Iain M. Banks has had two astoundingly great careers — with the middle initial, he's one of the most influential and brilliant science fiction authors of the past 25 years. Without it, he's a great literary author. And some people believe he did the science fiction to subsidize his literary work. If anything, it's the…

We've been waiting for Iain M. Banks' next Culture novel for several years, and now it's almost here. October sees the release of Surface Detail. Here's the cover image, and we've got some more plot details below. Spoilers ahead!

At Eastercon over the weekend, Iain M. Banks announced he'd just finished his latest novel in the Culture series, to be called Surface Detail. It will come out in February 2011.

The Guardian's Damien G. Walter issues a passionate plea to Iain M. Banks to complete an unofficial Culture trilogy that began with Consider Phlebas and Look To Windward. But really, Walter seems to want the Culture to die.

Movies may thrill us with their huge ideas and set pieces, but you always know that anything a movie did, a novel did it first... and better. If you liked these dozen recent movies, here are some books you'll love.

Iain M. Banks' latest novel Transition, in bookstores this week, will jelly your brains in brilliant weirdness. Banks turns political world-building on its head in this exciting tale of an Earth-based multiverse in turmoil, where dimension-hopping assassins jockey for power.

Iain Banks' free podcast of his new novel Transition just launched in the U.S. today, and it's already #11 on the iTunes Top 20 in the U.K. The author is reading 15-minute installments from an abridged version twice a week.

Iain M. Banks is a giant of modern-day science fiction, so it's dispiriting to read his slightly down-at-the-mouth interview in the Guardian. His book advances are getting smaller, but the good news is he'll be writing more books in response.

Iain M. Banks, one of the best writers of contemporary science fiction, has an evil twin: Iain Banks, without the M, crafts sadistic, often surreal, novels about religion, politics and disturbed families. Here's why science-fiction afficionados should read both Bankses.