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Wasp Factory/Canal Dreams/Espedair Street/The Bridge/Walking on Glass
Collectors' items, these exclusive author-signed box sets, available for only a short period, include The Wasp Factory, Canal Dreams, Espedair Street, The Bridge and Walking on Glass The Wasp Factory Iain Banks' The Wasp Factory is one of the most infamous of contemporary Scottish novels. The narrator, Frank Cauldhame, is a weird teenager who lives on a tiny island connected to mainland Scotland by a bridge. He maintains grisly sacrifice poles to serve as his early warning system and deterrent against anyone who might invade his territory.
Few novelists have ever burst onto the literary scene with as much controversy as Iain Banks did in 1984. The Wasp Factory was reviled by many reviewers on account of its violence and sadism, but applauded by others as a new and Scottish voice--that is, a departure from the English literary tradition. The controversy is a bit puzzling in retrospect, because there is little to object to in this novel, if you're familiar with genre horror.
The Wasp Factory is distinguished by an authentically felt and deftly written first-person style, delicious dark humour, a sense of the surreal, and a serious examination of the psyche of a childhood psychopath. Most readers will find that they sympathise with and even like Frank, despite his three murders (each of which is hilarious in an Edward Gorey fashion). It's a classic of contemporary horror. --Fiona Webster, Amazon.com
Few novelists have ever burst onto the literary scene with as much controversy as Iain Banks did in 1984. The Wasp Factory was reviled by many reviewers on account of its violence and sadism, but applauded by others as a new and Scottish voice--that is, a departure from the English literary tradition. The controversy is a bit puzzling in retrospect, because there is little to object to in this novel, if you're familiar with genre horror.
The Wasp Factory is distinguished by an authentically felt and deftly written first-person style, delicious dark humour, a sense of the surreal, and a serious examination of the psyche of a childhood psychopath. Most readers will find that they sympathise with and even like Frank, despite his three murders (each of which is hilarious in an Edward Gorey fashion). It's a classic of contemporary horror. --Fiona Webster, Amazon.com
- GenresFiction
Hardcover
Published January 1, 2001
4 people are currently reading
221 people want to read
About the author
Iain Banks
40 books4,882 followersThis author also published science fiction under the pseudonym Iain M. Banks.
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 1982. 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 1982. 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 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 7, 2019
A Novel of Disturbance and Thrills
This is a very disturbing yet intriguing book that I very much enjoyed. I give it four stars because at certain points it was hard to follow. In “The Wasp Factory” by Iain Banks, we meet a strange boy, Frank Cauldhame, who lives on an island in Scotland. He lives with his father, Angus, and he has a brother, Eric, who was admitted to a mental institution. We look into his everyday life, and we see his routines. Until his past is revealed, you would not have known he committed murder. He feels unmanly and inferior to females because he was “castrated” by his dog, Old Saul, who died shortly after due to Frank’s anger and embarrassment. This event shaped the rest of his life and started violent and impulsive behavior. He created a contraption, the wasp factory, to help him answer questions about the world. Each number has a specified death, and he releases the wasp into the clock and whichever way it dies, Frank concludes his answer. As the novel continues, the reader learns that Eric is returning. He continues to call Frank from different points throughout Scotland, getting closer and closer each time. When he arrives, Frank uncovers a shocking truth: he is actually a girl. Born Frances, Angus wanted a boy so he raised her as a boy and fed her male hormones. Old Saul did attack her as a child, but the only damaged caused was by her father. This book definitely kept my interest because Frances does strange things that the reader would not expect. I was shocked by the ending where we learn of her false identity. Her choice to accept it is shocking because the reader would think, due to his past behavior, to act out irrationally. Overall, I would recommend this book to young adult or adult readers because it is a disturbing novel, but that is exactly what makes it interesting.
This is a very disturbing yet intriguing book that I very much enjoyed. I give it four stars because at certain points it was hard to follow. In “The Wasp Factory” by Iain Banks, we meet a strange boy, Frank Cauldhame, who lives on an island in Scotland. He lives with his father, Angus, and he has a brother, Eric, who was admitted to a mental institution. We look into his everyday life, and we see his routines. Until his past is revealed, you would not have known he committed murder. He feels unmanly and inferior to females because he was “castrated” by his dog, Old Saul, who died shortly after due to Frank’s anger and embarrassment. This event shaped the rest of his life and started violent and impulsive behavior. He created a contraption, the wasp factory, to help him answer questions about the world. Each number has a specified death, and he releases the wasp into the clock and whichever way it dies, Frank concludes his answer. As the novel continues, the reader learns that Eric is returning. He continues to call Frank from different points throughout Scotland, getting closer and closer each time. When he arrives, Frank uncovers a shocking truth: he is actually a girl. Born Frances, Angus wanted a boy so he raised her as a boy and fed her male hormones. Old Saul did attack her as a child, but the only damaged caused was by her father. This book definitely kept my interest because Frances does strange things that the reader would not expect. I was shocked by the ending where we learn of her false identity. Her choice to accept it is shocking because the reader would think, due to his past behavior, to act out irrationally. Overall, I would recommend this book to young adult or adult readers because it is a disturbing novel, but that is exactly what makes it interesting.
November 26, 2018
Iain Bank’s first published novel, is an exciting science fiction novel that tells the story of a 16 year old, Frank, who is completely isolated from the world, living on an island off of Scotland. Frank thinks his father, Angus, is doing tests on him because Angus used to be a scientist. The story tells about Franks aggressive and dangerous behavior, caused by a dog that castrated him when he was only three. He secretly has a “wasp factory” where he holds a wasp that tries to find a way out of the twelve traps he has set up, but ends up killing it anyway. His agreeable manner also causes him to murder three of his family members. The story ends with a plot twist that he was actually born a girl and the dog never attacked him. This causes Frank to realize he does not need to be so revengeful and dangerous. This novel kept me intrigued and waiting for more. It’s such an exciting novel and I recommend to all!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2017
Story about a twisted autistic child and his weird world.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews