Author Iain Banks has terminal cancer

[Ares Johnson]

May he rest in Peace.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22835047

Very sad. His Culture series was a major source of inspiration for Orion's Arm and my own setting. I loved most how embraced high technology and utopia, whereas most sci-fi these days seems to limit itself to a slightly more hi-tech and interstellar version of modern society. The Banks Orbital is a fascinating construct and my personal favorite megastructure.

I wish more Culture novels were to come and I will miss his writing.