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Re:A Personal Statement from Iain Banks by Nick_C on Wednesday April 03, 2013 @09:53PM (#5490495)
Totally agree. Last year I decided to give Bank's non sci-fi a go. He draws such great characters. Espedair Street was my favourite, but The Steep Approach to Garbadale and Complicity were also great. Complicity is a really good intro to Banks; it's a nice Scottish thriller and an easy read.

He is a good literary writer, and I think that is what makes him such a good sci-fi writer. I had never read any sci-fi like it when I first read him. There are still very few good writers in sci-fi.

Re:A Personal Statement from Iain Banks by lobster_johnson on Thursday April 04, 2013 @10:34PM (#5496532)
Very few indeed. Have you read Gene Wolfe? One of the few writers in the genre I truly admire as a literary writer. A good starting book is "The Fifth Head of Cerberus".
Re:A Personal Statement from Iain Banks by Nick_C on Friday April 05, 2013 @11:19PM (#5502507)
No I haven't. Thanks for the reference, I'll look for him next time I'm at the library.
Re:A Personal Statement from Iain Banks by lobster_johnson on Saturday April 06, 2013 @10:13AM (#5503609)
Cool. The other thing to check out is The Book of the New Sun, which is his masterpiece. A very deft and literary subversion of the fantasy genre (though it's really SF).