Synopsis
Iain M. Banks' only short-story collection, never before published in the US.
Contents:
* Road of Skulls
* A Gift from the Culture
* Odd Attachment
* Descendant
* Cleaning Up
* Piece
* The State of the Art
* Scratch
* A Few Notes On the Culture
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Reviews
Accompanied by a lengthy essay, "A Few Notes on the Culture" (1997), these seven arresting short stories and the disturbing novella that provides the title for Banks's latest SF collection all date from 1984–1987, the period of his bizarre mainstream novel The Wasp Factory and the extravagant genre novel Consider Phlebas, both cult-inspiring works. In short pieces like "Road of Skulls" and "Piece," Banks turns convention upside down and inside out, with shocker-endings that linger like smoke rising from a crematorium. "Odd Attachment" traces a marooned spaceman and his AI suit on a tortuous survival trek across an uninhabited planet, illustrating Banks's preoccupation with the "self-generative belief system" that applies to both humans and AIs in the Culture, the setting for the title story and some of his SF novels. Viewing Earth and Homo sapiens through the eyes of the Culture, a galactic group-civilization spawned by a handful of humanoid species several thousand years in the past, allows Banks to speculate on his dearest philosophical topics: the preferability of anarchy in space, denunciation of market economies as "synthetic evil," never-ending education for both humans and machines, and genetic manipulation. For all their wrenching images and sadistic twists, Banks's unsettling tales bestow a grim gift, the ability to see ourselves as others might see us.
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The State of the Art
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G189238938XI3N00
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The State of the Art
Seller: Goodwill, Brooklyn Park, MN, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: very_good. Item may have minor cosmetic defects such as marks, wears, cuts, bends, or crushes on the cover, spine, pages, or dust cover. Shrink wrap, dust covers, or boxed set case may be missing. Item may contain remainder marks on outside edges, which should be noted in listing comments. Item may be missing bundled media. Seller Inventory # 2Y6ZRZ000AZM_ns
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THE STATE OF THE ART
Published by
Night Shade Books, San Francisco/Portland, 2004
ISBN 10: 189238938X
ISBN 13: 9781892389381
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First Edition
Seller: Ed Smith Books, Bainbridge Island, WA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 1 out of 5 stars
hardover. First trade edition thus. The first collection of stories by the author. The title story is a Culture novella that features characters from other Banks novels, but is set on Earth in 1977. An additional Culture story is included in this collection, as well as several other non-Culture stories that demonstrate Banks' tremendous range and skill. 188 pages. A fine copy in a nearly fine dust jacket. Seller Inventory # 14974
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The State of the Art
Seller: B. Brown & Associates, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Trade/ Revised ed. Fine in Fine dj. Seller Inventory # 111525
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The State of the Art
Seller: GoldBooks, Denver, CO, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 34D70_30_189238938X
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The State of the Art (Signed/Limited)
Published by
Night Shade Books, San Francisco & Portland, 2004
ISBN 10: 189238938X
ISBN 13: 9781892389381
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Signed
Seller: Jusara Book Shop IOBA, Canandaigua, NY, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Cloth. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine+. Limited Edition. Signed by Banks on the publisher's limitation page. Limited edition of 150 copies. Volume in Fine condition. Jacket NF+ with just a touch of crimping at the head of the spine. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 000793