Iain Banks diagnosed with inoperable cancer

[Dunedin]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/apr/03/iain-banks-gall-bladder-cancer

Horrible news about my favourite Sci-fi author, also one of the best contemporary fiction writers around.

[alfie]

Sad news indeed. Consider Phlebas opened my eyes to the genre, Wasp Factory (without the I) I read around the same time, for a while, whilst I was generally too wasted to read much he was about the only author I followed for a long period. Poor bugger, big part of my life.

[Dunedin]

Feersum Endjin was my first Iain M Banks novel. My mind was suitably blown. I'm a huge fan of his "mainstream" (if you can call it that) fiction as well, with The Crow Road, Wasp Factory and The Bridge amongst my favourites.

[alfie]

When I said without the I I of course meant M! Complicity is great, The Stone Road very Doom, Dead Air very readable. The Culture novels I struggle to remember by name for some reason. Wossname to Windward was good, pretty sure I've read most but still some to catch up on. Matter I can see on a shelf before me.

[alfie]

Poor bugger's gone and passed away already. RIP IMB, have picked up The Algebrist recently, so will read both that and matter soon.
Looks like his last book "Quarry" is about cancer, the fucker that it is.

[Dunedin]

Poor bugger's gone and passed away already. RIP IMB, have picked up The Algebrist recently, so will read both that and matter soon.
Looks like his last book "Quarry" is about cancer, the fucker that it is.

Yeah, sad news. Heard it on the radio this afternoon.