THE STATE OF THE ART was published in 1991
It is a collection of short stories
The first and only collection of Iain M Banks’ short fiction, this volume includes the acclaimed novella, The State of The Art.
The State of The Art is a striking addition to the growing body of Culture lore, using the Earth of 1977 as contrast.
Two other tales, A Gift from the Culture and Descendant are set in the Culture universe. The remaining stories in the collection range from horror to dark-coated fantasy to morality tale.
Iain said, “The State of The Art was going to be a longish short story but it turned out to be longer than I thought – a novella. Having invented the Culture, I started playing around with it and thought ‘Hey! Wouldn’t it be fun if I got Earth and the Culture together’ and once I got the idea that the Earth would be used as a control planet, I had to write it because that was such a neat way to end it...yes, they’re here, but they’re just going to watch.”
Asked about why he didn’t write more short fiction, Iain said, “I’ve just always been drawn to the long form. As much as I loved reading SF short stories it was always novels I wanted to write; aside from a few things done for school and some humorous pieces, that’s what I devoted myself to. I tried to write a novel when I was 14, did so when I was 16 and then wrote another four (not saying they were any good, but they were definitely novels). I’d written a million words before I even began to write a short story. Even then it was partly because I was starting to feel it was a bit odd to be writing all these novels and not have any short stories written, let alone published. I just don’t tend to have short story ideas, and even when I do, I’ll usually come up with a way to incorporate that idea into a novel where, potentially at least, it’ll somehow be more productive, more meaningful, in a greater context (again, so I tell myself, at least).
“[The State of The Art is] a Culture story, like the SF novels, only this one’s set in 1977, when a Culture starship discovers Earth. It’s a sort of love story – this guy falls in love with the planet – and it’s an opportunity to say a few things about us, and the Culture. It’s quite funny – well, I find it funny – in places, though it gets more serious towards the end. The machines have most of the good lines, as usual.”
French cover