On February 16th 1954 the writer Iain Banks was born in Dunfermline, Fife

Banks was a son of a professional ice skater and an Admiralty officer. He spent his early years in North Queensferry and later moved to Gourock because of his father’s work requirement. He received his early education from Gourock and Greenock High Schools and at the young age of eleven, he decided to pursue a career in writing. He penned his first novel, titled The Hungarian Lift-Jet, in his adolescence. He was then enrolled at the University of Stirling where he studied English, philosophy and psychology. During his freshman year, he wrote his second novel, TTR.

Subsequent to attaining his bachelor degree, Banks worked a succession of jobs that allowed him some free time to write. The assortment of employments supported him financially throughout his twenties. He even managed to travel through Europe, North America and Scandinavia during which he was employed as an analyzer for IBM, a technician and a costing clerk in a London law firm. At the age of thirty he finally had his big break as he published his debut novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984, henceforth he embraced full-time writing. It is considered to be one of the most inspiring teenage novels. The instant success of the book restored his confidence as a writer and that’s when he took up science fiction writing.

In 1987, he published his first sci-fi novel, Consider Phlebas which is a space opera. The title is inspired by one of the lines in T.S Eliot’s classic poem, The Waste Land. The novel is set in a fictional interstellar anarchist-socialist utopian society, named the Culture. The focus of the book is the ongoing war between Culture and Idiran Empire which the author manifests through the microcosm conflicts. The protagonist, Bora Horza Gobuchul, unlike other stereotypical heroes is portrayed as a morally ambiguous individual, who appeals to the readers. Additionally, the grand scenery and use of variety of literary devices add up to the extremely well reception of the book. Its sequel, The Player of Games, came out the very next year which paved way for other seven volumes in The Culture series.

Besides the Culture series, Banks wrote several stand-alone novels. Some of them were adapted for television, radio and theatre. BBC television adapted his novel, The Crow Road (1992), and BBC Radio 4 broadcasted Espedair Street. The literary influences on his works include Isaac Asimov, Dan Simmons, Arthur C. Clarke, and M. John Harrison. He was featured in a television documentary, The Strange Worlds of Iain Banks South Bank Show, which discussed his literary writings. In 2003, he published a non-fiction book, Raw Spirit, which is a travelogue of Scotland. Banks last novel, titled The Quarry, appeared posthumously. He also penned a collection of poetry but could not publish it in his lifetime. It is expected to be released in 2015. He was awarded multitude of titles and accolades in honour of his contribution to literature. Some of these accolades include British Science Fiction Association Award, Arthur C. Clarke Award, Locus Poll Award, Prometheus Award and Hugo Award.

Iain Banks was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the gallbladder and died at the age of 59 in the summer of 2013.

Awesome! Really love this game.

Now give him STITCHES!!!!

I can’t wait to see this!!!!

Late Night With The Devil, 2024.

Random Ladytron appreciation post.

✊🏻✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

If you allow for it, yesterday could have been the end.

I love this game so much!! It kills me every time!

Sample and resample onward!

Working with Comping Takes in Reaper! Go easy on me. If it sounds like shit through my phone, it probably is. 😂

This is one of my favorite grindhouse flicks. I’ve never seen this poster before. So hot!

I had an age thing today. It kinda fucked me up. At work, everyone stops at the pharmacy to pick up the drugs to deliver to patients. Everyone sort of crams in a little before or after 5pm. When I got in, there was this guy Brian inside. He asked me how bad my night was last night. Brian is an actor but recently suffered a nervous breakdown. Brian takes off and more people started trickling in. I put all my packages in order and got out of there. In the parking lot I see Brian talking with this girl Kristen. They are about 5ft apart and I decide it would be fun to run in between them. I do it- I was a gust of wind- people in the neighboring stores thought I was a purse snatcher. But as I tried to slow my pace, I started to feel wobbly, like I was going to fall. Someone else also confirmed it, by saying “fuck I thought you were going to fall.” Nonetheless, I spent the rest of my shift recreating the incident in random patients hallways and walks.

One patient caught me, he lol’d “wtf are you doing!?!” I explained. He said, “you can’t recreate it because what threw your balance off was all the packages you were holding while you wanted to become wind.” Ah! Orthopedic Shoes ON! I stand corrected.

Every showdown I ever encountered began with the same conversation.

“Have at you, scoundrel!”

Night Tide, 1961, dir. Curtis Harrington

incredible

Let's Disco!

Holy Shit!!!! Poo must’ve poo’d on all of their bedspreads.