The Culture: The Drawings

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It features well thought-out ship schematics, very cool weaponry designs, brilliant world building sketches and, what surprised me most - a handwritten lexicon and pronunciation guide for the universal language of the Culture; Marian. In its announcement (via The Wertzone), Orbit says that by shifting to a dedicated, landscape-style art book, they will be able to “present Iain’s drawings exactly as he intended them to be seen.” Interview with Iain M. Banks", SFF World, 1997-06-01, archived from the original on 2009-07-15 , retrieved 2021-08-05

At the end of the main narrative stream, Zakalwe says it has been two centuries since the battleship was taken.

The Culture has interfered in the development of a race known as the Chelgrians, with disastrous consequences. Now, in the light of a star that was destroyed 800 years previously during the Idiran War, plans for revenge are being hatched. [6] Vint, Sherryl (2007), Bodies of Tomorrow, University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978-0-8020-9052-2 , retrieved 2021-08-05 . Orbit presents this deluxe ‘Special Circumstances’ limited edition of The Culture: The Drawings, available worldwide exclusively from the Orbit UK store. As a posthumous tribute to Iain Banks, aerospace manufacturer SpaceX named two of its autonomous spaceport drone ships after sentient star ships Just Read the Instructions and Of Course I Still Love You which first appeared in the novel The Player of Games. A third drone craft was named A Shortfall of Gravitas, inspired by the star ship Experiencing a Significant Gravitas Shortfall in Look to Windward. [44] [45]

Butler, Andrew M. (2003), "Thirteen Ways of Looking at the British Boom" (PDF), Science Fiction Studies, 30 (3): 374–393, JSTOR 4241200 , retrieved 2021-08-04 . Banks in an interview stated, "This one takes place about eight hundred years later on in the chronology of the culture"; at the time he was speaking the latest book in the culture chronology was set around 2167 ( Parsons 2010) Although the Culture has more advanced technology and a more powerful economy than the vast majority of known civilizations, it is only one of the "Involved" civilizations that take an active part in galactic affairs. The much older Homomda are slightly more advanced at the time of Consider Phlebas (this is, however, set several centuries before the other books, and Culture technology and martial power continue to advance in the interim); [b] the Morthanveld have a much larger population and economy, but are hampered by a more restrictive attitude to the role of AI in their society. [4] The capabilities of all such societies are vastly exceeded by those of the Elder civilisations (semi-retired from Galactic politics but who remain supremely potent) and even more so by those of the Sublimed, entities which have abandoned their material form for existence in the form of non-corporeal, multi-dimensional energy being. The Sublimed generally refrain from intervention in the material world. [5] The book states that the events of Look to Windward occurred about 600 years earlier ("However, as part of what were in effect war reparations after the Chel debacle, six hundred years ago..."), and repeatedly refers to the Idiran war as occurring about 1500 years earlier; the war formally ended in 1375.Banks, Iain M. (1994-08-10). "A Few Notes on the Culture". Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written . Retrieved 2021-08-03. . Some other civilizations hold less favourable views of the Culture. [6] At the time of their war with the Culture, the Idirans and some of their allies regarded the control that the Minds exercised over the Culture as a form of idolatry. [2] [7] The Homomda regard the Culture as idealistic and hyper-active. [8] Some members of the Culture have seceded to form related civilizations, known collectively as the Ulterior. These include the Peace Faction, the AhForgetIt Tendency and the Zetetic Elench. Others simply drop out temporarily or permanently. [9] Books in the series [ edit ]

Holt, Tom (November 2007), " The Player of Games (review)" (PDF), SFX Magazine: 114, archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-10 , retrieved 2009-02-17 . Not explicitly a Culture novel, but recounts what appear to be the activities of a Special Circumstances agent and a Culture emigrant on a planet whose development is roughly equivalent to that of medieval Europe. The interwoven stories are told from the viewpoint of several of the locals. [14] That minor note aside, for those that are familiar with the Culture on a slightly deeper and more intimate level, this collection is a veritable goldmine of fascinating (and often times very amusing) details. Allberry, Russ (2005-11-18), "Review: The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks", Eyrie , retrieved 2009-02-17 .Mitchell, Chris (1996-09-03), "Iain Banks: Whit and Excession: Getting Used To Being God", Spike Magazine , retrieved 2021-08-04 . We are delighted to share an exciting publication update with everyone who has been looking forward to the release of The Culture: Notes and Drawings by Iain M. Banks and Ken MacLeod. Look to Windward uses three commentators on the Culture, a near-immortal Behemothaur, a member of the race plunged into civil war by a Culture intervention that went wrong, and the ambassador of a race at similar technological level to the Culture's. [20] Further good news for Banks fans is that in late 2024, Orbit is planning to publish the definitive Culture companion book, celebrating the Culture through Iain’s own writing. Curated by Ken MacLeod, it will include all of Iain’s notes, tables and charts relating to the Culture universe. More information about this book will be released in due course. Now, Orbit has shed some light on the fate of the project: It will be published as a two volume set, one called The Culture: The Drawings,a book showcasing Banks’ Culture artwork, which will feature the late author’s notes and companion material from his friend and fellow author, Ken MacLeod.