It was while out with friends, in a break between an impromptu game of rounders and a very British picnic involving a flask of tea, cherries and little sausages, that I heard the heart-breaking news of the death of Iain Banks. The strangeness of the contrast between this awful loss and the time and place left me baffled – numb, I took it in in silence, and then put it to one side, to deal with later. It wasn’t the moment.
Some time has passed and it’s given me a chance to consider the impact that Banks and his work have had on me as a reader, but also as a person, and a citizen of the world; universe, even. Perhaps that sounds a bit hyperbolic, but in fact, I think my reading of Banks’ incredible fiction, scientific or otherwise, has been fundamentally important. Continue reading “Iain Banks: A Tribute”