Matter (Culture)

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Ajami, Fouad; Cohen, Eliot A.; Huntington, Samuel P. (2009-01-14), "Samuel P. Huntington, 1927–2008", American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, archived from the original on 2009-04-18 , retrieved 2009-02-17 This is a book I really wanted to like, and failed. I like Iain M. Banks style, I like his willingness to run risks, to give you the whole punch. And in this book, he barely delivers. So it feels flawed and utterly brilliant at the same time. Which is a shame. I really want to LOVE this novel, not just appreciate it to death. Which I do. Hell, I want to kind of worship it, but I can't quite LOVE it. How frustrating. The Oct, the direct mentoring species over the human Sarl, meanwhile have been organizing the takeover of the ninth level of Sursamen (owned by the Deldeyn, another human nation of approximately equal level of development to the Sarl), using the Sarl royal court and military as their pawns. It becomes increasingly clear that they are searching for something hidden in the Nameless City, a metropolis buried under several hundred million years of sediment which is currently being stripped away by the giant Hyeng-zhar waterfalls. The ninth level was only recently re-colonised in a move by the Oct, which was retrospectively validated, with reluctance, by Sursamen's mentoring races, the Nariscene and the more senior Morthanveld. (The Culture itself has no jurisdiction over Sursamen, since the Morthanveld are - like the Culture - "High Level Involved", technically regarded as sort-of-equals in an uneasy although peaceful diplomatic relationship: although despite this, the human(oid) Sarl seem to have more affinity with the Culture although their hierarchy of patronage comes from the Morthanveld.) Opposed to the Oct at an approximately equal stage of development are another species, the Aultridia, who opposed the Oct's incursions into the ninth level, and there is a risk of Oct/Aultridia war breaking out - which may become worse if the intermediate-level Nariscene, themselves patrons of the Oct, are dragged into involvement, or worse still, the high-level Morthanveld themselves.

Caroti, Simone (26 July 2018). The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks: A Critical Introduction. McFarland. p.24. ISBN 978-1-4766-2040-4– via Google Books. 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]Lindsay Deutsch (7 May 2013). "Book Buzz: New Iain Banks coming in June". USA TODAY . Retrieved 10 May 2013.

After graduation, Banks took a succession of jobs that left him free to write in the evenings. These supported his writing throughout his twenties and allowed him to take long breaks between contracts, during which time he travelled through Europe and North America. During this period he worked as an IBM 'Expediter Analyser' (a kind of procurement clerk), a testing technician for the British Steel Corporation, and a costing clerk for a law firm in London's Chancery Lane. [8] Career [ edit ] Writing career [ edit ] Banks's publisher called him "an irreplaceable part of the literary world". This was reaffirmed by a fellow Scottish author and friend since secondary school Ken MacLeod: his death "left a large gap in the Scottish literary scene as well as the wider English-speaking world." [55] British author Charles Stross wrote, "One of the giants of 20th and 21st century Scottish literature has left the building." [56] Authors, including Neil Gaiman, Ian Rankin, Alastair Reynolds and David Brin also paid tribute in blogs and elsewhere. [57] [58] [59] [60] Also, why would a race in an entirely different galaxy be humanoid? And have a culture heavy-handedly like 20th century Earth with drugs and capitalism. Ahem this book is like bad satire ahem. Minds - sentient thinking computers - are the secret stars of the Culture novels, but here they take centre stage. What do virtually immortal, super intelligent AIs do for fun? Among other things they play out decades-long plots to topple less developed, more barbaric civilisations. But even Minds sometimes run up against opponents they can’t outwit. Featuring the Affront, a race literally named for how outrageously evil they are, this is Banks at his most playful, comedic and inventive. Three: Consider Phlebas Gerard Earley (3 October 2012). "Iain M. Banks became President of Science Fiction Book Club, London England". London: Web.And then Banks does something that would be unforgivable in any other kind of story, and is nearly unforgivable here. His answer to the main theme, that which asks the point of the lives and fates of beings of mere matter, begins to rise, stalking towards Bethlehem. Such is the epistemic suspense that drives the narrative, as aficionados of the Culture series welcome the fecund variety of new spacefaring species, as well as the pleasurable return of familiar paraphernalia such as knife missiles, and new additions to the catalogue of arch ship names, chosen by the machine Minds of the ships themselves: here is the Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill; there the Experiencing a Significant Gravitas Shortfall; and over there a kind of hero, the Liveware Problem. The novel itself has a kind of liveware problem: the ship Minds are more sympathetic characters than most of the medieval-fantasy humans. In April 2013, Banks announced he had inoperable cancer and was unlikely to live beyond a year. [6] He died on 9 June 2013. [7] Early life [ edit ] Banks's political stance has been termed "left of centre" [35] and in 2002 endorsed the Scottish Socialist Party. [36]