Order of Iain M. Banks Books
Iain Banks (1954-2013) was a Scottish novelist who wrote science fiction as Iain M. Banks, adding his middle initial, to differentiate between his regular literary fiction and his science fiction novels. He is perhaps best known for his The Culture series of books. Banks has been named one of “The 50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945” by The Times daily newspaper in the UK.
Banks made his debut as a published author with The Wasp Factory in 1984. Since that time, he has split his time between his Culture books (the series started in ’87) and standalone novels such as Stonemouth. Below is a list of Iain M. Banks’ books in order of publication and in chronological order:
Publication Order of Culture Books
| Consider Phlebas | (1987) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Player of Games | (1988) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The State of the Art | (1989) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Use of Weapons | (1990) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Excession | (1996) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Inversions | (1998) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Look to Windward | (2000) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Matter | (2008) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Surface Detail | (2010) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Hydrogen Sonata | (2012) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Culture: The Drawings | (2023) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Against a Dark Background | (1993) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Feersum Endjinn | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Algebraist | (2004) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Transition | (2009) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Anthologies
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If You Like Iain M. Banks Books, You’ll Love…
And let’s not forget “The State of the Art” 1993 (I think)
Bank’s last novel was The Quarry, published in 2013, just after his death.