Official statement here.
One of my favourite authors. Terrible news.
Fuck cancer.
Yeah, fuck cancer. I admire the wit and courage displayed by his statement.
Damn. We’re losing one of the best, if not THE best, science fiction writers we’ve got.
godammitsomuch!
First Pratchett, now Banks.
Neil Gaiman better be taking good care of himself.
Damn.
I prefer to believe that he’s a Special Circumstances operative, and this is just his exit plan.
Damn it. That poor man. I hope he’s not in too much pain.
I consider Player of Games my favourite SF book ever. So it seems Hydrogen Sonata will be the last Culture book ever.
I’ve liked most of his books that I’ve read, but The Crow Road is great. Anyone who’s only read his SF should really try his other stuff as well.
The Crow Road has one of the best opening lines in all of fiction: “It was the day my Grandmother exploded.”
That’s the way to open a novel 
Shitshitshit.
Fuck.
If only we were living in the time and place of The Culture where shit like cancer has been eradicated.
Thanks for the stories Iain, you will live on even after you sublime.
This. Banks is my favorite author ever and I learned how to read English with Pratchett’s books. 
Fuck cancer.
I just got into the Culture novels last year, and for my money, each one was a significantly better book than it’s predecessor. Banks was eventually going to write a book that would have stood head, shoulders and waist above the rest of the crowd, and now he won’t have the time to do that and we shan’t ever get a chance to read it or tell him how amazing it is.
Ddamn it.
I’ve just only recently started reading the Culture series, and came online this morning to praise his imagination and wit. Today’s news hit me like a punch in the gut. For me, reading a book is an intimate experience, like inhabiting someone else’s mind for a time. Losing him will be a great loss for us all. I’m terribly saddened by his prognosis, and am quite pleased that he wed his lady-love.
“Espedair Street” is one of my all-time, bar none favourites of rock [del]journalism[/del] fiction. So sorry to hear this news.
We are, in the Culture universe, living in the time and place of the Culture. Contact is using us as a controlled experiment for the next century or two.
But yeah, if only Banks could transmit his running mind-state to a friendly passing GSV. As a species we really need to get on that.
Damn it. Thanks for all that you’ve given us over the years, Iain. You will be missed but never forgotten.
For those who haven’t heard, Jay Lake is also not doing well. He’s been battling cancer for several years and has taken a recent turn for the worse. In his words: “I’m not terminal yet, but I am formally classified as incurable. In other words, barring some great good luck or a medical miracle it’s only a matter of time. I can definitely see the station from here.”
Well, fuck me running.
Banks is the fiction author I would have most liked to be like, were I a fiction author.
What a goddam shame.
My bookshelf has Kage Baker books next to Iain Bank books. Two lives ravaged by cancer, much too young.