On Iain Banks' Death

Iain Banks passed in June 2013. I discovered this in the July issue of Le Monde magazine and I wept. Eyes that watered uncontrollably, stomach clenched, I would clear my vision just enough to look down at the obituary before they filled again, begging to the universe that the print on the page would change with each view, that my translation was wrong, that it was not the end of so much.


Iain Banks, and for his science fiction - Iain M. Banks, was "my favorite living writer" whenever I was asked or given the opportunity to point it out. Ever since one of the best teachers I ever had - 10th grade English, Mr. Covington - recommended his novel 'The Wasp Factory', I had been enamored with his novels.


The Times of London named him as one of the "50 Greatest Writers Since 1945" in 2008. That is the public proclamation that best summates. An easy search will reveal plaudits from all corners of the literary world, and all should be believed.


For twenty-five years, I was able to look forward to another impossible to put down, stay up way too late reading, have to tell a friend about, work of fiction. His imagination, the attention to detail, the beautiful cumulative sentences that make you feel as if you are the character by the time you've finished reading just the very first paragraph, I would no longer be able to look forward to.
He brought me back to science fiction, writing the 'Culture Series' which takes place hundreds of thousands of years to come, where humanity enjoys a 'post-scarcity, semi-anarchist' future. It gave me hope in our species that we should have those amongst us now who think we could be such in what is to come. It was this hope in all of us that formed his politics as a man as well I discovered over time, something that evolved similarly in my own political development increasing, even more, my adoration.


All that is left for me is to be a prophet, spreading the word of this great writer that left us too soon. Proudly, I have & continue to. It is with this same enthusiasm and pride that in this, my very first online review, I preach.

In my possession, unread is his last work "The Quarry", published posthumously in 2013. I can't bring myself to read it yet, for then there will be no more. Be at rest Iain. Thank you.