The Culture, a literary universe created by author Iain M Banks in which he has based several books, is to be brought to the big screen in an adaptation of his short story ‘A Gift From The Culture’.
The news, reported by Screendaily, has Dominic Murphy attached to direct and co-write with Shane Smith, with whom he has previously worked with on White Lightnin’.
The Culture was first created in Banks’s seminal 1987 novel, Consider Phlebas. Since then, seven other novels have dealt with the setting, including The Player Of Games, Use Of Weapons, The State Of The Art, Excession, Inversions, Look To Windward, and most recently in 2008, Matter. On its original release, Consider Phlebas was relatively unique for being a novel that bucked the trend of science fiction at the time, which leant heavily towards scientific accuracy, or projection of current scientific knowledge, in the then-dominant sub-genre of cyberpunk. Banks himself is known for publishing under two names – Iain M Banks for his science fiction work, and simply Iain Banks for his work outside of the genre.
