The State of the Art, Iain M. Banks
The State of the Art, Iain M. Banks
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The State of the Art

Author: Iain M. Banks

Narrator: Peter Kenny

Unabridged: 6 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Orbit

Published: 04/02/2024


Synopsis

From New York Times bestselling and modern master of science fiction, Iain M. Banks, The State of the Art is the acclaimed collection of Banks's short fiction. 

“Banks is a phenomenon...writing pure science fiction of a peculiarly gnarly energy and elegance.” –William Gibson

This is a striking addition to the body of Culture lore, and adds definition and scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast. The 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.

“Few of us have been exposed to a talent so manifest and of such extraordinary breadth.” –New York Review of Science Fiction
 
“[Banks] can summon up sense-of-wonder Big Concepts you've never seen before and display them with narration as deft as a conjuror's fingers." –scifi.com

The Culture series:
Consider Phlebas
The Player of Games
Use of Weapons
The State of the Art
Excession
Inversions
Look to Windward
Matter
Surface Detail
The Hydrogen Sonata

Author Bio

Iain Banks (1954-2013) came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984. Consider Phlebas, his first science fiction novel, was published under the name Iain M. Banks in 1987 and began his celebrated ten-book Culture series. He is acclaimed as one of the most powerful, innovative and exciting writers of his generation.

Reviews

Goodreads review by mark on June 10, 2019

The titular novella in this collection is a perfect distillation of the rhetoric and dialectic behind the Culture series, its themes, its very purpose for being. It features the entertaining Culture standbys of wry Ships, persnickety droids, and agents of mixed motivations. It discusses policies of......more

Goodreads review by Manny on March 29, 2009

The first two stories are OK, but nothing special. The third one is quite funny. I can't count the number of times I've seen a hapless spaceman get rent limb from limb by a bug-eyed monster. But what's the monster's motivation? Banks comes up with a lovely answer. #4 is also a nice perspective flip in......more

Goodreads review by Andrei(Drusca) on November 01, 2024

Mi-au atras atenția două nuvele din colecție, prima și ceea mai importantă „The State of the Art” și „A Gift from the Culture”. Two short stories in the collection caught my attention, the first and most important "The State of the Art" and "A Gift from the Culture".......more

Goodreads review by Olethros on October 23, 2019

-Entre sus páginas, alta irregularidad y alguna curiosidad llamativa.- Género. Relatos. Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Última generación (publicación original: The State of the Art, 1991) es una recopilación de relatos de ciencia ficción (uno, el que da título al volumen, tan largo que podríamos hablar d......more

Goodreads review by Jamie on January 02, 2025

What an odd collection. Some are irreverent and humorous, some quite bizarre. I was a bit disappointed with most, but found Descendant a gem and worth the price of admission. It's the story of a Culture solider and his sentient EVA suit, both injured/damaged and stranded on a barren alien planet. Ba......more