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Iain Banks Dies of Cancer At 59

Posted by samzenpus on from the rest-in-peace dept.

An anonymous reader writes "BBC News is reporting that Iain Banks, best known for his Culture series novels and The Wasp Factory, has died of cancer aged 59. It had been announced several months ago that he was suffering from bladder cancer, and he had stated his intentions to spend his remaining time visiting places which meant a lot to him after marrying his partner."

46 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. First post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Cancer sucks...

    1. Re:First post by JustOK · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Life sucks, but death doesn't put out at all...." -- Thomas J. Kopp

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
    2. Re:First post by chipschap · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you ever had cancer yourself you would not make unfunny, insensitive comments. A real loss --- Iain Banks was a terrific writer with a lot to say to us.

    3. Re:First post by Rinikusu · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, yes I would.

      --
      If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
    4. Re:First post by durrr · · Score: 5, Informative

      Gall bladder cancer, not urinary bladder.

      A sad form of cancer as it's almost never detected in time(due to no symptoms and few tests that finds it by incident), find it early, and it have a excellent prognosis, find it late, and it's game over.
      Colorectal cancer is somewhat similar in that it grows slowly for a long time before turning lethal, but colonoscopies are much more frequently performed, and symptoms can show earlier.

    5. Re:First post by isorox · · Score: 3, Funny

      If you ever had cancer yourself you would not make unfunny, insensitive comments.

      True, he'd say something like

      Yeah! And bladder cancer no less. If I had it, it'd really piss me off! Although, I understand it's not as much of a pain in the ass as rectal cancer.

      Some people find joking helps them feel better about bad things.

    6. Re:First post by chipschap · · Score: 2

      Joking about your own cancer may be stress relief ... joking about someone else's is insensitive at the least.

    7. Re:First post by andrewa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I've had cancer twice now, and the only way I could deal with it was through humour. Lighten up.

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
  2. Oh by spongman · · Score: 2

    Oh bugger.

    1. Re:Oh by bungo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They were my thoughts exactly.

      I only discovered him about 5 years ago, and I was looking forward for many more years of Culture novels. I thought there was a lot more he could still explore in that universe.

      One thing I would have like to have seen is something that was more focused on things happening inside the Culture and their society. Most of the times he spends some setup time in the Culture, then whips off to the edge of their space to deal with some other civilization. I wanted to learn more about the workings of the Culture.

      I guess now I'll never know....

      --
      "The best part? I became an ordained minister while not wearing pants." -- CleverNickName
    2. Re:Oh by newcastlejon · · Score: 2, Informative

      I wanted to learn more about the workings of the Culture.

      A world where everyone has everything they could ever want doesn't make for very interesting reading. You can't really have drama without conflict, which I suppose would make Turn to Windward the best choice if you want a book set mainly within the Culture.

      --
      If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
    3. Re:Oh by Dupple · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Just what I thought.

      I was lucky enough to meet him a couple of times at readings in the UK. I still think Walking on Glass is my fave.

      Take it easy wherever you are

      --
      Watch those corners
    4. Re:Oh by newcastlejon · · Score: 3, Interesting

      No large inter-group disagreement is possible?

      Yes, this was touched upon in the book I named earlier, specifically the groups that were for and against the pylons with the suspended boat-things.

      Maybe some significant section want to break away.....

      Happened with the Elench and others.

      The point I was trying to make is that the sort of problems a person might face in a post-scarcity society are somewhat less interesting than so-called "First World problems"*; Banks would usually use the Culture to provide some contrast with another, less advanced society.

      *For example, if we hadn't already had a peek into the reasons behind Quilan's visit then the composer's struggle to avoid meeting him might have been interminably dull.

      --
      If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
  3. Immortal now. by Spottywot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Thank you for giving me a universe that will live in my mind long after your death. You have uploaded your mindstate to me and many others.

    --
    In a cybernetic fit of rage she pissed off to another age...
    1. Re:Immortal now. by Athanasius · · Score: 3, Informative

      Apparently supportive comments, such as this one, on the blog someone set up for him, http://friends.banksophilia.com/28-2/ (already 'slashdotted' even before this post came up on my RSS feed, so check google cache... but when I did it didn't have the latest post), were a great source of joy for him in his final months.

      RIP indeed, it's times like this one might wish there was an afterlife. As it is right now my thoughts are mostly for his family and close friends.

    2. Re:Immortal now. by Blue+Stone · · Score: 4, Interesting

      A great article where Iain talks about his thinking behind the Culture - A Few Notes on the Culture

      FIRSTLY, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: THE CULTURE DOESN'T REALLY EXIST. IT ONLY EXISTS IN MY MIND AND THE MINDS OF THE PEOPLE WHO'VE READ ABOUT IT.

      That having been made clear:

      The Culture is a group-civilisation formed from seven or eight humanoid species, space-living elements of which established a loose federation approximately nine thousand years ago. The ships and habitats which formed the original alliance required each others' support to pursue and maintain their independence from the political power structures - principally those of mature nation-states and autonomous commercial concerns - they had evolved from.

      The galaxy (our galaxy) in the Culture stories is a place long lived-in, and scattered with a variety of life-forms. In its vast and complicated history it has seen waves of empires, federations, colonisations, die-backs, wars, species-specific dark ages, renaissances, periods of mega-structure building and destruction, and whole ages of benign indifference and malign neglect. At the time of the Culture stories, there are perhaps a few dozen major space-faring civilisations, hundreds of minor ones, tens of thousands of species who might develop space-travel, and an uncountable number who have been there, done that, and have either gone into locatable but insular retreats to contemplate who-knows-what, or disappeared from the normal universe altogether to cultivate lives even less comprehensible.

      In this era, the Culture is one of the more energetic civilisations, and initially - after its formation, which was not without vicissitudes - by a chance of timing found a relatively quiet galaxy around it, in which there were various other fairly mature civilisations going about their business, traces and relics of the elder cultures scattered about the place, and - due to the fact nobody else had bothered to go wandering on a grand scale for a comparatively long time - lots of interesting 'undiscovered' star systems to explore...

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
  4. Farewell, good sir. by Amnenth · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I just bought a couple of his books last week, knowing he wouldn't be around much longer. I haven't had time to fully read them yet (I'm maybe a hundred and fifty pages into Consider Phlebas) but from what I've read so far, the world is now a poorer place for having lost Mr. Banks.

    1. Re:Farewell, good sir. by Charliemopps · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Consider Phlebas is a great book, but difficult to start the series on even if it was the first. Many of the culture series are down right depressing, but worth reading anyway. Excession is probably my favorite, followed by player of games. You do not have to read them in any particular order.

    2. Re:Farewell, good sir. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      While not having read the entire series yet, I generally read as you do. These books could be self-contained for all intents. There are no real plot carry overs, or over arcing characters that I can tell so far. The most pervasive reference seems to be the Idrian Culture war that is taking place during the first one, and that only extends to 'thems was the dark times"

    3. Re:Farewell, good sir. by joh · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You can basically start with whatever book you want, especially since Banks didn't write them in the order they were published anyway.

      I would recommend either "Player of Games" or "Surface Detail". The first takes a while before it really takes off but gives you a good grounding into the Culture and has a pretty much single-track and fascinating plot. The latter is more complicated but is full of good stuff (like a murdered and revived slave girl on a revenge mission and some whistle-blower aliens exploring the AI after-live hells of their species).

      But frankly, all are read-worthy. You won't stop before you have read them all anyway. His non-SF books are good too, especially since some of them veer quite a bit into the fantastic. "Transition" isn't actually SF, but anything involving things like travelling between parallel worlds is close enough for me...

    4. Re:Farewell, good sir. by oldlurker · · Score: 2

      I started with Excession some years ago, and have been working my way through the others. They've all been well worth reading. Mr. Banks death is true loss.

      Excession is still my favourite. Gulp indeed.

    5. Re:Farewell, good sir. by Charliemopps · · Score: 2

      I agree that "Player of Games" is great. It'd be a good starting book to. The primary character is at somewhat political odds with the culture... think of him as an old school conservative in the midst of a bunch of hippies. So he routinely argues with different characters about the culture which gives you a really good idea of how their political system works.

      Surface Detail is good to, but I rarely recommend that as a first book because... well... it's really depressing. "Use of Weapons" is the same way... great book but tragic.

  5. RIP Iain by Coisiche · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Farewell Sun-Earther Iain El-Bonko Banks of North Queensferry; that's the Culture style name he gave himself once. I don't think there will ever be a fictional place that I wanted to live in as much as your Culture.
    I encountered him a few times at Edinburgh Book Festival events and other signings. It was handy being able to say "Make it to Iain, spelled the same way".

  6. Inventor of the Lazy Gun by Dr.+Tom · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When the Lazy Gun is fired at humans, many different things may occur. An anchor may appear above the person, giant electrodes may appear on either side of the target and electrocute them, or an animal may tear their throat out. Larger targets such as tanks or ships may suffer tidal waves, implosion, explosion, sudden lava flows or just disappear. When fired at cities and other such targets, thermonuclear explosions are the norm, although in one instance a comet crashed into the city.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_a_Dark_Background

    Another interesting fact about a Lazy Gun is that it weighs three times as much when turned upside down.

    1. Re:Inventor of the Lazy Gun by Charliemopps · · Score: 2

      And that weapon isn't even the most interesting part of that book. In fact, the entire story has nothing to do with the culture. It's in a solar system that's outside the galaxy. They're just adrift, no stars... hence the name.

    2. Re:Inventor of the Lazy Gun by dkf · · Score: 2

      When the Lazy Gun is fired at humans, many different things may occur. An anchor may appear above the person, giant electrodes may appear on either side of the target and electrocute them, or an animal may tear their throat out.

      What about when it is fired by a roadrunner at a pursuing coyote?

      --
      "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
    3. Re:Inventor of the Lazy Gun by nusuth · · Score: 2

      I strongly disagree. The real SF element in the book is what if we will not have access to stars? What if we improve our technology to magic like levels but fail to find new frontiers? It is probably the most insightful and most relevant SF book he has ever written. Banks puts the planetary system in isolation but having stars just 4 light years away is no guarantee that we will ever reach them. The premise is species-survival level important.

      As for "magical" items, like lazy gun, they serve their purpose best when there are no plausible explanations to their inner workings. They illustrate the point of being made by much advanced technological level characters' better if they make less sense. His choice of extreme cartoonishness, rather than SF classic technobabble is a brilliant invention.

      The adventure is great too. A real page turner, if you don't stop to think about implications.

      --

      Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the War Room!

  7. This kind of thing is why I went back to school by Ambassador+Kosh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have been a programmer for about 10 years but I got tired of not really making any kind of a difference with programming. I decided to go back to school to do chemical and biological engineering so I could work on turning new nanotech/biotech treatments for various diseases like cancer into actual shipping products. There are been some lab bench cancer treatments that show 99%+ eradication of cancer within a few days of treatment but apparently it takes several people a year to make one dose. It is just not industrial scale stuff yet.

    About a month after I decided to go back to school I found out that my business partner had pancreatic cancer and he died not too long after I started classes. I now have one year left and when I graduate I will hopefully get a job working on turning these cures into real shipping products. I know I may need to move to places like Canada or a western European country to work on real cures since the current profit motive in the USA does not really favor cures.

    I just find it sad that this kind of thing continues to happen. We spend so much money and effort on killing people but if we spent even 5% of what we spent on the military we could cure a heck of a lot of these problems.

    It is very sad that he died but it does provide yet another piece of incentive for what I will be doing next and I hope it will encourage other people to do the same.

    --
    Computer modeling for biotech drug manufacturing is HARD! :)
    1. Re:This kind of thing is why I went back to school by joh · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, when I first read about his diagnosis and prognosis I thought "We're at that really awkward point in which we can find out what someone is suffering from and that and when he will die of it but still can't do anything about it". This is incredibly sad.

    2. Re:This kind of thing is why I went back to school by Ambassador+Kosh · · Score: 4, Informative

      http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/14434/20130328/cancer-treatment-cd47-miracle-bullet-breast-colon-bladder-antibody-eat-macrophage-immune.htm

      That is one of the examples at least. Last I read it was very hard to make but is showing amazing results. I have not found out yet if the phase 1 trials happened and how they have gone.

      Productions problems seem to be a fairly common things for nanomedicines right now.

      --
      Computer modeling for biotech drug manufacturing is HARD! :)
  8. Nonsense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you ever had cancer yourself you would not make unfunny, insensitive comments..

    Why is it insensitive? Because it makes YOU uncomfortable or because you think that's what you're supposed to say? Get a grip. EVERYONE gets sick and dies so grow up and accept it.

    And that is one of the WORST attitude to have around folks who are terminal.

    Here's a complaint I hear all too often from the folks who are actually suffering from cancer: when someone is dieing, folks are solemn, sad, and afraid to "offend" - which brings down the mood of the cancer sufferer. Regardless if there's any truth to having a "positive" attitude helping one's recovery, joking about it DOES at least make life a little more bearable for the cancer patient.

    I have a father striken and he needs a laugh every Goddamn time he can get it! And when folks are so serious around him; it makes HIM feel bad - the LAST thing he needs.

    There are of course limts and depends on the person - obviously. I have also been around folks who joked about their prosthetic and sometimes had fun freaking kids out.

    Cancer makes people very depressed. Actually the thought of dieing makes most people on our culture depressed and uneasy. We are a death phobic society and it's actually irrational. We WILL die - all of us.

    tl;dr - Laughing at Death is the best revenge.

    1. Re:Nonsense by newcastlejon · · Score: 2

      tl;dr - Laughing at Death is the best revenge.

      I don't know about you, but I was planning on asking if He fancied a curry before sending me on my way.

      --
      If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
    2. Re:Nonsense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      SOUNDS GOOD TO ME

    3. Re:Nonsense by arth1 · · Score: 2

      There's nothing irrational about being scared of something that is in fact bad and dangerous.

      Death is dangerous, certainly. Even fatal in most cases.
      But why bad? That seems like a subjective and biased opinion, not "fact" as you claim. Certainly, many who choose to terminate their own life have a different opinion.

      Also, those who willfully engage in high risk endeavors because they want to go out with a bang, not a whimper.

      Or those of us who just don't see death as bad, because we know we won't be around to experience it.
      As a good atheist, let me quote 1 Corinthians 15:55:
      O death, where is thy sting?

  9. You will be missed by nicomede · · Score: 2

    I wish you were fully backed up. I hope you Sublimed somehow.
    I really like his novels, I see him in the lienage of Clarke and Herbert in his own Galaxy.

  10. At least he did it by joh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Iain M. Banks not only managed to revive SF to a point of being relevant once again (to me at least), he also managed to make up a future and a culture that was worth it. He may be dead now but he left something really precious: A possible world that is both interesting and (mostly) peaceful and fun.

    I'm really thankful for that.

  11. Thank you Iain, you gave us hope by Morgaine · · Score: 4, Insightful

    On our primitive planet with its petty preoccupations over power and money, you showed us a vision of the future in which Mankind has managed to transcend the narrow blinkers of its youth, and reaches out to the stars without material greed nor lust for power.

    The Culture gave millions of us hope for the future, at a time when government, business and fanaticism seem intent on moving us back towards the barbarism of earlier ages. Your vision will live on in our hearts, come what may.

    Thank you.

    --
    "The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
    1. Re:Thank you Iain, you gave us hope by joh · · Score: 2

      "Money is a sign of poverty" as the Culture says (it has no money). But it did transcend the lust for power in the most straight way: By being almost limitlessly powerful, to make that clear. The technology of the Culture is very much god-like.

  12. Fuck by mvar · · Score: 2

    Very, very sad news, he was probably my favorite scifi author..I hoped he'd manage to see his latest book The Quarry get released before he died, he even worked with his publisher to hasten the release for this summer and now this...fuck

  13. Re:another one bites the dust hey hey by rich3rd · · Score: 2

    that's one less faggot in the world. i hope his partner is denied any and all death benefits. bladder cancer my ass. he died from sucking one too many cocks.

    Funny how you start your homophobic rant by quoting a rock song written and sung by a queer, then you assume that someone referring to Mr. Banks' spouse as his "partner" implies a same-sex relationship. In fact, his partner is a woman, you ignorant piece of maggot slime. Fuck you, hater. I know, I know... YHBT YHL etc.

  14. Re:Any news on his last book? by safetyinnumbers · · Score: 2

    Just to avoid confusion as this was a reply to a question about Culture books, 'The Quarry' is not a Culture book.

  15. Re:Partner? by Tapewolf · · Score: 2

    You're obviously hopelessly USian. In most of the English-speaking world, "partner" in this context does not mean "homosexual partner" although it can. It just means that the two people are a couple but are not married. To my knowledge, Iain Banks partner was, in fact, a woman.

    "Shortly after the announcement, Banks married his partner, Adele Hartley, and she survives him." (source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/09/iain-banks-dies-59-cancer )

    (And yes - those sort of comments reminded me of the folks who sprayed the word "paedo" on a house belonging to a paediatrician.)

  16. crow road by TitusGroan8856 · · Score: 2

    he's away the crow road. I once had the pleasure of meeting Iain and talking with him for a while, although I didn't realise at the time it was Iain Banks I was talking to. He was a lovely man who had his head screwed on well. He'll be missed.

  17. Some cancer prevetion & treatment options by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 2

    Too late for Iain though, sadly (vitamin d, iodine, phytonutrients, etc.): http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3610805&cid=43349347

    Also google on cancer and a ketogenic diet (starves cancer cells of the sugar they need).

    The sad thing is we could have a post-scarcity society right now, but our ideology gets in the way. Maybe it would not be "The Culture" level, but it would still be pretty neat. But we have not done that, and so many areas of our society, including medicine. remain backward for lack of appropriate investment.

    Good luck on your career. Maybe there will be some magic bullets out there to fight cancer someday, maybe you will invent them, but until then, there is still a lot a person can do to prevent and in some cases reverse cancer, even if nothing is 100% guaranteed.

    Sadly, we also lost another post-scarcity sci-fi writer, James P. Hogan, a couple years ago to heart disease (a disease generally reversible with excellent nutrition).
    http://www.jamesphogan.com/books/info.php?titleID=29&cmd=summary

    A book James P. Hogan told me about:
    http://disciplinedminds.tripod.com/
    "Who are you going to be? That is the question.
          In this riveting book about the world of professional work, Jeff Schmidt demonstrates that the workplace is a battleground for the very identity of the individual, as is graduate school, where professionals are trained. He shows that professional work is inherently political, and that professionals are hired to subordinate their own vision and maintain strict "ideological discipline."
      The hidden root of much career dissatisfaction, argues Schmidt, is the professional's lack of control over the political component of his or her creative work. Many professionals set out to make a contribution to society and add meaning to their lives. Yet our system of professional education and employment abusively inculcates an acceptance of politically subordinate roles in which professionals typically do not make a significant difference, undermining the creative potential of individuals, organizations and even democracy.
          Schmidt details the battle one must fight to be an independent thinker and to pursue one's own social vision in today's corporate society. He shows how an honest reassessment of what it really means to be a professional employee can be remarkably liberating. After reading this brutally frank book, no one who works for a living will ever think the same way about his or her job."

    --
    A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
  18. What's the harm? by denzacar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They either appreciate the joking and it may actually help, unlike being glum about them which will MOST CERTAINLY cause them harm.
    Same goes with pissing them off.

    OR... They are so far gone psychologically that it doesn't matter if you are joking or crying while sitting on top of their head.
    So, where's the harm? You either can't make things worse, or there's a chance or making things better.

    Oh, right! Now I remember!
    It's NOT about the person with cancer - it's about US being seen as someone who "grieves with them in this final moment" and not as an "insensitive jerk making fun of the poor, poor walking dead man".

    Pretenses! Right! I keep forgetting that. Silly me.
    What can I say... It must be cause it feels kinda selfish and hypocritical to impose the idea on someone that they are already dead, while they are still very much alive - just so I could fit in better with what I think society expects of me, and thus feel good about myself.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  19. Ignorant Tagging by GrahamCox · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Whoever added the tag "neverheardofhim", shame on you. Do you always parade your ignorance in public? It's not a virtue you know! Either look him up and educate yourself or just ignore the story if you're determined to be a prat.