Monkey's Blog - with a little help from Alice

Iain Banks: officially Very Poorly
[UPDATED 13 APRIL 2013]

No tears have been shed in this household over the death of Margaret Thatcher. I say no more right now, but see the end of this blog below.

Alice, however, has been terribly upset to hear the news that one of her very favourite writers, the inimitable Iain (sometimes with an M) Banks has terminal cancer, and is unlikely to live more than "several months". He announced this on his official website on April 3rd. With a typical wry note, he added, I asked my partner Adele if she will do me the honour of becoming my widow (sorry - but we find ghoulish humour helps).

There is now a special site, Banksophilia: Friends of Iain Banks where one can leave comments, appreciation, good wishes etc. Alice did. On the Updates page, his newly wedded partner told us he is reading them all. She signed off by saying, After Iain proposed, I was referred to as Mrs-B-To-Be. Now that we’re married, I’m Mrs-B-To-Be-As-Was. They sound well matched indeed.

Alice says the reading public is losing a writer of great imagination, wit, humour, integrity and passion. She's read all his Iain M Banks books (the sci-fi ones) and most of the others, with great pleasure - several at least twice, or more.

Her absolute favourite is Use of Weapons, which introduced her to The Culture (a wonderfully envisioned post-scarcity utopia) and boasts what Alice calls a fiendishly brilliant structure. Not one a poor soul like me could hope to follow! Even she admits being somewhat confused at her first reading. There's a thorough discussion of that book in four parts (one by IMB himself) by the Guardian Book Club. If, and only if, you've already read it, there's an interesting review here - but be warned - it reveals the twist at the end, which will spoil your delight if you haven't. That's why these things are called "Spoilers".

We could go on and on about the Culture, the Minds, the inventive lengthy names, the cheeky Drones, the bizarre aliens, the fiendish schemes - but we'll leave you to discover it all for yourself.  Like other contributors to the Guestbook, Alice would have loved the Culture to be true, but the cynic in her was not surprised that they had found us, on Earth, past redemption, and decided to leave us to our own devices. This (not so well-known?) notion is found in a novella, The State of the Art, in the volume of the same name.

Of the more mainstream novels, she particularly enjoyed Steep Approach to Garbadale, a Scottish tale both hilarious and moving. There are some touching parts about the trials and tribulations of being a teenaged male, about which the author writes with great honesty and sympathy both here and elsewhere.

Alice has heard him at a number of Edinburgh International Book Festival events: most memorable being two "double acts" - one with a fellow Scottish sci-fi writer Ken MacLeod, the other with the ebullient Alex Salmond. She usually managed to find a good question to ask, and keep the discussion going. Not "Why the M?" which he's answered so many times.

If you've not read anything by him yet - give it a go!

Monkey and Alice send their love to this amazing man.

As for Thatcher's death and the varying responses, Alice found this striking slogan pictured in The Metro, which she likes to pick up on the bus and browse over a cup of tea. It also featured a few quotes from Glenda Jackson's scathing speech about the political and social legacy of the Thatcher era. You can watch the erstwhile actress turned MP give her passionate delivery on YouTube, or read it in full in Hansard. She was unrepentant, despite later criticism. Good on her, say I.