Iain Banks, 1954-2013

This isn't music related but I still think it's important. I have a lot of heroes and a lot of them are musicians but not all of them. Some of them are writers and one of those writers is Iain Banks.

My English teacher decided to give everyone in the class a book to read over the summer last year to try and get us all reading, he gave me "The Wasp Factory" by Iain Banks. I wasn't struck on the book when he first gave it to me but I read it anyway and it changed my life! It was the first book I could actually get into, one of the first ones I actually finished. I read more and over that summer he became my favourite author.

Anyway, today he died. He announced two months ago that he had terminal gall bladder cancer and would live no longer than a year. I have to say, when I found out he had actually gone my heart stopped and I'm still in shock. It is sad that just as I was starting to appreciate his work it has stopped.

Iain Banks not only captured my imagination but inspired me to carry on English as an A-Level and fueled my politics more and more. He is up there with Morrissey and Marx on my list of people who benefited my life and I think he needs recognition now that he's gone. As a fellow Scot and lover of literature, I can safely say we lost a great man today.