Iain M. Banks

A place for anything *not* Donaldson.

Moderator: I'm Murrin

marik7
Servant of the Land
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2010 12:56 pm

Post by marik7 »

Player of Games, I loved that one - it explained how Culture operates on the most basic level....
User avatar
Avatar
Immanentizing The Eschaton
Posts: 61651
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 9:17 am
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 19 times

Post by Avatar »

Yeah, one of my favourites. I've always wished somebody would actually make that game they play. :D

--A
User avatar
Vraith
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 10621
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:03 pm
Location: everywhere, all the time

Post by Vraith »

Avatar wrote:Yeah, one of my favourites. I've always wished somebody would actually make that game they play. :D

--A
When I first read it, I thought about it conceptually..how would it work [course, I was most commonly in non-ordinary states, with pink floyd, yes, and tangerine dream playing in the background]...needless to say, never got far.
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
User avatar
Avatar
Immanentizing The Eschaton
Posts: 61651
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 9:17 am
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 19 times

Post by Avatar »

Yeah, I've tried to design a board for it in my 3D modelling program, but I'm not happy with the results yet, and rarely work on it.

--A
User avatar
stonemaybe
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 4836
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:37 am
Location: Wallowing in the Zider Zee

Post by stonemaybe »

Keep working on it Av!

I'm about two thirds through Excession and while I kind of know what's going on, I am completely lost in what is ACTUALLY going on.

...stupid uber-intelligent Mind-things... :(
Aglithophile and conniptionist and spectacular moonbow beholder 16Jul11

(:/>
User avatar
Vraith
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 10621
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:03 pm
Location: everywhere, all the time

Post by Vraith »

Sheesh...I never realized "games" was part of a whole freaking series till I searched "excession"....I now have a new collection/reading project.
Thanks Stone-y.
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
User avatar
stonemaybe
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 4836
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:37 am
Location: Wallowing in the Zider Zee

Post by stonemaybe »

Vraith wrote:Sheesh...I never realized "games" was part of a whole freaking series till I searched "excession"....I now have a new collection/reading project.
Thanks Stone-y.
That's ok Vraith - at least, if your there is anywhere like here, you'll be able to pick up most of them second-hand.
Aglithophile and conniptionist and spectacular moonbow beholder 16Jul11

(:/>
User avatar
Avatar
Immanentizing The Eschaton
Posts: 61651
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 9:17 am
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 19 times

Post by Avatar »

Wish that was the case here...they're hard to find.

I actually looked at my board yesterday. :lol: Maybe I'll re-read and try again...

--A
User avatar
I'm Murrin
Are you?
Posts: 15840
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:09 pm
Location: North East, UK
Contact:

Post by I'm Murrin »

Iain Banks has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The Quarry (one of his non-SF novels, due out this year) will be his last book.

The official statement from Banks:
I am officially Very Poorly.
After a couple of surgical procedures, I am gradually recovering from jaundice caused by a blocked bile duct, but that – it turns out – is the least of my problems.

I first thought something might be wrong when I developed a sore back in late January, but put this down to the fact I’d started writing at the beginning of the month and so was crouched over a keyboard all day. When it hadn’t gone away by mid February, I went to my GP, who spotted that I had jaundice. Blood tests, an ultrasound scan and then a CT scan revealed the full extent of the grisly truth by the start of March.

I have cancer. It started in my gall bladder, has infected both lobes of my
liver and probably also my pancreas and some lymph nodes, plus one tumour is massed around a group of major blood vessels in the same volume, effectively ruling out any chance of surgery to remove the tumours either in the short or long term.

The bottom line, now, I’m afraid, is that as a late stage gall bladder cancer patient, I’m expected to live for ‘several months’ and it’s extremely unlikely I’ll live beyond a year. So it looks like my latest novel, The Quarry, will be my last.

As a result, I’ve withdrawn from all planned public engagements and I’ve asked my partner Adele if she will do me the honour of becoming my widow (sorry – but we find ghoulish humour helps). By the time this goes out we’ll be married and on a short honeymoon. We intend to spend however much quality time I have left seeing family. and relations and visiting places that have meant a lot to us. Meanwhile my heroic publishers are doing all they can to bring the publication date of my new novel forward by as much as four months, to give me a better chance of being around when it hits the shelves.

There is a possibility that it might be worth undergoing a course of chemotherapy to extend the amount of time available. However that is still something we’re balancing the pros and cons of, and is anyway out of the question until my jaundice has further, and significantly, reduced.

Lastly, I’d like to add that from my GP onwards, the professionalism of the medics involved – and the speed with which the resources of the NHS in Scotland have been deployed – has been exemplary, and the standard of care deeply impressive. We’re all just sorry the outcome hasn’t been more cheerful.

This website was set up so family and fans can leave messages for me and check on my progress.
Iain Banks
His official website has crashed from all the traffic, but this one set up for well-wishing is working:
friends.banksophilia.com/
User avatar
Orlion
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 6637
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 12:30 am
Location: Getting there...

Post by Orlion »

I'm sorry to hear that.

Hopefully, people will continue to be understanding and just let him maximize his relationship with family and personal friends for what time he has left.
'Tis dream to think that Reason can
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville

I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!

"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
User avatar
wayfriend
.
Posts: 20957
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 12:34 am
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Post by wayfriend »

Wow. I had recently gone on a Banks run, and caught up on a lot of his titles. The man has a wise imagination. I'm sorry to here that he will soon sublime.
.
User avatar
Shaun das Schaf
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 1193
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 6:33 am
Location: Wollongong, Australia

Sad news about Iain Banks

Post by Shaun das Schaf »

Deleted.
Last edited by Shaun das Schaf on Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Avatar
Immanentizing The Eschaton
Posts: 61651
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 9:17 am
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 19 times

Post by Avatar »

Damn, and I'm reading one right now. A sad day indeed. No more Culture.

--A
User avatar
Avatar
Immanentizing The Eschaton
Posts: 61651
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 9:17 am
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 19 times

Post by Avatar »

Terrible news.

Perhaps the kindly mod would like to merge this with the other thread?

--A
User avatar
I'm Murrin
Are you?
Posts: 15840
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:09 pm
Location: North East, UK
Contact:

Post by I'm Murrin »

Done, Mr Admin-with-mod-powers-in-every-forum. ;)
User avatar
Avatar
Immanentizing The Eschaton
Posts: 61651
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 9:17 am
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 19 times

Post by Avatar »

That's Mr Lazy Admin-with-mod-powers-in-every-forum to you sir.

:lol:

--A
User avatar
ussusimiel
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 5346
Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 12:34 am
Location: Waterford (milking cows), and sometimes still Dublin, Ireland

Post by ussusimiel »

Avatar wrote:That's Mr Lazy Admin-with-mod-powers-in-every-forum to you sir.
Mr. Lazy Gun Admin. :lol:

u.
Tho' all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
User avatar
I'm Murrin
Are you?
Posts: 15840
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:09 pm
Location: North East, UK
Contact:

Post by I'm Murrin »

Word is spreading - and it seems to be the truth - that Iain Banks died this morning.

RIP.
User avatar
Orlion
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 6637
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 12:30 am
Location: Getting there...

Post by Orlion »

Yep.

RIP.
'Tis dream to think that Reason can
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville

I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!

"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
User avatar
danlo
Lord
Posts: 20837
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2002 8:29 pm
Location: Albuquerque NM
Contact:

Post by danlo »

safe passage
Post Reply

Return to “General Fantasy/Sci-Fi Discussion”