Remembering Iain M. Banks
Today marks five years since Iain Banks, known to fans of his science fiction novels as Iain M. Banks, died of cancer. By the time of his death, he'd become one of the most respected authors in the genre. His series of novels set in the Culture universe pushed the envelope for what utopian futures could be imagined to look like in a time when dystopian futures continue to be more popular in fiction. Using his novels, he examined everything from interventionism to isolationism to communism to feudalism through the perspectives of his marquee Culture citizens and an assortment of characters living on the fringes of the meta-civilization. He was born in Fife, Scotland in 1954. His mother was an ice skater and his father worked in the Navy. Early…