Space Opera Fans discussion

The May 2025 Reader Pick is The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks. Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

Official description:
The first ever collection of Iain Banks' short fiction, this volume includes the acclaimed novella, The State of the Art. This is a striking addition to the growing body of Culture lore, and adds definition and scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast. The other stories in the collection range from science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale. All bear the indefinable stamp of Iain Banks' staggering talent.

Got my copy from the library and will be starting in on it soon. :)

Caitlin wrote: "Got my copy from the library and will be starting in on it soon. :)"

I'm at exactly the same place, Caitlin - my library book arrived at the weekend and I'm hoping to start reading it tomorrow.

Finished The State of the Art today and delighted that I still rated it as 5 stars.

The only published collection of short stories from Banks (and as far as I know, it contains all the short stories he ever wrote.) The State of the Art novella is also the only one of his SF books to have been dramatised - in a 2000 Adaption for BBC Radio 4. (I must try to hear this - has anyone in the group listened to it?)

Wonderful - and a short easy read. I hope others in the group will read and enjoy it. The majority of the eight stories in the book are very short, and even "The State of the Art" is only 108 pages.

Just finished it today, and I agree the collection is excellent. Every story gave me food for thought; the standouts for me were “The State of the Art” of course, “Cleaning Up”, and “Descendant”, which may or may not be set in the Culture universe. I enjoyed that ambiguity.

I have not listened to the BBC radio drama! Do you know if it’s available anywhere, John?

Caitlin wrote: "Just finished it today, and I agree the collection is excellent. Every story gave me food for thought; the standouts for me were “The State of the Art” of course, “Cleaning Up”, and “Descendant”, w..."

I tried searching for it in BBC, but its not currently available. It looks as if its been broadcast at least 8 times, the last being on 19/08/2023. I'll watch out for any future broadcasts and will post details; in the meantime I'll look elsewhere for it. Some details of the broadcast -

The Culture ship Arbitrary arrives on Earth in 1977 and finds a planet obsessed with alien concepts like 'property' and 'money' and on the edge of self-destruction.

When Agent Dervley Linter decides to go native, can Diziet Sma change his mind?

Sci-fi thriller novella written by Iain M Banks.

Dramatised by Paul Cornell.

The Ship ...... Antony Sher
Diziet Sma ...... Nina Sosanya
Dervley Linter ...... Paterson Joseph
Li ...... Graeme Hawley
Tel ...... Brigit Forsyth
Sodel ...... Conrad Nelson

Director: Nadia Molinari

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2009.

Found it on the Internet Archive - link is below, I've tried the VBR MP3 file and its working fine. I'm looking foward to listening to this. Apparently Anthony Sher, who plays the Ship, is a renowned Shakespearian actor.

https://archive.org/details/p01h2r78

Thank you for the link, John! I look forward to listening to this.

It's interesting that Banks wrote so few short stories - I assume he found the format too restrictive.

Are Caitlin and I the only readers on this challenge? Have any group members read the book in the past?