Iain Banks (1954–2013) was a celebrated Scottish author who wrote mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, earning recognition on The Times' 2008 list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. His debut novel, The Wasp Factory (1984), became a global phenomenon, selling over a million copies and being translated into 80 languages, and it was later ranked the second-best Scottish novel ever in a 2016 BBC poll. He launched his acclaimed Culture series with Consider Phlebas in 1987, expanding it to ten novels, while also producing mainstream hits like The Crow Road (1992), which was adapted for television. Interestingly, his father's registration error gave him the middle initial 'M', which he used for sci-fi but dropped for mainstream fiction at his editor's request to avoid confusion with a Wodehouse character. In April 2013, Banks revealed he had inoperable cancer and passed away on 9 June 2013 at age 59, leaving behind a rich legacy that also included the whisky travelogue Raw Spirit (2004).