The Wasp Factory (1984) put Iain Banks on the literary map as a sophisticated stylist with an exquisite instinct for the twisted and strange. The Orwellian resonance of its year of publication is perhaps appropriate, given Iain Banks's own exploration of the manipulation of power, both personal and political. Consider Phlebas (1987) was the first of his science fiction books, published under the name Iain M. Banks. Full of imaginative verve, witty and at times terrifying, the series is set in 'The Culture', which spans the entire galaxy. His science fiction books include The Player of Games (1988), Excession (1996) and Look To Windward (2000). Writing as plain Iain Banks, his restless, nomadic imagination has produced a variety of novels. In The Bridge (1986), a powerful allegorical fantasy, the Forth Road Bridge, which would have been a dominating landmark from his boyhood in North Queensferry, is transmuted into a living presence devoid of the reassuring quality of its picture-postcard image. Chilling, funny, violent, cheeky, sinister - Iain Banks is able to finesse mood and effect with charismatic fluency.

NLS Acc.11988