Fan Fiction and writers resources for the Culture universe created by Iain M. Banks

I have become an enthusiastic writer of Fan Fiction set in the Culture universe, as invented by Iain M. Banks and used in many of his excellent novels and short stories.

I had long been a fan of Mr. Banks' many splendid works and, like many like-minded individuals, I had waited impatiently for the arrival of each new novel in the series. Unfortunately, after the sad demise of the great man in June 2013, there will be no more.

Frankly, I wish I could write as well as the late great Mr. Banks, to be as imaginative as him in the creation of such an original and astonishing universe, and the rich and multi-faceted stories set therein. Since, self-evidently, I am not so talented and creative, I have decided to halve my problem and set some of my own novels and short stories in the Culture universe.

So, here I present a collection of my own fanfiction novels (one is still a work-in-progress) and numerous short stories set in Mr. Banks' Culture universe.

I have also included a collection of web resources which I have found useful in my self-imposed fanfiction tasks, and which might be useful to others attempting to emulate the writing of Iain M. Banks or set their own fanfic stories in his universe.

I should stress that all these works represent my own personal interpretation of the characters and characteristics of Mr. Banks' universe; any errors of commission or omission are, of course, entirely my own.


Impact Analysis Book Cover My first Culture novel is called Impact Analysis. This story explores the lengths to which some Minds will go in order to test the Culture's own society.

Dark Matter Book Cover I have written a second novel set in the Culture universe created by Iain M. Banks. This one is called Dark Matter and examines the way in which the fractured and frequently secretive nature of the Culture's Minds sometimes plays out.

Unseen Footprints Book Cover I have started work on a third Culture novel. This one is provisionally entitled Unseen Footprints. This is still a work in progress: a lot of draft chapters and a few which still exist just as notes.

Apart from being set in the same fictional universe, these three books share no characters or plot so they can all be read independently.


Galactic Recession Book Cover Phrontisterion Book Cover I have also written numerous short stories set in Mr. Banks' Culture universe.

Phrontisterion explores the fate of a Group Mind composed mainly of rather grumpy retired Drones.

Butterfly Happiness Book Cover Unusual Circumstances Book Cover Galactic Recession is a story about an Eccentric Culture ship and its crew travelling to a galaxy far beyond our own.

Butterfly Happiness explores the attitude of the Culture to the Sublime.

On a Pale Horse, Darkly Book Cover Door Bell Book Cover Unusual Circumstances examines a time towards the very beginning of the Culture, and explores some of the politics and personalities involved.

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.

City of Glass Book Cover Never a Coincidence Book Cover On a Pale Horse, Darkly explores what happens when a deep sea diver is asked to help resolve a conflict of desires between Minds.

Never a Coincidence is a sequel to Unusual Circumstances and further investigates events at the very beginning of The Culture's existence.

Mind in the Making Book Cover

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.

Death and Paradise Book Cover Rocks and Stars Book Cover

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 Book Cover Letters to an Alien Book Cover

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.

Retrospective State Book Cover The Gaia Principle Book Cover

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 Book Cover Beneath the Ice Book Cover

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 Book Cover Vivarium Orbital Book Cover

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.

Galactic Resurgence Book Cover

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 Book Cover

Galactic Resurgence is a sequel to Galactic Recession and examines what happens when a large Culture craft arrives in a galaxy never before explored by the Culture.

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 Book Cover Blimp City Blues Book Cover

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 Book Cover Beasts of the Deep Book Cover

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.

Glacier Plate Book Cover

Beasts of the Deep explores the implications of the Culture's intervention in a society whose behaviour most Cultureniks would find abhorrent. This story is a direct sequel to On a Pale Horse, Darkly.

Glacier Plate explores both the construction of Orbital Plates as well as the influence individuals and groups can have on decisions made in the Culture.


Findo Gask: Goblin Detective book cover Findo Gask: Gumshoe Glamours book cover Findo Gask: Dragon Sleuth book cover Take a look at my series of hard-boiled fantasy novels featuring the eponymous underworld detective: Findo Gask: Goblin Detective, Findo Gask: Gumshoe Glamours and Findo Gask: Dragon Sleuth.

Four Square Less One Book Cover You may also like my collection of fifteen interlinked science fiction and fantasy short stories under the title Four Square Less One. Can you work out the connection between the stories?

New Bridge to Lyndesfarne Book Cover Bridge at War Book Cover Death on the New Bridge Book Cover Bridge of Stone and Magic Book Cover Also, look at my Lyndesfarne Bridge series of novels: New Bridge to Lyndesfarne, Bridge at War, Death on the New Bridge and Bridge of Stone and Magic.

Then a Miracle Occurs Book Cover I am now working on a second (and still growing) collection of short stories under the title ...Then a Miracle Occurs. An eclectic collection of science fiction, fantasy, horror, romance and ghost stories - often more than one at a time. Includes my all-time favourite short-short story Hearts and Flowers.