From: Dominic Mooney (iB) [dom@cybergoths.u-net.com] Sent: Monday, October 15, 2001 4:15 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - The Culture & Blue Planet...(Spoilers at end) At 23:28 -0400 14/10/01, Mike Czaplinski wrote: > >And for background to the Culture, reading the books in the order they were > >published is the best source. The stories have no connection other than the > >setting, but Banks slowly elaborates on it. Actually, _Look to Windward_ does have a link to _Consider Phlebas_. >Frankly, I picked up EXCESSION because I found the hardcover at a church >flea market for $1. I had heard of Banks, and though I was intrigued by what >I'd heard, I wasn't intrigued enough to seek his books out new. > >As far as the 'right' order to read the Culture books: according to the >Iain M. >Banks FAQ (drawn from the Usenet fan newsgroup discussions), there really >isn't any right order, although as you say, each book builds on the background >delineated by the previous one. Having read them all (both the SF Iain M Banks books and the non-SF Iain Banks novels), the best way to read them would be: Consider Phlebas (Almost an RPG SF adventure) Excession (from what i remember this has references to the idirian conflist, which is covered in Consider Phlebas). Look to Windward. ------ The Player of Games ??? unsure when. Use of Weapons - possibly one of his best, and one of the first novels in a long while that I've immediately re-read because I didn't see the ending coming. State of the Art is shorts and can be read pretty much at any point. inversions is a closet Culture novel, and you'd only realise it is if you've read others. Feersum Endjinn (Fearsome Engine) is non-Culture, and can be quite heavy going. Against a Dark Background is non-culture, and again feels very like a Traveller or other Space Opera RPG game. ------ Of the non-Sf, i'd recommend 'Espedair Street', 'The Crow Road', 'Complicity' and 'the bridge'. All very different and very good. banks can be quite dark - his first novel 'The Wasp factory' repelled me but at the same time i couldn't put it done. 'Complicity' did somethig similar. I'd avoid 'Walking on Broken Glass', 'Canal Dreams'. 'Song of Stone' is quite nasty, and is the only Banks i haven't finished. Anyway, he's well worth a look, as is Ken MacLeod(*), whose books may well be better or easier to relate to BP. (*) One of Iain Bank's friends. Dom ----dom@cybergoths.u-net.com---- *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message.