New Releases by Iain M Banks

Horza, l''un des derniers métamorphes, peut modifier sa forme à sa guise, ce qui en fait une redoutable machine de guerre. Il s''est engagé, aux côtés des Idirans, dans une croisade personnelle contre la Culture, cette immense société galactique anarchiste, tolérante, éthique et cynique. Mais son combat n''est qu''une escarmouche insignifiante dans la grande guerre qui embrase la Galaxie, entre la Culture et les Idirans fanatiques. Une guerre anachronique : une guerre de religion. Après L''Homme des jeux et L''Usage des armes, voici le troisième volume de la série de la Culture, la plus grande épopée galactique depuis Fondation, Dune et Hypérion.

MATTER Il principe Ferbin assiste all''assassinio del proprio padre, re Hausk, per mano di tyl Loesp, suo uomo di fiducia e secondo in comando. L''assassino mira a usurpare il trono di Ferbin e dei suoi fratelli, il giovane Oramen e la sorella Djan Seriy. Inviata all''esterno del pianeta, nello strato dove risiede la Cultura, Djan è stata addestrata come un agente della famosa sezione Circostanze Speciali e, in combattimento, è più forte e abile di tutti gli umani del suo mondo natale. La morte del padre segna il momento di tornare per riprendersi quel che è suo... Scritto nel 2008 e fino a oggi inedito in Italia, Matter è il grande ritorno nell''universo della Cultura.

From New York Times bestselling and modern master of science fiction, Iain M. Banks, The State of the Art is the acclaimed collection of Banks''s short fiction. “Banks is a phenomenon...writing pure science fiction of a peculiarly gnarly energy and elegance.” –William Gibson This is a striking addition to the body of Culture lore, and adds definition and scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast. The stories in the collection range from science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale. All bear the indefinable stamp of Iain Banks''s staggering talent. “Few of us have been exposed to a talent so manifest and of such extraordinary breadth.” –New York Review of Science Fiction “[Banks] can summon up sense-of-wonder Big Concepts you''ve never seen before and display them with narration as deft as a conjuror''s fingers." –scifi.com The Culture series: Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata

As complex, turbulent and spectacular as the gas giant on which it is set, this novel from Iain M. Banks is space opera on a truly epic scale. “An enormously enjoyable book, full of wonderful aliens, a sense of wonder and subtle political commentary on current events.” –Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) It is 4034 AD. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers, will be fortunate if he makes it to the end of the year. The Nasqueron Dwellers inhabit a gas giant on the outskirts of the galaxy, in a system awaiting its wormhole connection to the rest of civilization. In the meantime, they are dismissed as decadents living in a state of highly developed barbarism, hoarding data without order, hunting their own young and fighting pointless formal wars. Seconded to a military-religious order he''s barely heard of - part of the baroque hierarchy of the Mercatoria, the latest galactic hegemony - Fassin Taak has to travel again amongst the Dwellers. He is in search of a secret hidden for half a billion years. But with each day that passes a war draws closer - a war that threatens to overwhelm everything and everyone he''s ever known. “Banks is a phenomenon...writing pure science fiction of a peculiarly gnarly energy and elegance.” –William Gibson “Banks writes with a sophistication that will surprise anyone unfamiliar with modern science fiction.” –The New York Times For More from Iain M. Banks, check out: The Culture series: Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata

Odtikávají poslední dny prastaré civilizace Gziltů. Učinili kolektivní rozhodnutí, zbaví se své hmotné podoby a povznesou se do nové, nekonečně bohatší formy života. Jako mnohé společnosti před nimi i Gziltové vstoupí do Záře a stanou se nesmrtelnými. Kolem již krouží mrchožrouti, připraveni servat se o zbytky jejich planety. Uprostřed horečnatých příprav však dojde k násilné vzpouře a vyzáření je ohroženo. Kořeny konfliktu sahají hluboko do minulosti a jsou úzce spojené s počátky Kultury. Zdá se, že do incidentu je zapletená Vyr Cossont, nenápadná dívka s podivnou zálibou – dosáhnout dokonalosti při provedení nesmírně těžké skladby Vodíková sonáta. Vyr nezajímá ani Záře, ani politika, přesto se řešení problému nečekaně ocitne v jejích rukou. Jejím úkolem je nalézt muže, který je nejstarší žijící bytostí a před tisíci lety byl svědkem vzniku Kultury. Nikdo neví, kde se skrývá, i emisaři Kultury po něm pátrají bezvýsledně. Jeho vzpomínky mohou nejen pomoci Gziltům, ale odhalit mnoho z podstaty Kultury samotné. A nade vším se vznášejí lodě Kultury. Vodíková sonáta je devátý román ze série Kultura od fenomenálního autora fantastiky Iaina M. Bankse.

Originally published: Great Britain: Orbit, 2000.

Originally published: London: Orbit, 1998.

A stunning new reissue edition of Feersum Endjinn - a space opera of stunning power and awesome imagination from Iain M. Banks, one of the most important and influential writers in modern science fiction. Count Sessine is about to die for the very last time... Chief Scientist Gadfium is about to receive the mysterious message she has been waiting for from the Plain of Sliding Stones... And Bascule the Teller, in search of an ant, is about to enter the chaos of the crypt . . . And everything is about to change . . . For this is the time of the encroachment and, although the dimming sun still shines on the vast, towering walls of Serehfa Fastness, the end is close at hand. The King knows it, his closest advisers know it, yet sill they prosecute the war against the clan Engineers with increasing savagery. The crypt knows it too; so an emissary has been sent, an emissary who holds the key to all their futures. Praise for the Culture series ''Epic in scope, ambitious in its ideas and absorbing in its execution'' Independent on Sunday ''Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future'' Guardian ''Jam-packed with extraordinary invention'' Scotsman ''Compulsive reading'' Sunday Telegraph The Culture series: Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata The State of the Art Other books by Iain M. Banks: Against a Dark Background Feersum Endjinn The Algebraist Also now available: The Culture: The Drawings - an extraordinary collection of original illustrations faithfully reproduced from sketchbooks Banks kept in the 1970s and 80s, depicting the ships, habitats, geography, weapons and language of Banks'' Culture series of novels in incredible detail.

„Cesta k srdci člověka vede skrz jeho hruď.“ Kultura, sofistikovaná a mírumilovná společnost, je řízena stroji a lidé zde žijí v naprostém dostatku. Za hranicemi vlivu Kultury však leží neznámo a nebezpečí. Sledování okolních soustav a eliminaci hrozeb má za cíl oddělení výzvědné služby Zvláštní okolnosti. Cheradenin Zakalwe je agent Zvláštních okolností. Muž, který je sám nejúčinnější ZBRANÍ, je schopen měnit osudy planet pomocí intrik, špinavých triků a bojových akcí. Násilím se snaží zabránit ještě horšímu násilí. Kultura pro něj má další úkol. Vysílá Zakalweho do nestabilní hvězdné soustavy vyhledat jeho dávného učitele a mentora, a přesvědčit jej ke spolupráci. Může se při tom spolehnout na svého řídícího důstojníka, překrásnou nevyzpytatelnou agentku, a jejího drona? Rozhodně se nenechá ničím zastavit. Jako odměnu požaduje jen jedno – setkání se ženou, se kterou ho silně pojí záhadná a krvavá minulost. K čemu jsou zbraně je třetí román série Kultura od fenomenálního autora fantastiky Iaina M. Bankse.

„Tohle je příběh o muži, který nadlouho odcestoval do velké dálky jenom proto, aby si zahrál. Náš hráč se jmenuje Gurgeh. Příběh začíná bitvou, která není bitva, a končí hrou, která není hra.“ Mocná vesmírná říše Azad, plná násilí a agrese, nestojí jako jiná impéria na náboženství nebo ideologii, ale na hře. Na nesmírně rafinované, komplikované a kruté hře. Kultura, sofistikovaná a mírumilovná společnost, si uvědomuje svou převahu, ale neví, jak se vyrovnat s barbarstvím Azadu. Proto nasadí na hrací desku svého nejlepšího hráče. V Azadu se hraje azad. A co horšího, v Azadu se ŽIJE azad. Hráč je druhý román série Kultura od fenomenálního autora fantastiky Iaina M. Bankse.

"Všichni budeme v pořádku. Všichni budeme naprosto v pořádku."Tak se to říká těm, které vedeme do boje a možná i na smrt. Ať už se válčí pěstními klíny, anebo fúzními bombami.Říká to i Chameleon jménem Bora Horza Gobuchul před nebezpečnou akcí v tunelech pod Scharovým světem, kde se ukrývá uprchlý Mozek vládnoucí možná vědomostmi důležitými pro válku.A v galaxii opravdu válka zuří, vede ji Kultura a Idirská říše, explodují obrovské orbitální konstrukty a mrtví se počítají na miliardy.Bez konejšení se neobejdete: především proto, že ve skutečnosti v pořádku nebude nic a nikdo.Pomysli na Fléba je úvodní román série Kultura od fenomenálního autora fantastiky Iaina M. Bankse, který je právě tak velkolepým vesmírným dobrodružstvím, jako bolestnou úvahou o křehkosti a smrtelnosti.

Contiene: Saga de "La Cultura" completa

Cheradenine Zakalwe era uno de los agentes más importantes de Circunstancias Especiales, que cambiaba el destino de los planetas según las directrices de la Cultura por medio de conspiraciones, sucias artimañas y acciones militares. Diziet Sma lo había sacado de la oscuridad y lo había empujado hacia su actual celebridad, pero a pesar de su relación, ella no lo conocía tanto como pensaba. El drone conocido como Skaffen-Amtiskaw conocía a ambos. Hace tiempo, había salvado la vida de la mujer al masacrar a sus atacantes de una manera especialmente sangrienta. Del hombre, pensaba que era un caso perdido. Pero ni siquiera su inteligencia mecánica podía imaginar los horrores en el pasado de Zakalwe.

4034 d. C.: Respaldado por los Mercatoria, miembros de una orden religiosa y militar de la que apenas sabe nada, Fassin Taak viaja hasta un gigante gaseoso en la periferia de la galaxia, en busca de un secreto que ha permanecido oculto durante quinientos millones de años. Los habitantes del planeta Nasqueron resultan ser unos seres decadentes que viven sumidos en un estado de barbarie superdesarrollada, acumulando infor-mación desordenada, dando caza a sus propios hijos y librando absurdas batallas. Pero ese parece ser el menor de los problemas de Fassin Taak: debe descubrir el secreto en un tiempo limitado, o estallará una guerra que absorberá todo lo que ha conocido y amado alguna vez.

Eighteen-year-old Kit is weird: big, strange, odd, socially disabled, on a spectrum that stretches from "highly gifted" at one end, to "nutter" at the other. At least Kit knows who his father is; he and Guy live together in a decaying country house on the unstable brink of a vast quarry. His mother''s identity is another matter. Now, though, his father''s dying, and old friends are gathering for one last time. "Uncle" Paul''s a media lawyer now; Rob and Ali are upwardly mobile corporate bunnies; pretty, hopeful Pris is a single mother; Haze is still living up to his drug-inspired name twenty years on; and fierce, protective Hol is a gifted if acerbic critic. As young film students they lived at Willoughtree House with Guy, and they''ve all come back because they want something. Kit, too, has his own ulterior motives. Before his father dies he wants to know who his mother is, and what''s on the mysterious tape they''re all looking for. But most of all he wants to stop time and keep his father alive. Fast-paced, gripping and savagely funny, The Quarry is a virtuoso performance whose soaring riffs on the inexhaustible marvel of human perception and rage against the dying of the light will stand among Iain Banks'' greatest work.

Stonemouth : petite ville portuaire maussade au nord d’Aberdeen, en Écosse, réputée pour sa brume, ses gangsters, sa drogue à bas prix et son pont suspendu irrésistible pour les candidats au suicide. Après un exil de cinq ans, Stewart Gilmour est convoqué pour les obsèques de Joe, le patriarche du clan Murston. La dernière fois qu’il a vu les Murston, une des deux familles régnant sur le crime organisé de la ville, ils voulaient sa peau. Mais Stonemouth est aussi la ville de la jeune femme qui hante encore ses rêves. Si son retour sème la discorde, il représente une seconde chance, l’occasion pour lui d’affronter le passé et ce huis clos où tout le monde se connaît. Des souvenirs comiques ou tragiques à l’instant présent, le héros passe de l’adolescence à la maturité, des anciennes amitiés toujours flamboyantes aux ennemis qui n’ont rien oublié. La semaine de deuil s’écoule entre douceur diffuse et violence extrême, jusqu’à sa conclusion explosive, que Stewart lui-même n’aurait pas pu prévoir. De sa plume acerbe, intelligente et toujours amusante, l’auteur installe ses personnages dans une ambiance cotonneuse et nostalgique, théâtre d’une histoire complexe et tendre à la fois.

This special boxed set includes the first three books in Iain M. Banks''s modern classic science fiction series, The Culture. The boxed set is the perfect introduction to the The Culture, a utopian conglomeration of human and alien races that explores the nature of war, morality, and the limitless bounds of mankind''s imagination. "Banks writes with a sophistication that will surprise anyone unfamiliar with modern science fiction." - New York Times Consider Phlebas: The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. But deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind sought by both sides: the Idirans and the Culture. Consider Phlebas introduces readers to the ground-breaking SF series penned by Iain M. Banks. The Player of Games: The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Jernau Morat Gurgeh. Master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad to try a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. But The Player of Games may have at last met his match. Use of Weapons: 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, and military action. But, all that of is in the past. Or so Zakalwe thinks until two figures from those dark days return to talk him out of retirement for one last job.

Primera recopilación de relatos del autor de La fábrica de avispas y El uso de las armas. Incluye dos historias que se desarrollan en el universo de la Cultura, a las que se suman otras seis y un ensayo. El relato principal, una novela corta que da nombre a la obra, es una sorprendente contribución a la saga de ?La Cultura?, que narra la disyuntiva moral acerca del hombre y la Tierra y del posible futuro para la humanidad. ¿Deberá intervenir la Cultura para cambiar este incierto futuro?

The New York Times bestselling Culture novel. . . The Scavenger species are circling. It is, truly, provably, the End Days for the Gzilt civilization. An ancient people, organized on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture ten thousand years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. Now they''ve made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilizations; they are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost infinitely more rich and complex existence. Amid preparations though, the Regimental High Command is destroyed. Lieutenant Commander (reserve) Vyr Cossont appears to have been involved, and she is now wanted -- dead, not alive. Aided only by an ancient, reconditioned android and a suspicious Culture avatar, Cossont must complete her last mission given to her by the High Command. She must find the oldest person in the Culture, a man over nine thousand years old, who might have some idea what really happened all that time ago. It seems that the final days of the Gzilt civilization are likely to prove its most perilous. The Culture Series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata

En el palacio de invierno, la nueva doctora del Rey tiene más enemigos de los que cree. Pero, por otra parte, también dispone de remedios insólitos que ellos desconocen. En otro palacio tras las montañas, el guardaespaldas jefe del Protector General se enfrenta a sus propios adversarios, aunque no lo tiene tan fácil: son más rápidos y eficaces y él solo dispone de métodos tradicionales para hacerles frente...

En la Cultura, una vasta sociedad de dimensiones galácticas y protegida y custodiada por las Mentes, la forma más avanzada de inteligencia artificial, nada parece capaz de poner en peligro la placentera existencia de los seres humanos. Ni siquiera los Affront, la única especie capaz de rivalizar con la Cultura es una seria amenaza. Sin embargo, nadie había contado con el extraño suceso que tiene lugar en un remoto y olvidado extremo del universo. Excesión, una misteriosa esfera oscura que se resiste a todo estudio, ha aparecido donde dos milenios y medio antes una estrella se desvaneció por completo. La humanidad y los Affront se disputan la posesión de los secretos tecnológicos que Excession guarda en su interior.

Gurgeh era uno de los mejores jugadores de la Cultura, maestro reconocido de todos los tableros, y estrategias. Aburrido de su éxito y forzado por las circunstancias, Gurgeh se encontrará a sí mismo en el imperio de Azad, cruel y próspero, enfrentado al juego supremo, un elaborado reto modelado con tanta exactitud, de acuerdo con las reglas de la existencia, que el ganador del mismo es proclamado Emperador. Víctima de un chantaje, y sin verdaderas alternativas, Gurgeh se ve obligado a participar en él, enfrentándose al mayor de los desafíos y poniendo en peligro su propia vida.

Surface Detail is among Iain M. Banks'' Culture novels, a breathtaking achievement from a writer whose body of work is without parallel in the modern history of science fiction. It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters. It begins with a murder. And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself. Lededje Y''breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release, when it comes, is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture. Benevolent, enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful though it may be, the Culture can only do so much for any individual. With the assistance of one of its most powerful -- and arguably deranged -- warships, Lededje finds herself heading into a combat zone not even sure which side the Culture is really on. A war -- brutal, far-reaching -- is already raging within the digital realms that store the souls of the dead, and it''s about to erupt into reality. It started in the realm of the Real and that is where it will end. It will touch countless lives and affect entire civilizations, but at the center of it all is a young woman whose need for revenge masks another motive altogether. The Culture Series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata

The first book in Iain M. Banks''s seminal science fiction series, The Culture. Consider Phlebas introduces readers to the utopian conglomeration of human and alien races that explores the nature of war, morality, and the limitless bounds of mankind''s imagination. The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it. It was the fate of Horza, the Changer, and his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries, human and machine, actually to find it, and with it their own destruction. The Culture Series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata

The Culture — a human/machine symbiotic society — has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game. . . a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life — and very possibly his death. The Culture Series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata

There is a world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse. Such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organization with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers? Among those operatives are Temudjin Oh, of mysterious Mongolian origins, an un-killable assassin who journeys between the peaks of Nepal, a version of Victorian London and the dark palaces of Venice under snow; Adrian Cubbish, a restlessly greedy City trader; and a nameless, faceless state-sponsored torturer known only as the Philosopher, who moves between time zones with sinister ease. Then there are those who question the Concern: the bandit queen Mrs. Mulverhill, roaming the worlds recruiting rebels to her side; and Patient 8262, under sedation and feigning madness in a forgotten hospital ward, in hiding from a dirty past. There is a world that needs help; but whether it needs the Concern is a different matter.