Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: When did Iain M. Banks create The Culture?
Banks says he conceived the Culture in the 1960s, and that it is a combination of wish fulfilment and a reaction against the predominantly right-wing science fiction produced in the United States.[71] In his opinion, the Culture might be a "great place to live", with no exploitation of people or AIs, and whose people could create beings greater than themselves.[72]
Transition is a novel by Iain Banks, first published in 2009. The American edition was published under the name "Iain M. Banks", which is the name Banks used for his science fiction work.
Lyon, Stephen M. & Edgar, Iain R. 2010. Society, Culture and Politics: Examining Education in Pakistan, in Lyon, Stephen M. & Edgar, Iain R. eds., "Shaping a Nation: An Examination of Education in Pakistan." (Karachi/Oxford University Press. 1–15)
In Iain M. Banks' fictional Culture universe, an Orbital (sometimes also simply called an O or a small ring) is a purpose-built space habitat forming a ring typically around 3 million km (1.9 million miles) in diameter. The rotation of the ring simulates both gravity and a day-night cycle comparable to a planetary body orbiting a star.
Matter is a science fiction novel from Iain M. Banks set in his Culture universe. It was published on 25 January 2008.
Inversions is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1998. Banks has said ""Inversions" was an attempt to write a Culture novel that wasn't."
The Hydrogen Sonata is a science fiction novel by Scottish author Iain M. Banks, set in his techno-utopian Culture universe. The hardcover edition was released on 4 October 2012 in the United Kingdom, and on 9 October in the United States. The book's release marked 25 years since the publication of Banks' first Culture novel. A paperback edition of the book was released on 5 September 2013 in the United Kingdom, and on 10 September in the United States. "The Hydrogen Sonata" was Banks' last science fiction novel, as he died of gall bladder cancer in June 2013.
The Plate-class General Systems Vehicle (GSV) Sleeper Service was introduced in the Culture novel "Excession" by Iain M. Banks. The "Sleeper Service" features as a reclusive Eccentric which had separated from the Culture proper over four decades previously, wandering. Later on, it becomes clear that it had never really left the employ of the Culture's secret services, and investigates the titular Excession, using its "artificial ecology" as a secret weapon.
Consider Phlebas, first published in 1987, is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks. Written after a 1984 draft, it is the first to feature the Culture.
In "Feersum Endjinn" by Iain M. Banks, a vacuum balloon is used by the narrative character Bascule in his quest to rescue Ergates. Vacuum dirigibles (airships) are also mentioned as a notable engineering feature of the space-faring utopian civilisation The Culture in Banks' novel "Look to Windward", and the vast vacuum dirigible Equatorial 353 is a pivotal location in the final Culture novel, "The Hydrogen Sonata".
Against a Dark Background is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1993. It was his first science fiction novel not to be based or set in the Culture.
The Player of Games is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1988. It was the second published Culture novel. A film version was planned by Pathé in the 1990s, but was abandoned.
Iain Banks (16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was a Scottish author. He wrote mainstream fiction under the name Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, including the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies ().
Iain Banks gave his own Culture name as "Sun-Earther Iain El-Bonko Banks of North Queensferry".[1]
The two ASDS names used so far, Just Read the Instructions ("JRtI"), and Of Course I Still Love You ("OCISLY"), pay homage to the works of the late science fiction author Iain M. Banks by being based on his "Culture" fictional universe. Both "JRtI" and "OCISLY" are names of enormous, sentient starships, which appeared in the novel "The Player of Games". The third name that will be used for the fourth ASDS will be A Shortfall of Gravitas ("ASoG") that is similarly drawn from the "Culture"-milieu of Iain M. Banks. The "Culture" series has a running gag on having some starships that include "Gravitas" within their names.
Excession is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks. It is the fifth in the Culture series, a series of ten science fiction novels which feature a utopian fictional interstellar society called the Culture. It concerns the response of the Culture and other interstellar societies to an unprecedented alien artifact, the Excession of the title.
"The Culture" novels by Iain M Banks are centered on a communist post-scarcity economy where technology is advanced to such a degree that all production is automated, and there is no use for money or property (aside from personal possessions with sentimental value). Humans in the Culture are free to pursue their own interests in an open and socially-permissive society. The society has been described by some commentators as "communist-bloc" or "anarcho-communist". Banks' close friend and fellow science fiction writer Ken MacLeod has said that The Culture can be seen as a realization of Marx's communism, but adds that "however friendly he was to the radical left, Iain had little interest in relating the long-range possibility of utopia to radical politics in the here and now. As he saw it, what mattered was to keep the utopian possibility open by continuing technological progress, especially space development, and in the meantime to support whatever policies and politics in the real world were rational and humane."
In the Culture series of novels and stories by Iain M. Banks, humans can and do relatively easily (and reversibly) change sex.
From the 1980s Scottish literature enjoyed another major revival, with figures including Alasdair Gray, James Kelman, Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner, Janice Galloway, A. L. Kennedy, Iain Banks, Candia McWilliam, Frank Kuppner and Andrew O'Hagan. In genre fiction Iain Banks, writing as Iain M. Banks, produced ground-breaking science fiction and Scottish crime fiction has been a major area of growth with the success of novelists including Frederic Lindsay, Quintin Jardine, Val McDermid, Denise Mina, Christopher Brookmyre, and particularly Ian Rankin and his Inspector Rebus novels. 
Various fictional societies are depicted in the Culture series of Iain M. Banks.
The Culture is a fictional interstellar post-scarcity civilization or society created by the Scottish writer Iain M. Banks and features in a number of his space opera novels and works of short fiction, collectively called the Culture series.
Use of Weapons is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1990. It is the third novel in the Culture series.
It is a slang term used to denote people using (attached to) computers, and is based on the need for a human, or liveware, to operate the system using hardware and software. Other words meaning the same or similar to liveware include wetware, meatware and jellyware. Meatware and jellyware are most often used by internal customer support personnel as slang terms when referencing human operating errors.
The term liveware is found in the "Culture" novels by Iain M. Banks. A Culture Ship is named "Liveware Problem".
In Iain M. Banks's Culture series, Orbitals are made ten million kilometres in circumference so that they spin with a rate that gives a natural day/night cycle while the center is in orbit around a star.
Banks published work under two names. His parents had intended to name him "Iain Menzies Banks", but his father made a mistake when registering the birth and "Iain Banks" became the officially registered name. Despite this error, Banks used the middle name and submitted "The Wasp Factory" for publication as "Iain M. Banks". Banks's editor inquired about the possibility of omitting the 'M' as it appeared "too fussy" and the potential existed for confusion with Rosie M. Banks, a romantic novelist in the Jeeves novels by P.G. Wodehouse; Banks agreed to the omission. After three mainstream novels, Banks's publishers agreed to publish his first science fiction (SF) novel "Consider Phlebas". To create a distinction between the mainstream and SF novels, Banks suggested the return of the 'M' to his name, and it was used in all of his science fiction works.
By his death in June 2013 Banks had published 26 novels. His twenty-seventh novel "The Quarry" was published posthumously. His final work, a collection of poetry, was released in February 2015. In an interview January 2013, he also mentioned he had the plot idea for another novel in the Culture series, which would most likely be his next book and planned for publication in 2014.