Iain Banks : Award-Winning Scottish Author Dies Gallbladder Cancer & Talks about Life - Death and Writing
Iain Banks has died aged 59 after a battle with gallbladder cancer, his family is reported to have said.
The Scottish author shocked fans around the world in March when he revealed he was terminally ill.
The novelist, whose books include The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road, said he did not expect to live longer than a year.
Banks asked his partner Adele Hartley to do him the honour of becoming his widow after learning of his illness.
They married in a Humanist ceremony at Inverlochy Castle Hotel in the Highlands over the Easter weekend and honeymooned in Venice and Paris.
Before his death, Banks completed his final novel The Quarry, to be published on June 20.
The partly-autobiographical book reflects the last few weeks in the life of Guy, a man who is terminally ill with the cancer.
It details the emotional and physical strain that cancer has on its sufferers.
He also published science fiction novels under the pen name Iain M. Banks.
Banks announced his fatal illness in a blogpost on his website in April, a month after his diagnosis.
He wrote: 'It started in my gall bladder, has infected both lobes of my liver and probably also my pancreas and some lymph nodes, plus one tumour is massed around a group of major blood vessels in the same volume, effectively ruling out any chance of surgery to remove the tumours either in the short or long term.
'The bottom line, now, I'm afraid, is that as a late stage gall bladder cancer patient, I'm expected to live for "several months" and it’s extremely unlikely I'll live beyond a year.
'So it looks like my latest novel, The Quarry, will be my last.'
Banks has also used his website to thank fans for their support.
'I feel treasured,' he wrote in one post.
'I feel loved, I feel I've done more than just pursue the craft I adore and make a living from it, and more than just fulfil the only real ambition I've ever had - of becoming a professional writer.
'I am deeply flattered and touched, and I can't deny I've been made to feel very special indeed.'
Fellow sci-fi author Ken McLeod paid tribute to Banks today.
He told the BBC news channel: 'I think he has left us a very significant body of work, both in mainstream literature and science fiction and he's also left a large gap in the Scottish literary scene as well as the wider English-speaking world.'
His publisher was quoted saying Banks was 'an irreplaceable part of the literary world'.
Little, Brown Book Group said Banks was 'one of the country's best-loved novelists' for his mainstream and sci-fi work.
'Iain Banks' ability to combine the most fertile of imaginations with his own highly distinctive brand of gothic humour made him unique,' it said.
'Just three weeks ago he was presented with finished copies of his last novel and enjoyed celebration parties with old friends and fans across the publishing world.'
The Scottish author shocked fans around the world in March when he revealed he was terminally ill.
The novelist, whose books include The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road, said he did not expect to live longer than a year.
Banks asked his partner Adele Hartley to do him the honour of becoming his widow after learning of his illness.
They married in a Humanist ceremony at Inverlochy Castle Hotel in the Highlands over the Easter weekend and honeymooned in Venice and Paris.
Before his death, Banks completed his final novel The Quarry, to be published on June 20.
The partly-autobiographical book reflects the last few weeks in the life of Guy, a man who is terminally ill with the cancer.
It details the emotional and physical strain that cancer has on its sufferers.
He also published science fiction novels under the pen name Iain M. Banks.
Banks announced his fatal illness in a blogpost on his website in April, a month after his diagnosis.
He wrote: 'It started in my gall bladder, has infected both lobes of my liver and probably also my pancreas and some lymph nodes, plus one tumour is massed around a group of major blood vessels in the same volume, effectively ruling out any chance of surgery to remove the tumours either in the short or long term.
'The bottom line, now, I'm afraid, is that as a late stage gall bladder cancer patient, I'm expected to live for "several months" and it’s extremely unlikely I'll live beyond a year.
'So it looks like my latest novel, The Quarry, will be my last.'
Banks has also used his website to thank fans for their support.
'I feel treasured,' he wrote in one post.
'I feel loved, I feel I've done more than just pursue the craft I adore and make a living from it, and more than just fulfil the only real ambition I've ever had - of becoming a professional writer.
'I am deeply flattered and touched, and I can't deny I've been made to feel very special indeed.'
Fellow sci-fi author Ken McLeod paid tribute to Banks today.
He told the BBC news channel: 'I think he has left us a very significant body of work, both in mainstream literature and science fiction and he's also left a large gap in the Scottish literary scene as well as the wider English-speaking world.'
His publisher was quoted saying Banks was 'an irreplaceable part of the literary world'.
Little, Brown Book Group said Banks was 'one of the country's best-loved novelists' for his mainstream and sci-fi work.
'Iain Banks' ability to combine the most fertile of imaginations with his own highly distinctive brand of gothic humour made him unique,' it said.
'Just three weeks ago he was presented with finished copies of his last novel and enjoyed celebration parties with old friends and fans across the publishing world.'
Source : DailyNews , BBC
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