Oh Noes! Iain Banks has cancer :(

[monster]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22015175

[Beest]

Crap.

I don't read alot, but whenI do it's mostly Ian Banks or Terry Partchett.

or Bernard Cornwell , hows he doing

[monster]

I know, I was going to email you, figured this would be quicker

[wolf]

Fuck cancer. Somebody had to say it.

[orthodoc]

I'll say it again. Fuck cancer.

[footfootfoot]

Ditto.

He sounds like a good sort. It wouldn't be cricket to add him to my list.

[Sundae]

He's gone.

[limey]

Fuck cancer!


Sent by thought transference

[DanaC]

Really? Bloody hell that came fast. Rest in peace Iain Banks, and thanks for some of the most memorable tales and characters I've had the pleasure to read.



From the Guardian:

In a statement on the BBC News website, his publisher said he was "an irreplaceable part of the literary world".

Little, Brown Book Group said the author was "one of the country's best-loved novelists" for both his mainstream and science fiction books.


"Iain Banks' ability to combine the most fertile of imaginations with his own highly distinctive brand of gothic humour made him unique," the publisher was reported saying.


After announcing his illness in April, Banks asked his publishers to bring forward the release date of his latest novel, The Quarry, so he could see it on the shelves.


"Just three weeks ago he was presented with finished copies and enjoyed celebration parties with old friends and fans across the publishing world," the statement continued.

I'm so glad he got to see his last book hit the shelves.

Banks announced his illness on his website on 3 April, writing "I am officially Very Poorly" . With trademark black humour, he said he had asked his partner Adele "if she will do me the honour of becoming my widow".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013...ain-banks-dies

[soul13]

This was so quick, I thought he had longer.
His character really shone through in his books, he'll be sadly missed. Weird that his last book was about cancer too.

[Sundae]

Took out The Player of Games from the library yesterday.
If I still have it, it's buried under under a couple of storage boxes of other books. Easier to pull it off the special display in his memory.

I've yet to reread it. I mix up the early Culture novels.
I know I read Damage by Jospehine Hart just because it was the name of a game in one of Banks's novels. And I loved the idea of the Players On the Eve of Destruction. Struck me as a combination of Douglas Adams and Stephen King. Dark and sleazy and besmirched with black humour.
Saying that, he transcended both of them.

I can never think of Scotland without thinking of Banks (and now Brianna of course)
In fact we went to a holiday cottage within spitting distance of Lochgilphead just because I associated it with him. We had the best chips and the surliest service there I've ever had in all my world travel.

I started to write about what I value most in a novel. But it ended up like the Spanish Inquisition/ what did the Romans do for us sketches.
I want STORY. Moved by intelligent but realistic dialogue. And being a word-pervert I want description and phrases which paint enormous canvases in very few words. Phrases I want to remember, landscapes in words.

I like a reasonably simple narrative without a huge cast of characters, but densely plotted so I can appreciate the twists and turns. Fewer red herrings than seeds of suspicion sown.

Oh and humour.
And perhaps a different perspective on the world.

I can't believe I actually read at all, let alone enjoy it
I do have a stack of books to review in the Books thread. Some I really want to do justice to. But I think I will reread The Player of Games again first.
This is the first of his books I've had from the library. Every other one I paid for. Given his short life I am glad I paid even pennies into the account of such a talent.

RIP.