No Gravitas Allowed -- The Iain [M.] Banks thread

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > No Gravitas Allowed -- The Iain [M.] Banks thread

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Could someone explain the reason why Banks's Excession isn't available on the US Kindle store when all the other Culture books are? :smith:

I want to read everything in order even if it's not necessary.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2012 02:16

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 16:26

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Argh, this sucks. If we lived in a post-scarcity technoanarchosocialist society, surely this would not be an issue :arghfist:

# ¿ Jul 31, 2012 03:03

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Krinkle posted:

I guessed the twist halfway into the book, convinced myself nahhhh that's not it, and then was surprised again when it happened.

I usually try not to guess twists (because I'm so bad at it) so I was pretty floored by the end of it.

Also, that chair :smith:

I also had to consult a few websites because I was still pretty confused about the timeline :downsgun:

# ¿ Aug 15, 2012 01:38

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Seaside Loafer posted:

Are suit/knife missile/shuttle minds happy in their jobs? They always seem to be. Are they made that way?

I think you never hear of ones that aren't because they sublimed or something? I don't know. I'm reading Looking Windward and I have no idea what the gently caress is going on other than this monkey dude is doing fetch quests for some gigantic space whale.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2012 06:53

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Prolonged Priapism posted:

Also:

God I wish.

What is this supposed to be? :confused:

# ¿ Oct 29, 2012 00:37

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Red Crown posted:

I think it's supposed to be the GSV fighting the Idiran fleet in the prologue?

Yeah, I figured. Who made it though? Where's it from?

# ¿ Nov 13, 2012 04:07

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Prolonged Priapism posted:

I made it (in Photoshop) and then posted it. I think a Consider Phlebas movie would be pretty rad, and at the very least you could cut one hell of a trailer for it (Excession too). So what I posted was the crappy, storyboard version of how I might like to see such a trailer end - with a representation of the event that kicks off the whole story, which is the kid Mind trying to evade capture by a group of Idiran ships.

Some other poster recognized what it was supposed to be and improved it by redrawing the path of the Culture ship as a crazy complicated squiggle. Pretty funny, and if I knew more about animation in Photoshop I would have tried something more along those lines.

I've thought about it a lot actually, and the whole Banks cosmology, with ships skipping in and out of 4D (from which you can see a 2D representation of real space), antimatter warheads going off, and ship drives making wakes/reacting against the sparkling ocean of the energy grid(s), would probably provide some pretty awesome (and unconventional) combat visuals. If you did it right.

Thanks for the follow-up; it's a wonderful piece of work you posted.

I feel like The Culture stories really would be more suited for animation than live action, simply because it would just be ridiculously expensive (or not feasible) to do everything in live action and still do the universe and its characters justice.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2012 01:54

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

God drat it, I saw 88 new posts in this thread and got excited that some new awesome thing was annou-and gently caress

Banks is just incredible for so many reasons, but one thing that I really love about him is the diversity of his protagonists in a genre that tends to be pretty monochromatic and dudely.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2013 22:23

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

lllllllllllllllllll posted:

Or Englishman (no offence to the famous Scottish writer intended). Somehow I sometimes get the impression the Culture could also be understood as the victory of British politness over brutish ruffians. Well, that's certainly not intended and probably wrong anyway.

China Mieville comes to mind when it comes to the politics of The Culture series. That would be amazing.

# ¿ May 24, 2013 22:56

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

MeLKoR posted:

China Mieville is my favorite author but that wouldn't be The Culture.

e: He could do a Zetetic Elench sort of spin-off in a Culture inspired universe maybe?

The writing style would be very different, but I think China has plenty of crazy as hell ideas about biology and environments.

# ¿ May 25, 2013 00:03

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

God drat it; gently caress cancer

He'll be sorely loving missed.

# ¿ Jun 10, 2013 00:35

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Hedrigall posted:

China Mi�ville himself would probably vomit all over you in disgust if you described his books as "steampunk" to his face.

Hah, yep. Along with Pratchett and Banks, Mieville is one of the authors who I think is just on another level completely.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2013 08:16

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Tuxedo Catfish posted:

I didn't hate PSS but by far the best part of the book is the first third. I could read an entire novel of the mundane, everyday life of people living in a fantasy police state but the minute it turns into an action adventure it goes downhill fast.

District 9 is like the movie equivalent of this

# ¿ Jun 26, 2013 16:48

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Circle Nine posted:

For anyone interested, Surface Detail is a kindle daily deal today and it's only 2 dollars.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ref=pe_170810_31764420_pe_row1_b3/?ASIN=B0046A9NLC

I already have it, but god drat, the Daily Deal is such a smart idea. I've bought like 80 books in the last year alone from there. It's like the Steam Sales of e-books.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2013 17:58

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Daktar posted:

One thing I always wondered about The Player of Games was whether Shohobohaum Za, the Culture ambassador was actually Zakalwe. Their names are superficially similar, and it's mentioned that Za doesn't have drug glands. By the end of the book, Za is leading a rebellion against the remnants of the Azadian bureaucracy, something only an experienced soldier and commander could do. It's also revealed that he was never actually in the Culture and that he was just an outside contractor. True, he doesn't act much like Zakalwe, but as we know, Zakalwe is very good at playing a role.

Oh god drat, that is nuts. It totally makes sense too (at least to me).

# ¿ Aug 15, 2013 02:09

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Lasting Damage posted:

I don't know, I think there's sufficient evidence across multiple books to suggest that a number of the Culture's military machine citizens take a perverse pleasure in causing pain. A few examples:

In Use of Weapons during the flashback when Skaffen-Amtiskaw cuts loose its fields are described as being a pleasurable rosy-red. And then when Sma tears a strip off it for being so violent, its comes off insincere and even defensive. It seems less ashamed for being behaving monstrously, and more for upsetting Sma.

In Player of Games at the end when the Emperor tries to kill Jernau, Flere-Imsaho apparently reflects the Emperor's laser back at him to drill him in the forehead, probably needlessly if the mirror field had no trouble stopping the shot. Also when it was masquerading as a declawed SC drone, it tortured small animals. This may have been an act, but I suspect this is closer to its real personality than the whiny library drone that fussed over Jernau at Azad.

In Excession, the Killing Time's petty suicide run to get back at the Attitude Adjuster. It doesn't simply kill the other ship, it uses its effectors to force it to use its own engine fields to violently lobotomize itself, before eventually executing it mercifully.

The Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints is definitely a perverse fucker too: Remember when its first introduced its controlling a man as an avatar to subject him to all manner of horrifying poo poo before wiping his memory.

I think this is a common trait amongst military craft and drones in the Culture, but its managed so to speak. Like giving your sociopaths something constructive to do so they don't act like monsters domestically. I'm definitely not arguing that's the only way to interpret things. I'm sure most of these individuals (except maybe FOTNMC) are otherwise decent, but have a vicious streak.

I really like that about the Culture's military entities; they aren't just these awesome, noble Mary Sues. They are mean bastards that don't just wield weapons, but actually are used as weapons ( :v:

# ¿ Aug 15, 2013 23:41

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000677541

The Kindle daily deal is The Quarry. I'm happy and sad (but mostly sad)

# ¿ Oct 14, 2013 08:35

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Prolonged Priapism posted:

Oh I know. And actually in the books (Excession in particular) the main drives are described as reacting against the E-Grid of whatever hyperspace they're in at the time, making a wake like a boat (the grid itself is like a golden ocean of sparkling energy). This is further reinforced by the idea of a "crash stop" which distorts the E-Grid so badly it can be detected halfway across the galaxy. There's also some maximum acceleration that the E-Grid can handle imparting to a ship, so accelerating ships skip back and forth between the hyperspaces (through real space!) to let the respective E-Grids recover or smooth back out.

And of course the ships aren't in regular 3D real space when they're traveling anyway, so the backdrop is inaccurate too.

I think a fully realized vision of Culture ships in flight would have to be animated. There's just too much going on to show in one 2D image.

I think even an animated adaptation would have to really compromise a lot on the physics and stuff in order to make the show watchable. After all, Minds think and talk to each other at a speed we simply can't comprehend.

Given all that, I would still watch the ever-loving poo poo out of an adaptation of Excession or Look to Windward.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2013 23:50

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Barry Foster posted:

I'm not sure I can face a universe without more Culture novels, but I can't think of anyone other than El-Bonko who'd be able to pull one off.

I've not read that China Mieville chap, though, and I hear he's got similar politics, at least. Any thoughts, fellow Minds?

I have to agree with andrew smash; I love, love, love Mieville, but he's got a totally different style than Banks (which isn't a bad thing!). If you're looking for more gender/political fuckery, there's always Felix Gilman's Half Made World and Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2014 21:24

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

http://io9.com/the-final-iain-banks-book-will-be-published-next-februa-1525319337

I had no idea there was one last thing. I'm still feeling gutted

# ¿ Feb 18, 2014 23:36

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

thatdarnedbob posted:

It's not available on the US store anymore for whatever reason. I'm going to look into getting UK book on my US kindle and edit this post in joy if it works.

edit: so after changing my Kindle to be based out of the London Ritz, I was able to get a few Banks books that are not available on the US Kindle store, and also pick up better prices on all the most egregiously different of the others. As an added tip, if you shop on amazon.com (signed in) after switching to the UK it'll still display the price as converted from pounds to dollars instead of the US price. Thanks for supplying the UK link. I'll post back if I encounter any problems down the line but it seems to have worked fine so far.

I've done this for Excession as well but I have been warned by other goons that this may not be a good idea for the health of your Kindle account. Nothing's happened to me (yet), but I figure I'll pass it on.

# ¿ Mar 23, 2014 23:00

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Hedrigall posted:

I'm umming and ahing over my reading order now. Another Banks book is my next space opera after a Julie Czerneda book, but I'm tossing up between Excession and Consider Phlebas. I've read Weapons, Games and State of the Art. Any recommendations for one way or the other?

They're both really good, but in different ways. I feel like Excession is way more Banks-y than Consider Phelbas, but the latter is full of amazing action sequences.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2014 07:35

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

saihttam posted:

Those are wonderful and should be book covers.

Agreed! Those are beautiful and that charity is awesome.

# ¿ May 18, 2014 22:06

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Now I want a sweet Culture ship name and avatar on the forums; any ideas for the name at least?

# ¿ May 21, 2014 22:42

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

sinking belle posted:

Was going through Destiny related stuff earlier because I'm overwhelmingly hyped for that game and there's a challenge/achievement/whatever thing called Use of Weapons. General Battuta