Iain M. Banks

The Culture Series

Name: The Culture Series
SKU: CULTURE
Price: 345 GBP
Availability: InStock

from£115

Illustrated by Dániel Taylor

Step into the ground-breaking universe of Iain M. Banks, whose Culture series rewrote the rules of science fiction, now brought to life in epic Folio Society editions. Dániel Taylor’s visionary illustrations and bold designs capture the explosive energy of Banks’ future, where sentient spaceships argue philosophy and AI Minds run utopias with unnerving charm. This is science fiction at its most playful, provocative and gloriously inventive.

The Culture Series

from

£115

What’s Included

Book One: Consider Phlebas

Iain M. Banks

Illustrated by Dániel Taylor

The first of Iain M. Banks’ ‘Culture’ novels dives into the heart of an interstellar war. Dániel Taylor provides the spectacular images for Folio’s edition of Consider Phlebas.

Book Two: The Player of Games

Iain M. Banks

Illustrated by Dániel Taylor

Following science-fiction landmark Consider Phlebas, Folio continues Iain M. Banks’s 'Culture' novels with The Player of Games, featuring mesmerising original artwork by series artist Dániel Taylor.

Book Three: Use of Weapons

Iain M. Banks

Illustrated by Dániel Taylor

Part mind-bending thriller, part haunting character study, this third 'Culture' novel twists time and loyalty into a heart-stopping sci-fi epic. A thrilling Folio edition with surreal, cinematic artwork from series artist Dániel Taylor.

Editor's Notes

Iain M. Banks’ Culture novels launched a bold new vision of science fiction – anarchic, intelligent and wickedly inventive. In this interstellar future, humans and hyper-evolved AIs live in a post-scarcity utopia, exploring what it means to be free, moral and alive in a galaxy full of contradictions. From the explosive opening of Consider Phlebas to the philosophical gamesmanship of The Player of Games and the haunting narrative puzzle of Use of Weapons, Banks pushes the boundaries of the genre with exhilarating imagination and razor-sharp wit.

Each volume in this Folio series features electrifying artwork by sci-fi illustrator Dániel Taylor. His richly cinematic illustrations capture the dizzying scale and strange beauty of the Culture universe, from orbitals and warships to the Minds that govern them. Bound in cloth and foil-blocked with starlit designs, each book is presented in a matching slipcase, complete with a hidden interior illustration for those who dare to look. Designed as a series but powerful as standalone stories, these editions are a spectacular entry point into one of science fiction’s most iconic worlds.

THE COLLECTION

The first of Iain M. Banks’ ‘Culture’ novels dives into the heart of an interstellar war. Dániel Taylor provides the spectacular images for Folio’s edition of Consider Phlebas.

Production Details: Bound in blocked cloth
Blocked slipcase with printed illustration inside

Dimensions: 9½ inches x 6¼ inches

Font: Set in Garamond with Scene as display

Pages: 560 pages

Author: Iain M. Banks

Illustrated by: Dániel Taylor

Illustration: Frontispiece and 6 colour illustrations

Publication Date: 14/03/2023

Production Details: Bound in cloth, foil blocked in red and gold
Blocked slipcase with secret printed lining

Dimensions: 9 ½ inches x 6 ¼ inches

Font: Set in Garamond with Scene as display

Pages: 376 pages

Author: Iain M. Banks

Illustrated by: Dániel Taylor

Illustration: Frontispiece plus 6 full-page colour illustrations

Publication Date: 07/05/2024

Production Details: Full bound in blocked cloth

Dimensions: 9½ inches × 6¼ inches

Font: Set in Garamond with Scene as display

Pages: 464 pages

Author: Iain M. Banks

Illustrated by: Dániel Taylor

Illustration: 7 full page colour illustrations

Publication Date: 06/05/2025

Printing: First Printing

About the Author

Iain M. Banks (1954–2013) was a Scottish novelist educated on both the East and West coasts of Scotland. He studied at the University of Stirling, gaining a degree in English with Philosophy and Psychology and, while there, appearing as an extra in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Banks’ first novel, The Wasp Factory, was published in 1984 to widespread controversy. Declared a work of ‘unparalleled depravity’ by one newspaper, the book made Banks’s name as an exceptional new talent and has since been acclaimed as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. Banks saw himself as a science-fiction writer but was encouraged by his then-editor to make a clear distinction between his literary and science-fiction by the simple addition or omission of his middle initial, M (the family name of Menzies).  Alternating between these genres, Banks wrote 14 literary novels including  The Crow Road, which was adapted for television by the BBC, and ten science-fiction novels. The first of these, Consider Phlebas(1987, Folio 2023), launched the Culture series of space operas for which Banks is best known today. The Folio series continued with The Player of Games (1988, Folio 2024). He also wrote short stories, poetry and a travelogue, Raw Spirit.  His final novel, The Quarry, was published shortly after his death in 2013.

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