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Now I lay me down to sleep,
I have long found that the sheer breadth and scope of the Culture universe cries out for more stories to flesh out those areas where Mr. Banks did not find the time to explore before his untimely demise. The Culture's technologies make it entirely possible - even routine - to copy a person's mind-state and put the copy into long-term storage. At a later time, and under specified circumstances, the backup mind-state can be inserted into a new body and reactivated. This story explores some of the issues which arise when such recorded intellects are brought back to life. This story was very much inspired by the wide-ranging discussion in this thread on Reddit. Many thanks to u/Copperpin for stirring up such an interesting debate. 'They asked if I wanted it to be reincorporated after it had done its job,' he told the drone. 'They said it could be sent back and sort of put back inside my head, but I said no. Gave me a creepy feeling just thinking about it. What if it had changed a lot while it was away? Why, I might end up wanting to join some retreatist order or autoeuthenise or something!' He shook his head and drained his glass. 'No; I said no. Hope the damn thing never was really alive, but if it was, or is, then it's not getting back into my head, no thank you, I'm sorry.' Excession, Iain M. Banks, 1996. Please feel free to read and comment by email on this story.
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. 
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. 
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. A new story called 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.
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