Author Iain Banks has revealed that he has late stage cancer and is unlikely to live for more than a year.
The Scottish writer posted a message on his official website saying his next novel The Quarry, due to be published later this year, would be his last.
Born in Fife, Banks studied at Stirling University before publishing his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984.
He has alternated between mainstream and science fiction novels, which he wrote under the name Iain M Banks.
In 2008, he was named one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945 in a list compiled by The Times.
News of his illness was described as "terribly sad" by First Minister Alex Salmond.
He said: "Iain Banks is a remarkable writer who has made a lasting contribution to Scottish literature and culture, inspiring and enthralling readers for 30 years.
iain M Banks Diagnosed with Terminal Cancer
iain M Banks Diagnosed with Terminal Cancer
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22015175#
There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes
~Diana Cortes
-
Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
- Posts: 40005
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:43 am
- Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
- Contact:
Oh, no. 
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
gone.
I had only recently been introduced to his writing he struck me as writer with some new and different things to say.
so sad - I feel a bit selfish about his early death, like he had been taek naway before I really had time to "know" him.
I had only recently been introduced to his writing he struck me as writer with some new and different things to say.
so sad - I feel a bit selfish about his early death, like he had been taek naway before I really had time to "know" him.
Since 1410 most Welsh people most of the time have abandoned any idea of independence as unthinkable. But since 1410 most Welsh people, at some time or another, if only in some secret corner of the mind, have been "out with Owain and his barefoot scrubs." For the Welsh mind is still haunted by it's lightning-flash vision of a people that was free.
Gwyn A. Williams,
Gwyn A. Williams,