Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010", Nonstop Press, 2012-05-05, archived from the original on 2013-04-26 , retrieved 2013-05-17 . A further tribute was paid by the Five Deeps Expedition which named all of its craft after Culture ships and drones. [46] Faithfully reproduced from sketchbooks kept in the 1970s and 80s, these annotated original illustrations depict the ships, habitats, geography, weapons and language of Banks' Culture series of novels in incredible detail.

An exclusive, individually-numbered edition of The Culture: The Drawings bound in a cloth and foil cover, with foiled endpapers and a Marain ribbon marker Allberry, Russ (2005-11-18), "Review: The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks", Eyrie , retrieved 2009-02-17 .The Gray Area reflects that the Excession is the most dangerous thing to be seen in the galaxy since the worst days of Idiran war, which took place five centuries before. The book states that the Interesting Times Gang from Excession has not been seen in almost 500 years; also, that it is about 1000 years after the Idiran war. The book states that the events of Look to Windward occurred about 600 years earlier ("However, as part of what were in effect war reparations after the Chel debacle, six hundred years ago..."), and repeatedly refers to the Idiran war as occurring about 1500 years earlier; the war formally ended in 1375. This archival material provides a fascinating insight into Iain’s extraordinary mind. It was originally due to be published as a single volume, accompanied by text from the award-winning Ken MacLeod, who was a close friend of Iain’s. However, to ensure that Iain’s exceptionally detailed drawings can be appreciated in their original format and scale, we are delighted to announce that the material will now be published as two separate editions. Banks has been described as "an incorrigible player of games" with both style and structure– and with the reader. [30] In both the Culture stories and his work outside science fiction, there are two sides to Banks, the "merry chatterer" who brings scenes to life and "the altogether less amiable character" who "engineers the often savage structure of his stories". [31] Banks uses a wide range of styles. The Player of Games opens in a leisurely manner as it presents the main character's sense of boredom and inertia, [32] and adopts for the main storyline a "spare, functional" style that contrasts with the "linguistic fireworks" of later stories. [30] Sometimes the styles used in Excession relate to the function and focal character of the scene: slow-paced and detailed for Dajeil, who is still mourning over traumatic events that happened decades earlier; a parody of huntin', shootin', and fishin' country gentlemen, sometimes reminiscent of P. G. Wodehouse, when describing the viewpoint of the Affront; the ship Serious Callers Only, afraid of becoming involved in the conflict between factions of Minds, speaks in cryptic verse, while the Sleeper Service, acting as a freelance detective, adopts a hardboiled style. On the other hand, Banks often wrong-foots readers by using prosaic descriptions for the grandest scenery, self-deprecation and humour for the most heroic actions, and a poetic style in describing one of the Affront's killings. [26]

Baker, Neal (2003), "Review of Dark Light", in Butler, Andrew M.; Mendelsohn, Farah (eds.), The True Knowledge of Ken MacLeod, Reading, UK: Science Fiction Foundation, pp.95–97, ISBN 978-0903007023 . The book says it occurs about 800years after events near the end of the fighting in space in the Idiran War.

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The ship Limiting Factor was "constructed seven hundred and sixteen years earlier in the closing stages of the Idiran war, when the conflict in space was almost over".( Banks 1988) The war in space ended in 1367. The events of the book take place over a period of four to five years from the time of this statement.

He delights in building up expectations and then surprising the reader. [ citation needed] Even in The Player of Games, which has the simplest style and structure of the series, the last line of the epilogue reveals who was really pulling the strings all along. [30] In all the Culture stories, Banks subverts many clichés of space opera. The Minds are not plotting to take over the universe, and no-one is following a grand plan. [26] The darkly comic double-act of Ferbin and Holse in Matter is not something most writers would place in "the normally po-faced context of space opera". [31] Even the names of Culture spaceships are jokes– for example Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill, Experiencing a Significant Gravitas Shortfall (part of a running gag in the series [21]) and Liveware Problem (see liveware). [33] The second as-of-yet-untitled companion volume “will include an extensive selection of Iain’s notes, tables and charts relating to the Culture universe, as well as extracts from the novels.” It will also feature text from MacLeod that will help shed some light on the series. Orbit hasn’t said when the books will be published. Duggan, Robert (2007-12-22), "Iain M. Banks, Postmodernism and the Gulf War", Extrapolation, 48 (3): 558–577, doi: 10.3828/extr.2007.48.3.12 .

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Author Iain M. Banks revealed in April 2013 that he had late-stage cancer. He died the following June. We are pleased to share an exciting publication update with everyone who has been looking forward to the release of The Culture: Notes and Drawings by Iain M. Banks and Ken MacLeod. The Culture: The Drawings will release on 7 th November 2023. This large-format, landscape artbook will faithfully reproduce Iain’s exceptionally intricate drawings in their original format, and at their original scale. Arevalo, Evelyn (2021-07-09), "Elon Musk Shows Off New SpaceX Falcon 9 Autonomous Droneship -'A Shortfall Of Gravitas' ", Tesmanian .

Holt, Tom (November 2007), " The Player of Games (review)" (PDF), SFX Magazine: 114, archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-10 , retrieved 2009-02-17 . Further good news for Banks fans is that in late 2024, Orbit is planning to publish the definitive Culture companion book, celebrating the Culture through Iain’s own writing. Curated by Ken MacLeod, it will include all of Iain’s notes, tables and charts relating to the Culture universe. More information about this book will be released in due course.Banks often uses "outsiders" as viewpoint characters, [34] and said that using an enemy of the Culture as the main character of Consider Phlebas, the first story in the series, enabled him to present a more rounded view of the Culture. [ citation needed] However, this character realises that his attempts to plan for anything that might conceivably happen on a mission are very similar to the way in which the Culture makes all its decisions, and by the end suspects he has chosen the wrong side. [6] An alien artifact far advanced beyond the Culture's understanding is used by one group of Minds to lure a civilisation (the behaviour of which they disapprove) into war; another group of Minds works against the conspiracy. A sub-plot covers how two humanoids make up their differences after traumatic events that happened 40years earlier. [9] Horton, Richard (1997-03-05), Use of Weapons: Review, archived from the original on 2017-01-28 , retrieved 2009-02-17 . Orbit presents this deluxe 'Special Circumstances' limited edition of The Culture: The Drawings, available worldwide exclusively from the Orbit UK store. 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.