Coming Soon

By Iain M. Banks

On Sale: Jan 20, 2026
Page Count: 464 pages
Publisher: Orbit
ISBN-13: 9780316595063

$19.99

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The novels of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. His Culture books combine breathtaking imagination with exceptional storytelling, and have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre.

“Banks is a phenomenon.” –– William Gibson

Two and a half millennia ago in a remote corner of space, beside a trillion-year-old dying sun from a different universe, the artifact appeared.

It was a perfect black-body sphere, and it did nothing. Then it disappeared.

Now it is back.

Diplomat Genar-Hofoen of Special Circumstances is sent to investigate but, sidetracked by an old flame and the spoiled-brat operative Ulver Seich, and faced with the systematic depravities of a race who call themselves the Affront, it’s anyone’s guess whether he’ll succeed . . .

Praise for the Culture series:

“Epic in scope, ambitious in its ideas and absorbing in its execution.” –Independent on Sunday
“Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future.” –Guardian

“Jam-packed with extraordinary invention.” –Scotsman

“Compulsive reading.” –Sunday Telegraph

The Culture series:
Consider Phlebas
The Player of Games
Use of Weapons
Excession
Inversions
Look to Windward
The State of the Art

Other books by Iain M. Banks:
Against a Dark Background
Feersum Endjinn
The Algebraist

Also now available:
The Culture: The Drawings- an extraordinary collection of original illustrations faithfully reproduced from sketchbooks Banks kept in the 1970s and 80s, depicting the ships, habitats, geography, weapons and language of Banks’ Culture series of novels in incredible detail.

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Culture

Iain Banks 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.

“Banks is a phenomenon...writing pure science fiction of a peculiarly gnarly energy and elegance.”
William Gibson
“Banks writes with a sophistication that will surprise anyone unfamiliar with modern science fiction.”
The New York Times
“An enormously enjoyable book, full of wonderful aliens, a sense of wonder and subtle political commentary on current events.”
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) on The Algebraist
“Banks never lets up in a dizzying array of characters, mind-bending ideas, and dazzling action.”
Booklist
“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
"Nobody does it better."
Times (UK)
"Banks writes space opera on the grand scale: he measures time in eons, space in lightyears, tragedies in gigadeaths."
Time
"Epic in scope, ambitious in its ideas and absorbing in its execution."
Independent on Sunday
"Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future."
The Guardian
"Jam-packed with extraordinary invention."
Scotsman
"Compulsive reading."
Sunday Telegraph

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Iain M. Banks

About the Author

Iain Banks 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.

Learn more about this author