Grim news from Iain Banks

[I, Cosh]

From Iain's website.

A Personal Statement from Iain Banks

April 3rd, 2013 in From the Author

"I am officially Very Poorly.

After a couple of surgical procedures, I am gradually recovering from jaundice caused by a blocked bile duct, but that - it turns out - is the least of my problems.

I first thought something might be wrong when I developed a sore back in late January, but put this down to the fact I'd started writing at the beginning of the month and so was crouched over a keyboard all day. When it hadn't gone away by mid-February, I went to my GP, who spotted that I had jaundice. Blood tests, an ultrasound scan and then a CT scan revealed the full extent of the grisly truth by the start of March.

I have cancer. It started in my gall bladder, has infected both lobes of my liver and probably also my pancreas and some lymph nodes, plus one tumour is massed around a group of major blood vessels in the same volume, effectively ruling out any chance of surgery to remove the tumours either in the short or long term.

The bottom line, now, I'm afraid, is that as a late stage gall bladder cancer patient, I'm expected to live for 'several months' and it's extremely unlikely I'll live beyond a year. So it looks like my latest novel, The Quarry, will be my last.

As a result, I've withdrawn from all planned public engagements and I've asked my partner Adele if she will do me the honour of becoming my widow (sorry - but we find ghoulish humour helps). By the time this goes out we'll be married and on a short honeymoon. We intend to spend however much quality time I have left seeing friends and relations and visiting places that have meant a lot to us. Meanwhile my heroic publishers are doing all they can to bring the publication date of my new novel forward by as much as four months, to give me a better chance of being around when it hits the shelves.

There is a possibility that it might be worth undergoing a course of chemotherapy to extend the amount of time available. However that is still something we're balancing the pros and cons of, and anyway it is out of the question until my jaundice has further and significantly, reduced.
Lastly, I'd like to add that from my GP onwards, the professionalism of the medics involved - and the speed with which the resources of the NHS in Scotland have been deployed - has been exemplary, and the standard of care deeply impressive. We're all just sorry the outcome hasn't been more cheerful.

A website is being set up where friends, family and fans can leave messages for me and check on my progress. It should be up and running during this week and a link to it will be here on my official website as soon as it's ready."

Iain Banks

[Mabs]

Damn...really sad news indeed. I'm a massive fan of Mr. Bank's work and that news is like a sucker punch. 

[dweezil2]

That is truly terrible news. 

[Link Prime]

Jesus, terrible news.

[Goaty]

Oh that's so sad news

[von Boom]

This terribly sad news.

[shaolin_monkey]

Yeah, grim.  It just so happens I'm reading Stonemouth and Consider Phlebas at the moment - both fantastic books.  It's hard to comprehend a future without a new Iain Banks novel.  I get the impression from anyone who has ever met him, or saw him at a convention or signing, that he is a great bloke - a really good laugh, and generous to his fans.  Such a fucking shame.

[Richmond Clements]

Yeah, grim.  It just so happens I'm reading Stonemouth and Consider Phlebas at the moment - both fantastic books.  It's hard to comprehend a future without a new Iain Banks novel.  I get the impression from anyone who has ever met him, or saw him at a convention or signing, that he is a great bloke - a really good laugh, and generous to his fans.  Such a fucking shame.

Yup. Massive fan here. I've met him a few times and he is indeed a very lovely man.
Cannot get my head around this news at all. The end of the Culture? I don't like that at all.
I'm halfway through Stonemouth at the moment too, and it has suddenly become a bit of a strange read...
Although I have to say in all honestly, it is a well written book, but not near his best. So far, it's kind of Crow Road-lite, but I'm sure it'll come together in the end.
Bah!

[Frank]

That's awful. He's a great talent, and both he and the regular annual arrival of another of his books will be sorely missed.

[darnmarr]

This is just tragic .

[Mark Taylor]

I'm devastated. He's my favourite novelist for much the same reason Pat Mills is my favourite comic writer - they're very different but they both have that vast imagination that can take you places no-one else can. They both have the power to make the unbelievable believable, enabling them to write about things few others could get away with.

Banks, at his best, cannot be touched. It's that simple. He should be up there with Asimov, Bradbury and Philip K. Dick in the Sci-Fi hall of fame.

[Richard]

A brilliant, brilliant writer.

Mark Taylor sets his sights too low: Banks should be up there with Shakespeare, Dickens and Chaucer.

[ChickenStu]

Banks is one of those authors whom many friends of mine RAVE about, but sadly I've not had the chance to get round to taking a look at anything of his. Still, his reputation speaks for itself - and this is truly sad news. Not only for him and his family, but for his many fans the world over.

I guess I should read something by him. Anyone got any recommendations of where to start?

[Trout]

Player of Games is my favourite Iain Banks book because it's just stuffed with good ideas, but I expect others will make their own recommendations.

I'm gutted for the man, his loved ones and for the wider community. What a sad loss.

[Mark Taylor]

I guess I should read something by him. Anyone got any recommendations of where to start?

At the beginning. For non Sci-fi start with The Wasp Factory, or if you prefer to tuck straight into some Sci-fi start with Consider Phlebas.

None of his books depend on having read anything previous to be comprehensible, but his earliest novels are as good as (in some cases better than) anything he wrote later on so they're still the logical place to start.