h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Iain M. Banks - A127540
Author: Grey Area - U45222

Iain Banks / Ian Banks is a very talented writer, but I can not help thinking that Fersum Engine was weak, almost as weak as Canal Dreams. Yes it had some very far out concepts, but the ending was the biggest let down I have experienced with Banks.

How ever the Culture just gets better and better. For non science fiction Complicity is the bees knees. You never can tell what darkness lurks, "still waters run deep".

The Wasp factory still holds the prize for Gothic Horror, stomach inverting.

But as Dizet Sma (Culture special circumstances) says (I think it was her), the ways to a mans heart is through his rib cage.

Read and enjoy, I just hope that Iain can get to writting fiction or Science fiction again, rather than whiskey guides, which are useful but not as much fun as a Gangster class space ship killing off an opponent through telepathy....

Hello there, and welcome to Peer Review. You're clearly very interested in Iain M. Bank's books, but I've got a bit of bad news for you. Peer Reivew is for factual, non-opinion based entries about subjects.

If you want to write about Banks' books and get your entry into the edited guide, then can I suggest you expand this entry, list his books, the difference between 'Culture' novels and his other books, and possibly touch upon his non-SF books, the ones he writes as 'Iain Banks'.

Please don't be put off PR though, as it can be a fun place! Why not look in the 'Science Fiction' section of the guide, to get an impression of the style we're looking for? You can find that by going to the front page, then following the link through to the Sci-Fi section.

I'm back again

If you click on the A numbers below (they work as normal links) you'll see some examples of the ways that other Researchers have looked at similar subjects

A543034

A455898

A590771

A672022

This hasn't been submitted to PR by the author of the entry.

And the author hasn't been around in 5 years, so it seems unlikely that he'll be back here to edit this entry.

Burningchrome, if you'd like to see an entry on Iain Banks in the Edited Guide here, you're welcome to write one yourself -- if you're interested in doing that, a good look at the Writing-Guidelines will help you along. But I'm afraid we can't do much with this one you've submitted, because it would need quite a bit of work before it would be ready for hte Edited Guide, and the author isn't here to do that.

If, on the other hand, you were just looking to reply to what that author had said in his entry, the way to do that would be to click on the 'start a new conversation' at the bottom of that page -- or, alternatively, respond to one of the conversations already started.

. My bad, it was late, I didn't notice.

I was planning to write an entry on Iain M. Banks' 'Culture' novels in the near future. This obviously doesn't prevent anyone else from trying in the time that it will take me to get all the books back, read through them again and actually write what will be a very long piece, and I'm not trying to stop them, but I thought it worth mentioning.

I agree with you about the Culture novels - they're the best things that Banks has done in either sci-fi or normal fiction, although 'The Algebraist', 'The Crow Road' and 'Espedaire Street' come close in places. I rather liked 'Feersum Enjinn', although I can see how Baskule's phonetic speech might annoy people. 'Inversions' was the one that disappointed me. I thought that was bobbins. No decent characters (apart from Perrund, maybe) and not much of a plot.

Does this want moving back to entry then?

I'd say yes, but I don't actually know what that means.

It just means it comes out of PR, rather than being picked or moved into the Flea Market.

Yeah, back to entry with it.

It will make way for Yalson's entry. From which I expect great things, y'hear?


Geggs