EMI is releasing a collection Iain's favourite songs on November 2nd. The collection is entitled Personal Effects.

A film about a chain-smoking, drug-snorting journalist who becomes embroiled in a violent murder mystery has been awarded a £500,000 grant for the Scottish Arts Council.

The film of Iain Banks novel Complicity, which will start shooting in Scotland early next month, was one of a number of projects to benefit in the latest round of lottery awards.

Script writer Bryan Esley and director Gavin Millar, who were involved in the televison adaptation of The Crow Road are involved in the latest project by Talisman Films.

Johnny Lee Miller, of Sick Boy-fame in Trainspotting, will play the lead role of Cameron Colley.

Talisman producer Richard Jackson said: "We are absolutely delighted our film of this important Scottish novel, which will be filmed entirely on location in Scotland, had received the support of the SAC"

SAC chairmand Magnus Linklater said: "It is a very poerful novel by Iain Banks. It is a strong script also and this is important because we believe it's a film that will attract attention."

1. The next non science-fiction book will be written October-December this year. It will be more mainstream than Song of Stone, which Banks thought had been fairly close to Inversions in its themes and style. The new book will be set in the present day and in a specific geographical place. Banks thinks it is time that the science-fiction and fiction side of his work diverge again.

2. The next science fiction book is almost certainly going to signal a return to the Culture novels. Banks enjoys writing in the Culture and is more than happy to respond to numerous requests he has had for 'when is the next Culture novel coming out'.

EMI is releasing a collection Iain's favourite songs on November 2nd. The collection is entitled Personal Effects.

There is a new meeting place for the fans of Banks' work, Internet Relay Chat. On DALnet channel #itg.

The Culture emailing list has spawned a webpage as a source of information on the list and its subscribers.

Ottakar's bookshop in Banbury, Oxfordshire are running a sci-fi/fantasy night at the town hall on June 4th, between 7 and 10pm. Appearing will be Iain Banks, David Mckean, Ken Mcloud and Jane Welch amongst others.

Inversions - the new non-Culture science fiction novel by Iain Banks will be released June 4th. update Inversions has since been reclassified as a Culture novel.

Iain Banks will be the first guest on the new series of Desert Island Discs. It's on Radio 4 at 12:15 on Sunday the 24th August.

David Clayton's Culture fanzine website now has a schedule of Iain Banks signing appearances for his forthcoming novel A Song of Stone.

The Culture an Iain Banks fanzine has been published. It is published quarterly and currently available in Britain and Ireland. It promises to have contributions from Iain from issue 2 onwards, to be published August 1st.

"A Song of Stone will be released in hardback on August 7th. There is also an upcoming appearance on the South Bank Show, hosted by Melvin Bragg."

I read the book in January, in its first draft. The lead character is called Able, though when you finally get around to reading it, it becomes obvious that his name is not important. The book starts as Able and his lover, who barely speaks throughout the novel are setting off after abandoning the castle where his family have lived for generations. They are travelling by horse and cart with fuel oil hidden under the body of the cart. On the road full of refugees they are stopped by a bunch of armed soldiers led by a female lieutenant. The lieutenant has to shoot one of her own men in the head to put him out of his misery during the first chapter. They are commandeered by this bunch and return to the castle where they are held as prisoner/guests by the soldiers. I am going to stop now in case this spoils it for anyone.

When you do read it you will see that the style in which the book is written is as important a strand of the book as any of the characters and the characters themselves are representations of the elements.

The Wasp Factory will be the Late Book starting Monday the 24th of March, 12:30am on BBC Radio 4. Joseph McFadden reads the first part of Iain Banks's controversial first novel, abridged in ten parts by Craig Warner. The novel, already a cult classic, tells the story of Frank Cauldhame, one of literature's most peculiar little boys.