#90 Space oddities: The State of the Art (1991) by Iain M. Banks
03/16/23 • 10 min
The 1991 collection The State of the Art serves an important function in the bibliography of revered Scottish author Iain M. Banks (1954 - 2013). It collects his short fiction from 1987 to 1989, crucially including the stories "A Gift From the Culture", "Descendant", and the title story. These are entries in Banks' Culture series, and good entry points into that sprawling, post-scarcity SF setting.
This episode is a whistlestop tour of The State of the Art, taking in skulls, alien waste disposal, a lovesick plant creature, and nuclear war.
Get in touch with a text message!
For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.
The 1991 collection The State of the Art serves an important function in the bibliography of revered Scottish author Iain M. Banks (1954 - 2013). It collects his short fiction from 1987 to 1989, crucially including the stories "A Gift From the Culture", "Descendant", and the title story. These are entries in Banks' Culture series, and good entry points into that sprawling, post-scarcity SF setting.
This episode is a whistlestop tour of The State of the Art, taking in skulls, alien waste disposal, a lovesick plant creature, and nuclear war.
Get in touch with a text message!
For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.
Previous Episode
#89 Relic return to the front: what I played in February 2023
Can 2023 live up to the lofty hopes of a revival of real-time strategy games? We had the first major test of that thesis in February, with the releases of The Settlers: New Allies and Company of Heroes 3. I reviewed both of those games for Entertainium this month, and share some brief thoughts in this episode. The games covered this month are:
- The Settlers: New Allies (2023)
- Company of Heroes 3 (2023)
- Wanted: Dead (2023)
- Train Valley 2 (2019)
- The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay (2004)
Get in touch with a text message!
For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.
Next Episode
#91 “An action game like no other”: Oni (2001)
The anime-inspired third-person action game Oni is often thought of mainly as "Bungie's forgotten game". But in fact, this classic deserves to be recognised as something much more than just a footnote in the history of the studio that made Halo. This review does a dream dive into what makes Oni special, and makes the case that it should be a cult classic.
Get in touch with a text message!
For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/classic-sf-with-andy-johnson-273030/90-space-oddities-the-state-of-the-art-1991-by-iain-m-banks-33006101"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to #90 space oddities: the state of the art (1991) by iain m. banks on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy