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THE SCOTTISH AUTHOR Iain Banks has died at the age of 59, reports say.
BBC News has reported that the best-selling author of The Wasp Factory died just months after he announced he had less than a year to live.
Banks, who was born in Fife, said in a message on his website in early April that he had cancer, which was discovered after he visited the doctor due to a pain in his back.
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He told fans that as a late-stage gall bladder cancer patient, he was expected to live for several months, meaning that his latest novel, The Quarry, will be his last.
The author got married following the diagnosis, joking in his blog post that he had asked his partner to “do me the honour of becoming my widow (sorry – but we find ghoulish humour helps)”.
Banks first came to prominence in 1984 with his debut novel The Wasp Factory, and went on to write sci-fi novels – including the Culture series – as well as books including Complicity and The Crow Road.
The news of his death has been met with sadness from fans online.
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Joan.. He went under the name Iain M Banks when writing his sci fi novels… That should help.. Make sure to read the wasp factory and crow road… Bloody sublime.
How sad … Read the wasp factory meny moons ago and it was a masterpiece … My English teacher borrowed it and said it was the best fiction he ever read . I think that says it all .. Great writer !
Never read any of his sci-fi but my personal favourite Complicity was a great and underrated book of his. A very talented storyteller. He leaves a valuable legacy to future generations who appreciate good writing.
It’s a toss up who was the greatest SF writer, Banks or Philip K Dick. All very sudden. Apparently he didn’t suffer towards the end. 59 is very young nowadays. I’m reading The Hydrogen Sonata. Maybe I’ll read it slowly.
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