"It is almost impossible to fully express the influence that Scottish Author Iain M. Banks (1954-2013) has had on science fiction, particularly in the UK. The publication of Consider Phlebas in 1987 was one of the triggers for the British Renaissance. This exuberant left-wing space opera was also one of the foundational texts for the New Space Opera, and was a clear influence on Stephen Baxter, Paul J. McAuley, Justina Robson and Alistair Reynolds. Banks authored 14 sf novels, nine of them set in the universe of the Culture, exploring most of the major sf themes and genres: utopia and dystopia, interstellar warfare, interaction with alien life, the biology-technology divide, and perpetual surveillance. His writing is characterized by an exceptional attention to literary style and a signature dark sense of humor. He achieved mainstream success as one of the giants of Scottish literary fiction, Iain Banks: author of The Wasp Factory (1984), Walking on Glass (1985), The Bridge (1986), Espedair Street (1987), and thirteen other mainstream novels. Paul Kincaid argues that many of Banks's supposedly mainstream novels had science-fiction aspects, while mainstream techniques and sensibilities were incorporated into all of his science fiction. It is, therefore, impossible to consider one aspect of his fiction in isolation; the two feed into each other"-- |