Banks, Iain Menzies
Banks, Iain Menzies ( 1954 – ),Scottish novelist and science fiction writer, born in Dunfermline. He came to controversial prominence with his first novel, The Wasp Factory ( 1984 ), a macabre tale of teenage fantasies of death and destruction, narrated by 16-year-old Frank Cauldhame, who lives with his ‘scientist’ father on the east coast of Scotland: it was condemned by some for its graphic violence but praised by others for its targeting of macho values. Succeeding novels, such as Walking on Glass ( 1985 ), The Bridge ( 1986 ), Espedair Street ( 1987 ), Complicity ( 1993 , about a journalist investigating a series of bizarre deaths), and A Song of Stone ( 1997 , a post-apocalyptic story set around an ancestral castle in the aftermath of a civil war), more than fulfilled his early promise. Under the name Iain M. Banks he has also written several science fiction novels,...
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