http://home.freeuk.net/m.stanfield/culture/culturefaq.txt culturefaq.txt written by Matthew Stanfield. Last updated: 13-08-2000 This FAQ concerns The Culture novels by the Scottish author Iain M Banks. My apologies for not supplying this in HTML format, I will do so at some stage (don't hold your breath). ..matthew What are The Culture novels? Iain M Banks has created a highly advanced space faring society called The Culture. In it phenomenally intelligent machines called 'Minds' run a civilization that many would consider as utopia or as close as you can get to it. Banks realized that a science fiction book set in utopia would be very dull and so he created 'Contact' the branch of The Culture that handles the dealing with, and meeting of, other civilizations. The plots of his Culture books all revolve around Contact and its espionage division called 'Special Circumstances'. In published order The Culture novels are: Consider Phlebas (1987) The Player of Games (1988) Use of Weapons (1990) Excession (1996) Inversions (1998) (Not a 'full' Culture novel, see below.) Look To Windward (2000) I heard that _Inversions_ is actually a Culture novel, is it? This description of _Inversions_ is deliberately vague so as not to be a spoiler for the book. _Inversions_ is partly a Culture novel. It does contain references that people who have read The Culture novels will recognize. So _Inversions_ is set in The Culture galaxy. But it is not a 'full' Culture novel. You have to read it to understand this properly. What is The Culture? The Culture is a kind of anarchist utopia (for the most part). It's inhabitants are a mixture of mostly humanoid species and intelligent machines. These machines fall into several categories: Minds are very intelligent and are generally found in the Culture's ships - in fact it could be said they 'are' the ships. Sometimes in the case of a huge ship, say, a General Systems Vehicle (which may have a population measured in the billions) there may be more than one Mind, typically three. Hub's are a special kind of Mind but one that is located on one of the Culture's non-ship habitats (more on this later) and performs a similar role. Finally Drones, these come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and have varying levels of intelligence typically one and a half times that of the intelligence of a typical Culture humanoid. There is no hierarchy as such in the Culture's society every individual is equal (machine or organic). The Culture is post-scarcity due to sophisticated technology. That is to say because the Culture can manipulate things at an atomic level (maybe below even that) anything can be produced with ease so anybody can have anything they want. Money, therefore, has no place in the Culture (in fact the Culture considers money to be a sign of poverty). The Culture has no laws, anybody can do pretty much what they want to do. It would be very hard for a member of the Culture to kill someone else (it would be considered very strange to even want to) but if you did do this you would be slap-droned, which is having a drone follow you around forever, making sure you didn't do it again. Worse though would be the social reaction; no one would want to talk to you. Organic life forms in the Culture have been genetically modified (geno-fixed) with all kinds of things. You can initiate a sex change by thinking about it. Drug glands in your brain allow all kinds of mood enhancements like; improving speed of thought, relief of tiredness, inebriation among many others. You don't get sick and a typical life span would be several centuries. Inhabitants of the Culture live in/on a variety of habitats. A few live on planets but there are only a few hundred inhabited planets in the Culture. The Culture's 'cities' are its GSV's, most have hundreds of millions of residents or even billions. Rocks consist of a converted asteroid and, like planets, living on one is unusual rather than the norm. The other forms of habitat are all manufactured. The most abundant are Orbitals which are giant rings in orbit around a star. Plates are similarly in orbit but are a pair of huge plates. Rings are an even bigger version of an Orbital, instead of orbiting a star they encircle one. Many members of Contact live on ships called GCU's (General Contact Units) on which they travel to observe, meet or interfere with other civilizations. For further information, assuming you've read the books, read IMB's essay called A Few Brief Notes Of The Culture which is available on-line at the addresses shown later in this FAQ. Why does Banks publish his mainstream fiction under the name Iain Banks and his science fiction under Iain M Banks? Firstly the 'M' stands for Menzies. Banks has said that he regrets adding the 'M' because 'literary types' have suggested that he wishes to make a distinction between his serious side of writing (non-SF) and his 'dumbing down' side of SF. Banks loathes this attitude and the way many in the literary establishment look down on SF as not being serious writing. Banks had been considering writing his SF under a pseudonym but the addition of the 'M' seemed like a good idea instead because his family had complained that it had been left out on _The Wasp Factory_ and because there was a historical precedent with Brian Aldiss who becomes Brian W Aldiss when writing non-SF. Are there any websites dealing with Iain M Banks? http://members.tripod.com/~excession http://come.to/theculture http://come.to/slipstream http://www.phlebas.com http://www.core.no/culture This FAQ can be found at: http://home.freeuk.net/m.stanfield/culture/culturefaq.txt Are there any on-line articles about Iain M Banks, about his work or with lots of Banks web links? http://dmoz.org/Arts/Literature/Genres/Science_Fiction/Authors/B/Banks,_Iain_M./ I'm addicted to the Culture books; where can I get another fix? There is a Culture novella of approximately 120 pages called _The State Of The Art_ published in a book of short stories by the same name. The State Of The Art (1991) IMB has also written an essay called A Few Brief Notes Of The Culture which is available on-line at these addresses: HTML version: http://www.phlebas.com/text/cultnote.html HTML version: http://members.xoom.com/TheCulture/notes.html TEXT version: http://www.phlebas.com/text/culture.txt There are also two short stories: A Gift From The Culture - Published in _The State Of The Art_. Descendant - Published in _The State Of The Art_ and in _Tales From The Forbidden Planet_ (1987). At one time _A Gift From The Culture_ was available on-line. This is no longer the case. NB: At least one edition of _The State Of The Art_ contains only that novella and not the short stories as well. Is IMB going to write another Culture novel and if so when? UPDATE: IMB's new Culture novel _Look To Windward_ will be published in August 2000. 'Look to windward' is the phrase in TS Elliot's The Wasteland that precedes 'Consider Phlebas'. IMB writes one book a year at the moment and, for about the last ten years, he has alternated between writing a science fiction novel and a non-SF novel. His latest novel, _The Business_, was published in August 1999; it is non-SF. His next SF novel is due in the summer of 2000. When asked if this would be a Culture novel IMB said "I'm not sure if that will be another Culture book or not, It probably will be, but if I can think of a really good non-Culture idea I will go with that." Is it necessary to read the Culture novels in order? In short - no. In long - not really. Much discussion in the alt.books.iain-banks newsgroup on this subject has thrown up the following (somewhat conflicting) advise. a) Yes, read them in order. b) No, it doesn't matter what order. c) No, but start with either _The Player Of Games_ or _Use Of Weapons_. d) i. No, read them in any order but don't start with _Excession_. d) ii. I started with _Excession_ and loved it. e) I suggest you read _Consider Phlebas_ and _The Player of Games_ at the same time! ;-) (Suggested by Loznic.) It is not really a big deal especially when you consider that none of the characters in any of the Culture novels appear in more than one book (with a small exception concerning Diziet Sma who is in a novel and in one of the short stories). It is also fair to say that you won't spoil any aspect of any of the books by reading another first. What's the deal with _Use Of Weapons_, I heard this was Bank's first Culture book? IMB wrote an extremely long book, about 250,000 words (a typical novel is between 60,000 and 85,000 words) called _Use Of Weapons_ before any of his books were published. Having been published as both an SF and mainstream fiction author he re-wrote _Use Of Weapons_ after encouragement from his friend and fellow SF author Ken MacLeod. The book was cut down to a sensible length and the dual running time line was introduced at Ken's suggestion. What are the science fiction novels that are not Culture novels? Against a Dark Background (1993) Feersum Endjinn (1994) Inversions (1998) (A 'sort-of' Culture novel.) Which is the best Culture novel? This is -obviously- totally subjective. But the general consensus in the alt.books.iain-banks newsgroup is that either _Use Of Weapons_ or _The Player Of Games_ is the best Culture novel. What is the deal with all The Culture Ship names? The Culture is largely 'run' by its Minds and most of these are themselves 'ships' - space faring vehicles of many different types (see the next question for a list of Culture ship types and the one after that for ship names). Typically Culture ships will choose clever, interesting or witty names for themselves such as; the 'Ultimate Ship The Second' and the 'Unfortunate Conflict Of Evidence'. What are the different ship types? GCU General Contact Unit (Mentioned class: Delinquent). GSV General System Vehicle. LSV Limited System Vehicle. MSV Medium Systems Vehicle (Desert Class: Original GSV concept, now reclassified MSV). GOU General Offensive Unit. LOU Limited Offensive Unit (Mentioned class: Hooligan) ROU Rapid Offensive Unit (Mentioned classes: Abominator, Torturer, Gangster, Inquisitor, Killer, Psychopath, Thug, Scree (LCU) demilitarized Rapid Offensive Unit and renamed "very fast picket" in _The Player Of Games_). All of these Culture ships are sentient by virtue of having a Mind. Some GSV's have three Minds. Is there a definitive list of The Culture Ship names? Yes at: http://www.phlebas.com/text/ships.html Is there anywhere I can see Culture based artwork? A large collection of excellent 3D rendered scenes, inspired by the Culture books, and designed by Chris Lynas can be found @ Excession. Excession: http://members.tripod.com/excession/ Where did the title of _Consider Phlebas_ come from? It's from a poem called The Wasteland by T S Eliot. This is the relevent extract: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 4 - Death by Water Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead, Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell And the profit and loss. A current under sea Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell He passed the stages of his age and youth Entering whirpool. Gentile or Jew O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The whole poem can be found on-line at: http://www.it.cc.mn.us/literature/elliot.htm Is an Orbital the same as one of Larry Niven's Ringworlds? Here's what Banks writes on the subject in _A Few Brief Notes Of The Culture_: "Perhaps the easiest way to envisage an Orbital is to compare it to the idea that inspired it (this sounds better than saying; Here's where I stole it from). If you know what a Ringworld is - invented by Larry Niven; a segment of a Dyson Sphere - then just discard the shadow-squares, shrink the whole thing till it's about three million kilometres across, and place in orbit around a suitable star, tilted just off the ecliptic; spin it to produce one gravity and that gives you an automatic 24-hour day-night cycle (roughly; the Culture's day is actually a bit longer). An elliptical orbit provides seasons." What recommendations for SF books does Bank's have? OR: I heard that Bank's gave Arena magazine a list of his Top Ten SF books. What are they? Here is Bank's Top Ten SF books that he specified in an interview in Arena magazine. 1. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlen 2. Tiger! Tiger! - Alfred Bester 3. Hyperion - Dan Simmons 4. Fire Upon The Deep - Vernor Vinge 5. Neuromancer - William Gibson 6. The Dispossessed - Ursula K Le Guin 7. The Muller-Fokker Efect - John Sladek 8. The Pastel City - M John Harrison 9. Stand on Zanzibar - John Brummer 10. Babel-17 - Samuel R Delany ---------------------------------------------------------- ANY QUESTIONS AFTER THIS POINT CONTAIN POTENTIAL SPOILERS. ---------------------------------------------------------- Can you explain the Prologue/Epilogue in _Use Of Weapons_? SPOILER WARNING: The Prologue/Epilogue is generally considered to be the most 'recent events' in _Use Of Weapons_. That is to say they take place after Zakalwe's secret has been discovered by Sma and 'The Drone'. Opinions differ as to whether Zakalwe is still working for Special Circumstances at this stage or whether he has gone freelance again. There don't seem to be any clues one way or the other. Can you explain the timeline in _Use Of Weapons_? MAJOR SPOILER WARNING: Use Of Weapons Timeline: Childhood; lives with aristocratic family during troubled times; eventually grows up and starts a revolution (stopped by the real Cheradenine); kills Darkense in gruesome manner and then escapes homeworld on STL cryoship while disguised as Cheradenine. Another world/another war - left for dead on ice flows; rescued by Diziet and offered chance of working for SC presumably because of the politics he'd been espousing. Wanders GSV, meets Chori; learns about what's expected of him. Another world/first job for the Culture; escorts The Chosen One to the Perfumed Palace, tries consciousness expanding drug as payment from his tribe. Initial Voerenhutz job - sets up Beychae as El Presidente of system. Takes some time off; tries to become a poet; fails miserably. Another mission (gone wrong?); left for dead in caldera; escapes by dragging his body around a rock to form a local rescue symbol. 'Heretic' war; takes cross-eyed woman captive after ambush; wins war again but demoted and discharged for apparently being too successful... Lives with Shias Engin, the poet, again miserably fails to lead La Dolce Vita'. His disintegration begins... Beheaded on Fohls (and if that wasn't traumatic enough he also loses that piece of Darkense); has new body grown; learns of Chori's death. Skaffen sends him a hat. [:] <- Drone Smiley First escape from Culture; lives on beach as hermit - frightens locals. Refuses to break out of the Winter palace siege contrary to what SC wants (Mythoclast culture?). Goes away for second time; destroys knife missile to escape Culture control; nearly wrecks a planet with his brand of social tinkering; found and brought back by Diziet. Main storyline of UoW; returns to Voerenhutz; saves Beychae; betrayed by SC on Balzeit; shaves bonce, gets badly hurt, refuses medical help. Returns to homeworld; has aneurism during Livueta's revelation; saved by Skaffen. Sma recruits a new operative from Balzeit. Zakalwe is freelancing (or maybe working for SC, it is unclear) on some forgotten planet nuking the locals (prologue and epilogue of UoW). --Thanks to snark^ for creating this timeline. -- What books by Iain Banks have been published? The Wasp Factory (1984 NON-SF) Walking on Glass (1985 NON-SF) The Bridge (1986 NON-SF) Consider Phlebas (1987 SF CULTURE) Espedair Street (1987 NON-SF) The Player of Games (1988 SF CULTURE) Canal Dreams (1989 NON-SF) Use of Weapons (1990 SF CULTURE) The State Of The Art (1991 SS) The Crow Road (1992 NON-SF) Against a Dark Background (1993 SF) Complicity (1993 NON-SF) Feersum Endjinn (1994 SF) Whit (1995 NON-SF) Excession (1996 SF CULTURE) A Song of Stone (1997 NON-SF) Inversions (1998 SF) The Business (1999 NON-SF) NON-SF -- Not science fiction SF -- Science fiction SF CULTURE -- Science fiction set in The Culture galaxy. SS -- _The State Of The Art_ is a book of short stories that includes NON-SF, SF and a 120 page Culture novella. Did Iain Banks also write these books? Classic Glamour Photography (August 1989) Allanfearn Sewage Farm Archaeological Assessment (July 1993) Both of these books were written by 'an' Iain Banks but not by 'our' Iain Banks. It also seems likely that these books were written by two different Iain Banks's. It is unlikely that someone would specialize in both archaeological sewage farms and classic glamour photography. I am, however, hoping to be proved wrong on this!