R.I.P. Iain Banks

Iain Banks Pictured Alongside The Inspiration For His Novel, 'The Bridge'.

I was saddened to hear of the death of author Iain Banks yesterday at the alarmingly young age of 59.  I’m sure that, like me, a lot of people will remember the first time they read his startling debut novel ‘The Wasp Factory’ but there was far more to his writing than mere shock value.  Whilst I haven’t read any of his SF books, I have had a lot of pleasure from his mainstream fiction over the years.  In recent decades, there has been a procession of authors from Scotland who’ve managed to be approachable in style, but who remain unpredictable and artistically credible.  I think Banks was amongst the best of them.

By all accounts, Iain Banks was a man with a real zest for life and a great sense of humour.  Certainly, having gone public with news of his terminal cancer a few weeks ago, he demonstrated how it’s possible to die both with dignity and a relish for the absurd securely in place until the very end.

I also understand he enjoyed a dram; so, if you have a bottle of the good stuff handy, raise a glass to a writer who will definitely be missed.