Few of us have been exposed to a talent so manifest and of such extraordinary breadth—THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION
Poetic, humorous, baffling, terrifying, sexy - the books of Iain M. Banks are all these things and more—NME
Banks is an incredibly talented writer. All his books are lively and entertaining. They are laced with a wry humour, fascinating characters and inspired plots. THE PLAYER OF GAMES, I am pleased to say is no exception... Go on, treat yourself, you won't be disappointed.—STARBURST
In The Player of Games, Iain M. Banks presents a distant future that could almost be called the end of history. Humanity has filled the galaxy, and thanks to ultra-high technology everyone has everything they want, no one gets sick, and no one dies. It's—Brooks Peck, AMAZON.CO.UK
It’s a wonderful time to be a science fiction fan. The television adaptation of James S.A. Corey’s Expanse space opera series is poised to drag SyFy back from the brink. Ann Leckie’s excellent Ancillary Justice has been optioned, as has basically everything with John Scalzi’s name on the cover, from Lock In, to Redshirts , to The Ghost Brigades. But there’s one series […]
To say that existence itself is reminiscent of a game is almost a cliché; games turn up in our everyday lives in vocabulary, theory, and metaphor. Competition, after all, is what drives everything—competition for resources, for food, for success. In the modern age, our games are (relatively) sedate and calm, with the worst consequences usually hurt […]
I’m not a sports guy. Sorry, 90 percent of everyone, I have no idea what you’re talking about on Facebook. Baseball, football, hockey—I recognize that these things exist and that others enjoy them, but they are not for me. If, however, someone wanted to televise Quidditch… Whether you like sports that actually exist or not, […]
My week started off on a sour note with the news that novelist Iain M. Banks had passed away after a brief battle with cancer. That I knew it was coming did little to soften the blow: the prolific Scotsman, who published over 30 books, announced his diagnosis in April and, in a heartfelt letter, […]
It’s Olympic season, that bi-annual celebration of worldwide fellowship as displayed via feats of strength, athletic prowess, and splashy, expensive opening ceremonies. As impressive as Figure skating, luge, cross-country skiing, and even curling are, we can’t help but wonder what the sci-fi and fantasy version of the Olympics might be like. The ratings would be […]