The State of the Art
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Product Description
Review
'Banks is a phenomenon: the wildly successful, fearlessly creative author of brilliant and disturbing non-genre novels, he's equally at home writing pure science fiction of a peculiarly gnarly energy and elegance' William Gibson 'Few of us have been exposed to a talent so manifest and of such extraordinary breadth' The New York Review of Science Fiction 'Unfailing inventiveness and wit' Guardian
Product Description
The first ever collection of Iain Banks's short fiction, this volume includes the acclaimed novella, The State of the Art. This is a striking addition to the growing body of Culture lore, and adds definition and scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast. The other stories in the collection range from science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale. All bear the indefinable stamp of Iain Banks's staggering talent.
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First Sentence
The ride's a little bumpy on the famous Road of Skulls... "My God, what's happening!" Sammil Mc9 cried, waking up. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The ride's a little bumpy on the famous Road of Skulls... "My God, what's happening!" Sammil Mc9 cried, waking up. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a solid collection of shorter fiction by an author not renowned for such. It is also misleading because it is marketed as an SF collection when there is non-SF contained within.
The price of this book is worth it for one story: 'Piece', which concerns religious fundamentalism and coincidence, and takes the form of one man's letter to his son. I would imagine most writers would have given their right arm to have written this: it is simply that powerful. The ending will leave you numb. And doesn't have any SF connection at all.
'The State of the Art' (which is a novella of The Culture, set mainly on Earth) is absorbing, but a little too long.
'The Road of Skulls' is odd.
'A Gift from the Culture' is a great Culture story.
A worthy addition to the Banks cannon.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The State of the Art is currently Iain (M) Banks only short story collection, the majority of the pieces falling towards science fiction. Probably the weakest two pieces are the opening and closing stories – ‘Road of Skulls’ which is too slight to have any impact, and ‘Scratch’ – a Burroughs-style does of cut-up weirdness which seems to have little point beyond being ‘experimental’. More enjoyable is the light-hearted farce of ‘Cleaning Up’, where a malfunctioning alien matter transmitter causes havoc on Earth. The three stories set explicitly in Banks’ Culture setting are all excellent – ‘The State Of the Art’ itself is a novella concerning the Culture’s discovery of planet Earth, ‘A Gift From the Culture’ concerns the blackmailing of a Culture ex-patriot, and best of all ‘Descendant’ examines the man / machine intelligence relationship of the Culture when a man is trapped in his sentient spacesuit on an alien world. Non-SF story ‘Piece’ concerns fundamentalist religion and terrorism, and sadly is just as disturbing today as when it was written. And lastly my favourite in the collection is ‘Odd Attachment’, a wickedly funny look at a lovestuck alien vegetable, complete with a punchline that will leave all male readers wincing. With a couple of slightly flat stories this isn’t consistently brilliant, but the vast majority of this collection is highly recommended.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This collection of short stories is, as one would expect from Iain Banks, a compilation of brilliance. Stepping aside for the moment from the various other stories (each incredibly creative and original, a small delight on its own), the novella of the book's title is something truly special.
A hundred page Culture novel, it is massively imaginative, containing the mandatory Banks sleek prose, sharp wit and almost (but not quite) daunting intelligence and sharp perceptiveness that makes his works so exceptional. The points he raises here about whether or not to interfere with another planet (Earth), whilst reflecting on the many flaws and achievements of our planet, he gives in depth and penetrating analysis not only into the ethics of the Culture's work, but also into how we ourselves live and work in our surroundings.
If you're looking for a short Banks book to dip into quickly, then definitely buy this without fear of it not living up to the imposingly high standards of his full-length novels. Sheer brilliance.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Exactly what I needed
Unfortunately I can't review the content of the book having bought this to replace an accidentally damaged copy of a friends however the condition quality and speed of delivery was... Read more
Published 4 months ago by MatthewShields
Inspiring
This is my first Kindle purchase. I already have a copy of the book but have mislaid it.
I have long been a Banks fan, with and without the M. Read more
I have long been a Banks fan, with and without the M. Read more
Published 7 months ago by grayure
Less is more
At only 8 pages, 'Piece' forms only a small part of this collection but is a gem that outshines some of the longer works. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. Timothy W. Dumble
Not his best
If you have read Iain M Banks's later 'Culture' novels you will be attracted by the novella that the book is named after. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Martin Ward
Disappointing collection of B-sides
I've read two Iain (M.) Banks novels - The Wasp Factory and Consider Phlebas (twice), I've loved both of them. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Kevin Roche
Fantastic 2nd hand copy
Must thank the seller for this copy. It is near perfect. Its in a better condition than some paperbacks in Waterstones!
Published 14 months ago by Nelly
Worth getting for the Culture novella alone
This is an enjoyable collection of a Culture novella, plus some short stories. The book is worth getting for the Culture novella alone, at about 100 pages it's by far the longest... Read more
Published 14 months ago by alextorres
completes your collection
My copy arrived in good time,and in good condition.Its a collection of shorts plus a novella.It's not all in "the culture" universe, and if you're used to his later, grander work,... Read more
Published on 12 April 2010 by I. Baxter
A strong collection.
The State of the Art is Iain M. Banks first, and to date only, short story collection. It was originally published in 1991 and features both genre and mainstream fiction, as well... Read more
Published on 8 April 2009 by A. Whitehead
Close Encounters of the "Arbitrary" Kind...
"The State of the Art" is a collection of short stories by Iain M Banks, similar in theme to the rest of his writings. Read more
Published on 13 April 2006 by L. Davidson
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