A Meal of Thorns 28 – EXCESSION with Abigail Nussbaum

Banks’ Culture novels, about a utopian space-faring civilization, are hugely influential in both SF literature and the tech industry. Award-winning critic Abigail Nussbaum joins us to discuss Excession, a Culture novel about proxy conflicts and interventionist politics, existential threats, and…problematic exes? Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books. Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Credits: Guest: Abigail Nussbaum Title: Excession by Iain M. Banks Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough Transcribers: Kate Dollarhyde and John WM Thompson   References: Vector Los Angeles Review of Books The Guardian Strange Horizons Lawyers, Guns & Money Warren Zevon Asking the Wrong Questions Abigail’s Track Changes Colourfields by Paul Kincaid Nina Allan’s Granite Silence and The Art of Space Travel Ed Park’s An Oral History of Atlantis Banks’ Consider Phlebas, Use of Weapons, & The Player of Games Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism Star Trek John le Carré Andor Transmentation Transience by Darkly Lem Outside Context Problems & Aggressive Hegemonizing Swarms Stanislaw Lem Kubrick/Clarke's 2001 Paul Kincaid's biography of Banks Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are C.J. Cherryh Yudhanjaya Wijeratne's Salvager books Greg Egan Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire Banks’ Look to Windward Abigail's Bluesky Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future Ned Beauman's Venomous Lumpsucker Neal Stephenson's Termination Shock