New Releases by Iain Banks

Set in a war-torn country not unlike Bosnia, this internationally bestselling novel concerns a band of soldiers who find refuge in a rural castle.

Who Do "You" Work For? The Business, a nearly omnipotent enterprise, is so infinitely discreet that even its top executives are vague about its actual business. It predates the Christian church and counts among its vast riches dozens of Michelangelo''s pornographic paintings and several sets of Crown jewels. The only thing it lacks is political clout, a problem the Business plans to solve by buying a nation and joining the United Nations. Kate Telman, the Business''s foremost expert on emerging technologies, is chosen to lead the effort. As this beautiful, ambitious American woman pursues the ultimate prize for her highly secretive transglobal employer, Iain Banks -- whom "The Times" of London calls "the most imaginative British novelist of his generation" -- offers a portrait of today''s ubiquitous multinational corporations. Already a bestseller in England, "The Business" paints a picture that is at once wickedly satirical and frighteningly familiar.

Der junge Prentice aus dem schottischen Clan der McHoans kommt hinter das mysteriöse Geheimnis seines Onkels Roy, der seit 10 Jahren verschollen ist.

Diplomat Byr Genar-Hofoen has been selected by the Culture to undertake a delicate and dangerous mission. He is to investigate a 2,500-year-old mystery: the sudden disappearance of a star fifty times older than the universe itself. There is only one way to solve the problem. He has to steal the soul of the long-dead starship captain who first encountered the star, and convince her to be reborn. What he discovers could lead the universe into an age of peace, or to the brink of annihilation.