a b c d Early in the book it is stated that the war has been going on for four years, while the historical appendix states that the war began in 1327 CE. ( Banks 1987, p.467, A Short History of the Idiran War) Few of us have been exposed to a talent so manifest and of such extraordinary breadth' New York Review of Science Fiction Mitchell, Chris (1996-09-03), "Iain Banks: Whit and Excession: Getting Used To Being God", Spike Magazine , retrieved 2021-08-04 . A booklet of original Culture-inspired artwork, specially commissioned from digital artist Sébastien Garnier

This archival material provides a fascinating insight into Iain’s extraordinary mind. It was originally due to be published as a single volume, accompanied by text from the award-winning Ken MacLeod, who was a close friend of Iain’s. However, to ensure that Iain’s exceptionally detailed drawings can be appreciated in their original format and scale, we are delighted to announce that the material will now be published as two separate editions.

The ship Limiting Factor was "constructed seven hundred and sixteen years earlier in the closing stages of the Idiran war, when the conflict in space was almost over".( Banks 1988) The war in space ended in 1367. The events of the book take place over a period of four to five years from the time of this statement. Idolatry is worse than carnage" is presented as a translation of "The Koran, 2: 190"; but is actually a misplaced reference to Quran 2:191, even then, modern scholars regard it as inaccurate, since the word translated as "idolatry" actually means "discord" or "oppression" or "persecution" ( Duggan 2007) Fridman, Lex (Apr 29, 2022). "Grimes: Music, AI, and the Future of Humanity | Lex Fridman Podcast #281". Youtube. The Gray Area reflects that the Excession is the most dangerous thing to be seen in the galaxy since the worst days of Idiran war, which took place five centuries before.

That minor note aside, for those that are familiar with the Culture on a slightly deeper and more intimate level, this collection is a veritable goldmine of fascinating (and often times very amusing) details. The first release will be a beautiful, full-colour, large-format landscape artbook called The Culture: The Drawings, which will present Iain’s drawings exactly as he intended them to be seen.Ajami, Fouad; Cohen, Eliot A.; Huntington, Samuel P. (2009-01-14), "Samuel P. Huntington, 1927–2008", American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, archived from the original on 2009-04-18 , retrieved 2009-02-17 Banks in an interview stated, "This one takes place about eight hundred years later on in the chronology of the culture"; at the time he was speaking the latest book in the culture chronology was set around 2167 ( Parsons 2010) Westfahl, Gary (2003), "Space Opera", in James, Edward; Mendelsohn, Farah (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, Cambridge University Press, pp.197–208, ISBN 0-521-01657-6 . Holt, Tom (November 2007), " The Player of Games (review)" (PDF), SFX Magazine: 114, archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-10 , retrieved 2009-02-17 . Author Iain M. Banks revealed in April 2013 that he had late-stage cancer. He died the following June.

Faithfully reproduced from notebooks he kept in the 1970s and 80s, these annotated original illustrations depict the ships, habitats, geography, weapons and language of Banks’ Culture series of novels in incredible detail. Baker, Neal (2003), "Review of Dark Light", in Butler, Andrew M.; Mendelsohn, Farah (eds.), The True Knowledge of Ken MacLeod, Reading, UK: Science Fiction Foundation, pp.95–97, ISBN 978-0903007023 .

Faithfully reproduced from sketchbooks kept in the 1970s and 80s, these annotated original illustrations depict the ships, habitats, geography, weapons and language of Banks' Culture series of novels in incredible detail. Further good news for Banks fans is that in late 2024, Orbit is planning to publish the definitive Culture companion book, celebrating the Culture through Iain’s own writing. Curated by Ken MacLeod, it will include all of Iain’s notes, tables and charts relating to the Culture universe. More information about this book will be released in due course.