The State of the Art is a short story collection by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1989. The collection includes some stories originally published under his other byline "Iain Banks", as well as the title novella and others set in Banks's Culture fictional universe. The non-SF stories in the collection are the only non-SF stories published under his Iain M. Banks name.

Editions

The collection was published in the US in 2004 by Night Shade Books, in hardback (ISBN 1-892389-38-X) and limited editions (ISBN 1-892389-99-1). The limited edition contains work by Banks not found in the UK version. A Trade Paperback edition was printed in Canada in 2007 by Night Shade Books, (ISBN 978-1-59780-074-7) It contains the additional text 'A Few Notes on the Culture'.

Contents

Adaptations

"Piece" was adapted by Craig Warner for BBC Radio 5 and broadcast on 6 June 1991. It was directed by John York. The cast included: "The State of the Art" was adapted by Paul Cornell for the Afternoon Play slot on BBC Radio 4 and broadcast on 5 March 2009. The adaptation was directed by Nadia Molinari and the main cast was: In late 2009 it was announced that the story "A Gift From the Culture" was in the early stages of being adapted for the cinema by Dominic Murphy, the director of White Lightnin'.

Reception

In 1990 Mike Christie reviewed the collection for Foundation. Christie called the collection a "rare success" in the genre of utopian fiction, successfully merging the styles of political utopia and "high-tech sf". He praises Banks for showing a cast of believable, imperfect characters, who in turn make his utopia - the world of The Culture - more realistic.