Iain M. Banks Libri

Più di due millenni orsono, uno strano oggetto apparve in un remoto angolo dello spazio, nei pressi di un sole morente. Una sfera perfetta, nera, assolutamente inerte, forse proveniente da un'altra dimensione o un altro universo. Poi all'improvviso svanì. E adesso è riapparsa. Silenziosa, immobile, resiste a qualsiasi tentativo di stabilire un contatto e rimane in attesa. Le astronavi della Cultura, una civiltà futura smisurata, invulnerabile, tecnologicamente avanzatissima, non possono fare altrettanto. Il mistero va chiarito e compreso prima che cada in mani assai meno tolleranti e inneschi una crisi politica e militare che può minacciare tutto quello che la Cultura è riuscita a costruire...

Il ponte. Una struttura gigantesca governata da misteriose e invisibili autorità, una babele di lingue indecifrabili, un relitto del passato, un passaggio tra due rive ignote... Sul ponte la gente si divide in settori, si accalca, lavora, cammina, si sposta in bicicletta o in tram, si uccide e si ama... Sul ponte vive anche John Orr, ripescato dalle acque dopo un incidente, senza memoria e assegnato alle cure dell'enigmatico dottor Joyce. Questa è la sua realtà. O forse il suo sogno? La dimensione immateriale di un cervello imprigionato in un corpo ferito da un incidente...

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 a playground society of sports, stellar cruises, parties, and festivals. Jernau Gurgeh, a famed master game player, is looking for something more and finds it when he's invited to a game tournament at a small alien empire. Abruptly Banks veers into different territory. The Empire of Azad is exotic, sensual and vibrant. It has space battle cruisers, a glowing court-- all the stuff of good old science fiction--which appears old-fashioned in contrast to Gurgeh's home. At first it's a relief, but further exploration reveals the empire to be depraved and terrifically unjust. Its defects are gross exaggerations of our own, yet they indict us all the same. Clearly Banks is interested in the idea of a future where everyone can be mature and happy. Yet it's interesting to note that in order to give us this compelling adventure story, he has to return to a more traditional setting. Thoughtful science fiction readers will appreciate the cultural comparisons, and fans of big ideas and action will also be rewarded. -- Brooks Peck

Special Circumstances had always been the Contact section's moral espionage weapon, the very cutting edge of the Culture's interfering diplomatic policy, the élite of the élite in a society which abhorred élitism. The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of SC's foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks or military action.The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him towards his present eminence, but despite all their dealings she did not know him as well as she thought.The drone known as Skaffen-Amtiskaw knew both of these people. It had once saved the woman's life by massacring her attackers in a particularly bloody manner. It believed the man to be a burnt-out case. But not even its machine intelligence could see the horrors in his past.In this brilliant, multilayered book, Iain Banks explores once again the universe of the Culture, which he has previously visited in Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games. Ferociously intelligent, both witty and horrific, Use of Weapons leaves no doubt that Banks is now the outstanding writer of science fiction in Britain.

When sex slave Lededje Y'breq is murdered by a politician on the planet Sichult, the artificial intelligence running one of the Culture's immense starships resurrects her so she can seek revenge. Meanwhile, the Culture is uneasily watching the conflict over whether to preserve virtual Hells for the souls of "sinners" or give them the release of death

It was one of the less glorious incidents of a long-ago war. It led to the destruction of two suns and the billions of lives they supported. Now, eight hundred years later, the light from the first of those ancient mistakes has reached the Culture Orbital, Masaq'. The light from the second may not. 'Confirms Banks as the standard by which the rest of SF is judged' GUARDIAN 'In terms of sheer storytelling prowess and verve, Look to Windward is a work of genius' SFX 'A great book' NEW SCIENTIST

The Scavenger species are circling. It is, truly, the End Days for the Gzilt civilization. An ancient people, organized on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture ten thousand years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. Now they've made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilizations; they are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost infinitely more rich and complex existence. Amid preparations though, the Regimental High Command is destroyed. Lieutenant Commander (reserve) Vyr Cossont appears to have been involved, and she is now wanted - dead, not alive. Aided only by an ancient, reconditioned android and a suspicious Culture avatar, Cossont must complete her last mission given to her by the High Command. She must find the oldest person in the Culture, a man over nine thousand years old, who might have some idea what really happened all that time ago. It seems that the final days of the Gzilt civilization are likely to prove its most perilous.

Matter is a novel of dazzling wit and serious purpose. An extraordinary feat of storytelling and breathtaking invention on a grand scale, it is a tour de force from a writer who has turned science fiction on its head. --

The sixth Culture book from the awesome imagination of Iain M. Banks, a modern master of science fiction.

They had government permission to hunt down and assassinate her. What the religious Huhsz cult wanted was simple - the most deadly and enigmatic weapon constructed, the Lazy Gun, lost among the planets of the Thrial star system. Whoever controls the Gun controls all the worlds of humankind. And Lady Sharrow, former antiquities thief and soldier, is the key. On the run, betrayed at every turn, Sharrow sets out to accomplish the impossible and exact revenge - even as she delves into the evil at the very heart of humanity.