Iain Banks gets a place in the sky

I was very pleased to learn that the late great Iain Banks has had an asteroid named after him.

Asteroid Iainbanks resides in the Main Asteroid Belt of the Sol system; with a size of 6.1 km (3.8 miles), it takes 3.94 years to complete a revolution around the Sun. It is most likely of a stony composition.

I wonder if it would be possible to get another asteroid named IainMBanks?

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Ros Kaveney: Mourning Iain

The ever excellent Ros’s second requiem poem for Iain Banks.

The first was written before he died so, unusually, he got to read and appreciate part of his own eulogy.

They both deserve to be read.

Iain (M) Banks RIP

Only just over two months since we heard the news of his cancer, and Iain Banks has died.

Words fail me in describing his influence and importance to British and world SF, but there is so much more besides. I only met him a few times, but he always left the impression of someone who lived life to the full.

His reach and the respect in which he is held is in part demonstrated by BBC news online putting his death at the top of its headlines, above Mandela’s illness, above GCHQ’s embroilment in Prism, and above the latest tory corruption scandal. I’m not sure how he would have felt about pushing that last item off the headlines.

Farewell Iain. I’ll be drinking to your memory tonight.