Iain Banks Pořadí knih

A stunning, large-format hardback featuring original drawings by Iain M. Banks, giving a fascinating insight into the creation of his bestselling Culture universe - an essential collector's edition for all Iain M. Banks fans. číst celé

Знаменитый роман выдающегося шотландца, самый скандальный дебют в английской прозе последних десятилетий. Познакомьтесь с шестнадцатилетним Фрэнком. Он убил троих. Он - совсем не тот, кем кажется. Он - совсем не тот, кем себя считает. Добро пожаловать на остров, который стерегут Жертвенные Столбы. В дом, где на чердаке ждет смертоносная Осиная Фабрика.

Stewart Gilmour is back in Stonemouth, Scotland. After five years in exile, his presence is required at the funeral of local patriarch Joe Murston, even though the last time Stewart saw the Murstons he was running for his life. An estuary town north of Aberdeen, Stonemouth, with its five-mile beach, can be beautiful on a sunny day. On a bleak one it can seem to offer little more than sea fog, gangsters, cheap drugs, and a suspension bridge irresistible to suicides.As he steps back into the minefield of his past to confront his guilt and all that it has lost him, Stewart uncovers ever darker stories, and his homecoming takes a more lethal turn than even he had anticipated. Tough, funny, fast-paced, and touching, renowned storyteller Iain Banks poignantly evokes adolescence, love, brotherhood, and vengeance in a rite-of-passage novel unlike any other.

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.

The war raged across the galaxy, resulting in billions of deaths and the destruction of moons, planets, and stars. The Idirans fought for their Faith, while the Culture defended its moral right to exist. Amid this cosmic conflict, an individual crusade unfolds. Deep within a labyrinth on a barren world lies a fugitive Mind sought by both the Culture and the Idirans. Horza, the Changer, and his unpredictable crew of mercenaries, human and machine, embark on a quest to find it, leading to their own potential destruction. Cheradenine Zakalwe, a top agent for Special Circumstances, alters planetary destinies through intrigue and military action. Diziet Sma, who elevated him from obscurity, realizes she doesn’t know him as well as she believed. Skaffen-Amtiskaw, a drone that once saved Sma's life, views Zakalwe as a burnt-out case, yet it cannot fathom the horrors of his past. In a symbiotic society of humans and machines, Gurgeh, known as the Player of Games, excels in every strategy and board game. Bored with his success, he travels to the Empire of Azad to engage in a game so complex that the winner becomes emperor. Faced with mockery, blackmail, and near-death experiences, Gurgeh accepts the challenge of a lifetime, which may also lead to his demise.

„Měli bychom vždy mluvit pravdu, pokud se neocitneme v situaci, kdy by to bylo naprosto nemorální a pošetilé.“ Gziltové, prastará civilizace řízená na základě na armádních struktur, ačkoli sama je až přehnaně mírumilovná, měli svůj podíl na zrodu Kultury. Málem se stali jedním z jejích zakládajících členů, avšak v posledním okamžiku se rozhodli zůstat mimo. Nyní Gziltové učinili kolektivní rozhodnutí nastoupit cestu, kterou před nimi vyšlapaly miliony jiných civilizací – vstoupit do Záře a povznést se k nové, nekonečně bohaté a rozmanitější existenci. Uprostřed příprav je však zničeno vrchní velení. Zdá se, že v incidentu má prsty Vyr Cossont, nadporučík (v záloze. Vyr toužila jen po dokonalém provedení nesmírně těžké skladby zvané Vodíková sonáta, nezajímala ji ani Záře, ani politika. Nyní je její život vzhůru nohama a Vyr na útěku. Jediným společníkem, pomocníkem a snad přítelem se stal stařičký repasovaný android, který se prohlašuje za avatara Kultury. Jejím úkolem je najít nejstaršího žijícího člověka, může starého přes devět tisíc let. Ten jediný by mohl vědět, co se tehdy dávno skutečně stalo. Poslední dny gziltské civilizace budou plné nebezpečí a budoucnost se zdá být velmi nejistá. Vodíková sonáta je další román série Kultura od fenomenálního autora fantastiky Iaina M. Bankse.

"Абсолютная достоверность самых фантастических построений, полное ощущение присутствия - неизменный фирменный знак Бэнкса" (Time Out)

When sex slave Lededje Y'breq is murdered by a politician on the planet Sichult, the artificial intelligence running one of the Culture's immense starships resurrects her so she can seek revenge. Meanwhile, the Culture is uneasily watching the conflict over whether to preserve virtual Hells for the souls of "sinners" or give them the release of death

Science fiction. Imagine a world that is one of infinite parallel worlds, that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse. Presiding over this world is the Concern, an all-powerful organisation whose operatives possess extraordinary powers. There is Temudjin Oh, an unkillable assassin who journeys between the high passes of Nepal, a version of Victorian London and a wintry Venice; Adrian Cubbish, restlessly greedy City trader; and the Philosopher, a state-sponsored torturer who moves between the time zones with sinister ease. Transition is a high-definition, hyper-real apocalyptic fable for terrible times.

Matter is a novel of dazzling wit and serious purpose. An extraordinary feat of storytelling and breathtaking invention on a grand scale, it is a tour de force from a writer who has turned science fiction on its head. --