Second paragraph of third chapter:Amorphia wandered amongst the dead and dying of Hill 4. The battle had by this time moved on; the few defenders who'd survived and repelled the initial rush had been ordered to pull back just as the next wave of opposing troops had appeared out of the cannon smoke and fallen upon them; they had been slaughtered ( Read more... )

Second paragraph of third chapter:The other ground vehicles were all-drive holster-buggies, armoured scree-cars, one- or two-gun landromonds and the huge multi-turreted tanks known as bassinals. The struggling convoy accounted for a good sixth of the King’s military transport, and represented either a brilliant flanking manoeuvre to supply the ( Read more... )

Not to begrudge the others which have made it to the ballot in recent years, but I am ever so slightly relieved that the Best Related Work ballot consists solely of actual books this year, for the first time since 2010; it's easier to compare apples with apples than with oranges. This year is also likely to be the first year since 2013 that a Hugo ( Read more... )

This is the ninth year that I have blogged about my BSFA votes, though I haven't consistently noted my choices in this category (I did so for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016). This year we have one monograph, two essays and two series of blog posts, leading to the usual problems of comparing apples, oranges and mangoes. I think I have to take ( Read more... )

I'm sorry to say that this late Iain Banks work didn't really grab me. The idea of people with access to different parallel universes trying to pull off politically convenient changes to their timeline is not original to him, and has been done better by others (most recently in The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, which we shortlisted for the ( Read more... )

Originally posted by nwhyte at MeCon pictures and video
A great day at MeCon yesterday - I post these pictures and a video to make you all feel jealous that you weren't there.

( MeCon X )

Not an outstanding novel from Banks, and one that I felt was perhaps twice as long as it needed to be - gareth_rees had warned of some of its deficiencies and his criticisms are valid. The bits I enjoyed most concerned the story of the indentured slave Lededje Y'breq, unexpectedly liberated and preparing vengeance on her former master - the "surface detail" ( Read more... )

16) Matter, by Iain M. Banks

The latest Culture novel by Banks; speaking in Brussels a couple of weeks ago, he said that he felt he is mellowing as he gets older, and the book is strikingly domestic - I can't think of another Culture book which has such a focus on family. Here we follow the tale of three royal siblings - the sister who ran away from ( Read more... )

As mentioned a few weeks back, Iain Banks gave a lunchtime talk in Brussels on Tuesday, in Scotland House which is the top two floors of the building where my own office is located. (The building also houses the Brussels representations of Norway, just below Scotland; Sweden, occupying the three lowest floors; and Gibraltar, around the corner from ( Read more... )

Any fans of Iain Banks in or within reach of Brussels may like to know that he is speaking at Scotland House, Rond Point Schuman 6 (top floor) on Tuesday 29 January at 13h. Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance from brusselsevents AT scotland.gsi.gov.uk - thanks to aeglefinus for the heads-up ( Read more... )