Matter is a novel from Iain Banks, under the name Iain M. Banks. A science fiction novel, it is the latest in his popular Culture series. It was published on 25 January 2008.
Matter was a finalist for the 2009 Prometheus Award.
Look to Windward is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 2000. It is Banks' sixth published novel to feature The Culture.
Inversions is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1998. It is implied to be set in his Culture universe. However, this is not made explicit within the book, and unlike most other recent editions of Banks' SF novels, does not carry the tag 'A Culture Novel' on the cover.
Excession, first published in 1996, is Scottish writer Iain M. Banks' fourth science fiction novel to feature the Culture. It concerns the response of the Culture and other interstellar societies to an unprecedented alien artifact, the Excession of the title.
The book is largely about the response of the Culture's Minds (AIs with enormous intellectual capabilities and distinctive personalities) to the Excession itself, and the way in which another society, whose systematic brutality horrifies the Culture, tries to use the Excession to increase its power.
The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks or military action.
