February 16th 1954 -June 9th 2013.
Iain Banks was a Scottish author writing mainstream fiction under the name Iain Banks, and science fiction as Iain M. Banks. His death comes after his website announcement on April 3rd of his inoperable cancer.
His SF books created the thoughtful and intriguing 'The Culture', a far future society of intelligent machines with what Banks called ' a well armed liberal niceness'. Liberal and well armed was a combination that formed the basis of a variety of highly inventive tales that were both exciting and thought provoking.
For instance this quote I have been wanting to share and which suggests Banks, for all his awards, prizes, and recognition, had a rye self awareness and in no danger of becoming puffed up and pompous -
" Being a famous artist in the Culture meant at best it was accepted you must possess a certain gritty determination; at worse it was generally seen as pointing to a pitiably archaic form of insecurity and a rather childish desire to show off. "

http://www.scifinow.co.uk/tag/iain-m-banks/