This Scottish gentleman, Iain M Banks has been one of the most prolific writers of the last two and a half decades, or so. He writes science fiction under the pen name of Iain M Banks and literary fiction under the name of Iain Banks.
I have so far only read two of his novels. The second is 'Excession'. The first is the 'The Algebraist', which deals with a multi-species pan galactic civilization in which much of the current economic and military concepts and ideals hold true. In a sense, it is merely a vastly scaled up empire, but fundamentally no different from any contemporary or historical civilisation that you may care to mention. Transport over huge interstellar distances are achieved by tunneling through artificial black holes called 'Portals'. The construction and maintainance of these Portals is extremely difficult, and they are as jealously guarded as any Roman highway through barbarian territory would be, or National Highway 1 through Kashmir is guarded by the Indian Army. Peace is guaranteed by the overwhelming superiority of the 'Summed Fleet', the strong arm of the political structure, which is called the 'Mercatoria'. Mercatorial forces are always engaged in low intensity conflicts at the periphery of the controlled Galaxy with breakaway populations which do not wish to join the Galactic mainstream. A parallel
may be drawn to the last decades of the Galactic Empire by Asimov (think of the Prefecture of Anacreon). The wildcard in this tableau happens to be the 'Dwellers', who live in gas giants. Theirs' is a very widespread and immeasurably old civilization. While their very age almost guarantees their technological superiority, their enormous lifespans also give them what is almost contempt for pretty much any other short lived species, whom they term 'Quick'. This translated into a couldn't-care-less attitude towards the Mercatoria and the rest of the Galaxy. Banks brings all these participants together in a beautifully complex mileu, rivalling anything that our twin gods of SF have ever dreamed up.
More will follow....
may be drawn to the last decades of the Galactic Empire by Asimov (think of the Prefecture of Anacreon). The wildcard in this tableau happens to be the 'Dwellers', who live in gas giants. Theirs' is a very widespread and immeasurably old civilization. While their very age almost guarantees their technological superiority, their enormous lifespans also give them what is almost contempt for pretty much any other short lived species, whom they term 'Quick'. This translated into a couldn't-care-less attitude towards the Mercatoria and the rest of the Galaxy. Banks brings all these participants together in a beautifully complex mileu, rivalling anything that our twin gods of SF have ever dreamed up.
More will follow....
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