Iain (M)

Catching up on the last couple of weeks, it seems important to spend a moment considering Iain (M) Banks' announcement that he has terminal cancer, on his Web Site. 

I remember reading all of his books in the '80s and '90s.  The Wasp Factory, Use of Weapons, Consider Phlebas, Walking on Glass, The Bridge, the wonderful The State of the Art and so forth.  I always saw his writing as one connected piece - I didn't distinguish between the M and the not-M parts of his oeuvre.

I've probably read fewer more recently - but then I probably read less fiction overall nowadays; I still enjoyed both Transition and The Steep Approach to Garbadale.

When Cameron and his crew got in, he also wrote a terrific letter to the Grauniad, part of which we duplicated on TANH. 

And I can remember after a Beccon, and hence a long time back, sitting in the lounge of the hotel waiting to leave for London.  Just hanging around with friends.  Iain came in and bought red wine and champagne all round, and talked to us about our lives and children.

A lovely man!  I hope he enjoys his last few months - and may they be not too few, at that.