Sign in Subscribe

Iain M Banks

week 38 / 2026: condensers and collapses

week 38 / 2026: condensers and collapses

In this instalment: the demise of the deodand; a history of the microphone; and a gloss on civilisational collapse. Plus: the more-than-human in Haraway! The set-pieces in Iain M Banks! And my seeming inability to say no to academic writing opportunities, despite no longer being an academic!

week 37 / 2026: time and motion

week 37 / 2026: time and motion

In this instalment, we examine the perceived acceleration of time’s passing, tour the tawdry campus of a failed secular techno-guru-cult, and poach processes from a wide range of writers. Plus: Iain Banks, Charlie Stross and the history of space opera!

week 27 / 2026: progress and myopia

week 27 / 2026: progress and myopia

This week, a debunking of bio-factory protein production, which leads us to a broader look at solutionism, and the frustrating impossibility of simply swapping one metanarrative for another. Plus, the short fiction of Iain M Banks...