A stunning new reissue edition of The State of the Art - a collection of short stories of stunning power and awesome imagination from Iain M. Banks, one of the most important and influential writers in modern science fiction.



The first ever collection of Iain M. Banks's short fiction, this volume includes the acclaimed novella, The State of the Art. This is a striking addition to the growing body of Culture lore, and adds definition and scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast. The other stories in the collection range from science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale. All bear the indefinable stamp of Iain Banks's staggering talent.



Praise for the Culture series



'Epic in scope, ambitious in its ideas and absorbing in its execution' Independent on Sunday



'Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future' Guardian



'Jam-packed with extraordinary invention' Scotsman



'Compulsive reading' Sunday Telegraph 



The Culture series:

Consider Phlebas

The Player of Games

Use of Weapons

Excession

Inversions

Look to Windward

Matter

Surface Detail

The Hydrogen Sonata

The State of the Art



Other books by Iain M. Banks:

Against a Dark Background

Feersum Endjinn

The Algebraist



Also now available: 

The Culture: The Drawings - an extraordinary collection of original illustrations faithfully reproduced from sketchbooks Banks kept in the 1970s and 80s, depicting the ships, habitats, geography, weapons and language of Banks' Culture series of novels in incredible detail.