it), this story introduces us to an individual who has chosen to leave the privileges and luxuries of that advanced, space-faring milieu behind in favor of living on a much more backward, violent planet. The conjunction of an ill-advised love affair and a mafia-like gang leads to the narrator being pressured to commit an act of terrorism. It's a great story, but it also feels like it only touches on the edge of things... I would not have been disappointed if this were the introduction to a novel.
Odd Attachment - It's a bit of a one-note joke story - but at the same time, it's genuinely funny, and awfully twisted. In a good way. And then, it also has the deeper theme of different perspectives...
Descendant - A spaceman is stranded far from his base. He has thousands of miles to walk to reach an uncertain refuge. He is alone - except for his spacesuit, which is so technologically advanced that it is a sentient intelligence in its own right. But it is damaged.
Cleaning Up - Mysterious and befuddling 'packages' containing alien technology start arriving on Earth. The government frantically tries to figure out how to deconstruct the technology; and what the purpose of these 'gifts' is. Can they be used to military advantage?
Nicely ironic.
Piece - A non-sci-fi short on the topics of religion, science, and terrorism. Well-crafted.
The State of the Art - Sharing many of the same themes as "A Gift From the Culture"; this story also features a Culture citizen who wants to 'go native' and join life on a backwater planet. Only this time, the planet in question is Earth, circa 1977. The starship 'Arbitrary' is in orbit, considering whether or not to make contact. The ship insists that Diziet Sma (from 'Use of Weapons') go 'talk' to Dervley, who is on-planet, and has been refusing to check in or return to the ship. The bulk of the story is really a philosophical argument between the two characters points of view: Sma sees the benefits and privileges of living in the Culture; Dervley has fallen in love with the 'realness' of hardship and poverty, and sees 'aliveness' and beauty in the contrasts of Earth, in addition to being attracted to religious concepts. Banks, in this story, tries really, really hard not to construct straw-man arguments, and I believe he really does try to see Dervley's point of view and to present it fairly. But it's pretty clear, at the end of the day, that he's with Sma and the Culture. I think perhaps the strongest part of the story is the clear portrayal of that tragic feeling you're left with when faced with someone you love and care for who just does not see things from your point of view; and you believe that they are just utterly wrong; and moreover that their wrongness is self-destructive and harmful.
Scratch - The final piece in the book. Another non-sci-fi piece, giving another perspective on those aspects of life-on-Earth that Dervley found value in, and Sma did not. This is an experimental-almost-poem about English poverty and poverty of culture. It's not my usual kind of thing, but it's far better done than many writings of this type.
Road of Skulls - more an introduction than a story,this short prelude is chock full of references, 'in'-jokes and served its purpose of making me go "OH YEAH! I am totally thrilled to be starting another book by Iain Banks!"
A Gift from the Culture - set in the 'Culture' universe (as one might have guessed from the title; most of the stories here can be construed to be set in the same universe, although they don't all specify it), this story introduces us to an individual who has chosen to leave the privileges and luxuries of that advanced, space-faring milieu behind in favor of living on a much more backward, violent planet. The conjunction of an ill-advised love affair and a mafia-like gang leads to the narrator being pressured to commit an act of terrorism. It's a great story, but it also feels like it only touches on the edge of things... I would not have been disappointed if this were the introduction to a novel.
Odd Attachment - It's a bit of a one-note joke story - but at the same time, it's genuinely funny, and awfully twisted. In a good way. And then, it also has the deeper theme of different perspectives...
Descendant - A spaceman is stranded far from his base. He has thousands of miles to walk to reach an uncertain refuge. He is alone - except for his spacesuit, which is so technologically advanced that it is a sentient intelligence in its own right. But it is damaged.
Cleaning Up - Mysterious and befuddling 'packages' containing alien technology start arriving on Earth. The government frantically tries to figure out how to deconstruct the technology; and what the purpose of these 'gifts' is. Can they be used to military advantage?
Nicely ironic.
Piece - A non-sci-fi short on the topics of religion, science, and terrorism. Well-crafted.
The State of the Art - Sharing many of the same themes as "A Gift From the Culture"; this story also features a Culture citizen who wants to 'go native' and join life on a backwater planet. Only this time, the planet in question is Earth, circa 1977. The starship 'Arbitrary' is in orbit, considering whether or not to make contact. The ship insists that Diziet Sma (from 'Use of Weapons') go 'talk' to Dervley, who is on-planet, and has been refusing to check in or return to the ship. The bulk of the story is really a philosophical argument between the two characters points of view: Sma sees the benefits and privileges of living in the Culture; Dervley has fallen in love with the 'realness' of hardship and poverty, and sees 'aliveness' and beauty in the contrasts of Earth, in addition to being attracted to religious concepts. Banks, in this story, tries really, really hard not to construct straw-man arguments, and I believe he really does try to see Dervley's point of view and to present it fairly. But it's pretty clear, at the end of the day, that he's with Sma and the Culture. I think perhaps the strongest part of the story is the clear portrayal of that tragic feeling you're left with when faced with someone you love and care for who just does not see things from your point of view; and you believe that they are just utterly wrong; and moreover that their wrongness is self-destructive and harmful.
Scratch - The final piece in the book. Another non-sci-fi piece, giving another perspective on those aspects of life-on-Earth that Dervley found value in, and Sma did not. This is an experimental-almost-poem about English poverty and poverty of culture. It's not my usual kind of thing, but it's far better done than many writings of this type.
June 22, 2026
Very heavy-handed, as short stories often are. I'm glad these exist as a kinetic barrier preventing his madcap and studenty and 1970sy "2000AD" impulses from colliding with his real books.
The title story (The Culture goes on holiday in 1977 Europe) is very quaint, though he was only 24 when he wrote it, to be insultingly fair. And hard to believe how inferior his Roadside Picnic arms-trade rant one is. So dated, so timebound. I come away more impressed that he manages to do some timeless work elsewhere.
There are, however, some very clear statements here of just how flawed Banks viewed his utopia to be. In fact the Culture's foils (like Dervley) go barely contested. Too clear. This is again a downgrade from the net-positive graceful hegemony of the real books.
Actually has one literary quality, which is to capsule up the unelectrified grottiness of the 80s (which was grotty even for the rich of that time) and the journalistic crudeness of the counterculture reaction to it. (One of the luxury items in one of his boring Thatcherite prose poems is a "mega-diary", an oversized leatherbound notebook/filofax. Which is now an item so passé and undesired that it loops around again to quaint hip affectation.)
There is a Scottish socialist. He is able to dream of something far better than communism. Moral clarity well beyond his time. But outside of that dream, down our gravity well, he is limited by his poverty (his society's poverty) and his aim is weak because there are so many easy targets around him at all times. It is the punk's critique: paper thin vibes, it being feelgood to point the finger at the feelbad. Unbeknownst to him, he lived at a local maximum of violent crime and unfreedom and peril and grot. Something was happening, and he had something to do with it.
The title story (The Culture goes on holiday in 1977 Europe) is very quaint, though he was only 24 when he wrote it, to be insultingly fair. And hard to believe how inferior his Roadside Picnic arms-trade rant one is. So dated, so timebound. I come away more impressed that he manages to do some timeless work elsewhere.
There are, however, some very clear statements here of just how flawed Banks viewed his utopia to be. In fact the Culture's foils (like Dervley) go barely contested. Too clear. This is again a downgrade from the net-positive graceful hegemony of the real books.
Actually has one literary quality, which is to capsule up the unelectrified grottiness of the 80s (which was grotty even for the rich of that time) and the journalistic crudeness of the counterculture reaction to it. (One of the luxury items in one of his boring Thatcherite prose poems is a "mega-diary", an oversized leatherbound notebook/filofax. Which is now an item so passé and undesired that it loops around again to quaint hip affectation.)
There is a Scottish socialist. He is able to dream of something far better than communism. Moral clarity well beyond his time. But outside of that dream, down our gravity well, he is limited by his poverty (his society's poverty) and his aim is weak because there are so many easy targets around him at all times. It is the punk's critique: paper thin vibes, it being feelgood to point the finger at the feelbad. Unbeknownst to him, he lived at a local maximum of violent crime and unfreedom and peril and grot. Something was happening, and he had something to do with it.
June 6, 2022
Many of the short stories in this collection are either not Culture related, or only have the slightest connection to it. While I don't mind, seems worth mentioning since it is listed as a Culture book. While brief, I enjoyed "A Gift from the Culture" and "Odd Attachment". "Cleaning Up" had an interesting premise but poor execution. "Descendant" was quite dreary and desolate, though it was well written and some people really like it. "Scratch" is like something written by someone on bad drugs, and by time I got to it I hadn't the inclination to try to decipher it. "Piece", with its ramblings about religion, almost had me end the book entirely, and even the very brief intro "Road of Skulls" gave me pause... I mean, what an unfocused and bleak start to a collection.
As far as the main novella "The State of the Art", there were enjoyable Culture tidbits as always, and I did enjoy encountering Sma and Skaffen-Amtiskaw again. There are some interesting ideas buried in there, but with an overwhelmingly negative slant, and none that were new to me at this point. Oh, and all the chapter and sub-chapter titles are said to be ship names, many of which are quite good. Unfortunately the story is plodding, fairly predictable, and I wanted to shake a central character and ask "What the Hell is wrong with you?!" throughout. The plot device the story really centers around is a frustration that prevented enjoying the story overall.
Cannot recommend, aside from the first two short stories mentioned. When I finish a book and my main thought is 'Thank goodness that's over!', I can't see advocating for it.
As far as the main novella "The State of the Art", there were enjoyable Culture tidbits as always, and I did enjoy encountering Sma and Skaffen-Amtiskaw again. There are some interesting ideas buried in there, but with an overwhelmingly negative slant, and none that were new to me at this point. Oh, and all the chapter and sub-chapter titles are said to be ship names, many of which are quite good. Unfortunately the story is plodding, fairly predictable, and I wanted to shake a central character and ask "What the Hell is wrong with you?!" throughout. The plot device the story really centers around is a frustration that prevented enjoying the story overall.
Cannot recommend, aside from the first two short stories mentioned. When I finish a book and my main thought is 'Thank goodness that's over!', I can't see advocating for it.
August 24, 2024
If you're a fan of the Culture novels, you simply have to read this collection of short stories and one essay, "A Few Notes on the Culture." If you're not a fan of the Culture novels, go read a few of them, become a fan of the Culture novels, and then read this. The title story (or novella, really) features Diziet Sma from Use of Weapons who visits Earth in 1977. Hilarity and deep thoughts ensue. I think people who find the title story preachy are totally missing the point, since several different points of view are represented. There are also some non-Culture stories and a couple non-science fiction stories here, which make me keen to read some of Banks's other work.
EDIT (June 7, 2015): See my reviews of all ten Culture books here: http://examinedworlds.blogspot.com/20...
REREAD Aug. 2024: The novella "The State of the Art" is still one of my Culture favorites, if not my favorite of all the Culture stories. I hope to include it someday in a course on utopia and dystopia along with Le Guin's The Dispossessed. It's also maybe one of the best intros to the Culture and the inherently philosophical nature of the idea. It makes me keen to re-read the rest of the Culture stories as well, and the other stories in this collection make me want to branch out into more of Banks's other work as well. Fun fact: This time I read a new edition I bought at Worldcon in Glasgow, Scotland, so it was fun to read a book from my time in Banks's homeland!
EDIT (June 7, 2015): See my reviews of all ten Culture books here: http://examinedworlds.blogspot.com/20...
REREAD Aug. 2024: The novella "The State of the Art" is still one of my Culture favorites, if not my favorite of all the Culture stories. I hope to include it someday in a course on utopia and dystopia along with Le Guin's The Dispossessed. It's also maybe one of the best intros to the Culture and the inherently philosophical nature of the idea. It makes me keen to re-read the rest of the Culture stories as well, and the other stories in this collection make me want to branch out into more of Banks's other work as well. Fun fact: This time I read a new edition I bought at Worldcon in Glasgow, Scotland, so it was fun to read a book from my time in Banks's homeland!
November 9, 2015
A collection of short tales, the shortest being about two pages long, the longest, eponymously titled, over a hundred and is the main filler here. Not all the tales are about the Culture, or set in the Culture Universe, but 'State of the Art' is, and is the most fleshed out and most interesting story in the collection. It deals with the Culture discovering the Earth during 1977, and sends down agents to study and learn from our planet. As it's Iain Banks, you probably do not need to be told the wry, quite funny at times, observations made (flawed, odd and unequal economic system, penchant for wars and killing each other and so on), and debates ensue amongst the Ships crew whether to actually intervene, to make the Culture known to the planet. One of the agents goes native and decides not to leave as he starts to actually like Earth - and starts believing in Jesus and turns into a Roman Catholic, despite the protestations coming from the Cultures ship and Sma's attempted intervention to save him. An interesting tale nonetheless.
The other tales - well, just go to show the genius and ability to craft interesting and sometimes quite abstract tales that Iain had. Not a big book, coming in at just over 200 pages, but worth a read through, if nothing else but to read about the exploits of Diziet Sma (who first came to light in Use of Weapons) again.
The other tales - well, just go to show the genius and ability to craft interesting and sometimes quite abstract tales that Iain had. Not a big book, coming in at just over 200 pages, but worth a read through, if nothing else but to read about the exploits of Diziet Sma (who first came to light in Use of Weapons) again.
February 22, 2014
I finished this short story/ novella collection one day before Luke returns from Brazil. So we will record a podcast about this part of our book-club very soon :-)
May 21, 2025
A bit of a mixed bag, even for an enjoyer of the Culture series, such as myself. There are many interesting ideas but the execution does not always keep up with them. I liked the touches of humour.
The titular story is a nice addition to an interesting character's backstory.
The titular story is a nice addition to an interesting character's backstory.
June 23, 2009
A slim collection of short stories (well under 200 pages), most of which show off the author's macabre wit. The worst of the lot is "Scratch", a late cold-war-era story that depicts the escalation of human misery as the world's superpowers square off for world destruction, a premise which it tackles originally by giving us only mass-media noise, scraps of television commericals, fragments of radio announcements, etc.: the story is at least a fascinating failure. Three stories take place in the universe of Banks' Culture novels; "Descendant" is the best of these (and the one most tenuously linked to the Culture), a harrowing tale of survival type story in which an injured soldier is marooned on an uninhabitable planet and is pushed to forge on by his autonomous artificially intelligent suit. "The State of the Art" will be best enjoyed by devotees of Banks' novel of the Culture, as it is the one story which depicts the Culture encountering Earth; there follows a debate among the Culture's Contact division about whether it is more imperative to save Earth from nuclear destruction or to spare them the perhaps-corrupting influence of their own society, and the story has a delightfully queasy set piece that will make you think twice on that very question. A third Culture story, "A Gift from the Culture" is in my opinion sort of a dud.
The best three stories have nothing to do with that Culture hogwash, and can be appreciated by any Banks novice with a suitably sick sense of humor. "Road of Skulls" is like an absurd scifi spin on "Waiting for Godot". "Odd Attachment" and "Cleaning Up" are first-contact stories (a mainstay of the genre), and both are as gruesome and hilarious as any good first-contact story should be.
The best three stories have nothing to do with that Culture hogwash, and can be appreciated by any Banks novice with a suitably sick sense of humor. "Road of Skulls" is like an absurd scifi spin on "Waiting for Godot". "Odd Attachment" and "Cleaning Up" are first-contact stories (a mainstay of the genre), and both are as gruesome and hilarious as any good first-contact story should be.
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