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Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.
The premise of the society of the Culture and the nature of the universe it inhabits is rich, vivid and original, and it has seemed to me that there is plenty of opportunity to further explore stories of some individuals on the edges of that society, and others who oppose them. This book examines the way in which the fractured and frequently secretive nature of the Culture's Minds sometimes plays out. "Sma," the ship said finally, with a hint of what might have been frustration in its voice, "I'm the smartest thing for a hundred light years radius, and by a factor of about a million ... but even I can't predict where a snooker ball's going to end up after more than six collisions." I have written a list of characters and places from the novel, as well as a chapter-by-chapter plot summary. Warning: spoilers. I have had a fair bit of feedback from online readers on this writing project, so please feel free to comment by email on the available chapters.
Apart from being set in the same fictional universe, these three books share no characters or plot so they can all be read independently.
Phrontisterion explores the fate of a Group Mind composed mainly of rather grumpy retired Drones.
Butterfly Happiness explores the attitude of the Culture to the Sublime.
Door Bell explores a meeting between a well-known author and an enigmatic visitor who seems to know more about the author's fiction than he does himself.
Never a Coincidence is a sequel to Unusual Circumstances and further investigates events at the very beginning of The Culture's existence. 
City of Glass follows the Contact section in action on a planet not entirely dissimilar to Earth, where some of the inhabitants have developed a curious denial of reality. Mind in the Making explores how new Culture Minds are created, and the activities of other Minds in supporting their development. 
Rocks and Stars follows the Culture's Quietudinal Service (Quietus) in action and explores what that organisation might do with the dead of other species. Death and Paradise is another story about the Culture's Quietus service and explores what happens when relics of the dead are found in a system where the Culture has started constructing a new Orbital. 
Artistic Expression explores what happens when the Culture is challenged by two powerful remnants of civilizations which have mostly Sublimed. Letters to an Alien introduces the Culture to a newly-Contacted society by means of letters between a young child and the local Culture representative. 
The Gaia Principle considers circumstances when the Culture's Contact section can - and cannot - intervene in the development of another society, regardless of how reprehensible the result might be. Retrospective State explores more of the actions and consequences of Culture ships during the early part of the Idiran war. 
Star Crossed is a slice-of-life story set in the Culture, albeit with a twist in the tale. Beneath the Ice explores how Culture Minds manipulate the presentation of data to minimise psychological damage both to individuals and to the society as a whole. 
Doing Enough explores more of the work of the Culture's Contact section and touches on the approaches which might be used to influence the development of more primitive civilizations where gross social inequalities remain. 
Vivarium Orbital examines the relationship between ordinary Culture citizens and the Minds which run their lives, and indeed the relationship with individuals from other species. 
Care and Feeding is a story about life in the Culture, and how everyday life can sometimes be much more important than one might imagine. 
Recombinant Souls explores some of the implications of the Culture's ability to record, store and re-instantiate a person's mind-state, and what it might mean if there are two or more copies of an individual. Blimp City Blues describes the Culture's Contact section's approach to solving a crime on a gas giant planet when failure to do so might result in an inter-species war. 
An Exodus of Dragons explores the Culture's Contact section's interaction with a species living on a neutron star who think millions of times faster than humans. A new story called Beasts of the Deep is currently under development. This story is a direct sequel to On a Pale Horse, Darkly.
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