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Iain Banks diagnosed with gall bladder cancer Iain Banks diagnosed with gall bladder cancer
(35 minutes later)
Iain Banks, one of the UK's best-loved and bestselling authors, has been diagnosed with late-stage gall bladder cancer and is "extremely unlikely" to live beyond a year, he announced on Wednesday. Iain Banks's trademark black humour was to the fore as the much-loved Scottish author told the world he was "officially Very Poorly" and was expected to live for just "several months".
Employing his trademark deadpan humour to reveal the news, the Scottish author wrote in a statement posted on his website that he was "officially very poorly", that he was expected to live for several months and that his latest novel, The Quarry, was likely to be his last. Banks, 59, announced in a statement on Wednesday posted on his website – which rapidly crashed as thousands attempted to see the news for themselves – that he had been diagnosed with late stage gall bladder cancer, and was extremely unlikely to live beyond a year.
Banks, who is known for both his literary and science fiction, has recovered from jaundice caused by a blocked bile duct, he said, "but that – it turns out – is the least of my problems. I first thought something might be wrong when I developed a sore back in late January, but put this down to the fact I'd started writing at the beginning of the month and so was crouched over a keyboard all day. The author said he had withdrawn from all public engagements he had planned and had asked his partner, Adele, "if she will do me the honour of becoming my widow (sorry – but we find ghoulish humour helps)".
"When it hadn't gone away by mid-February, I went to my GP, who spotted that I had jaundice. Blood tests, an ultrasound scan and then a CT scan revealed the full extent of the grisly truth by the start of March," said the author. Banks is currently recovering from jaundice caused by a blocked bile duct, he said, "but that – it turns out – is the least of my problems.
"I first thought something might be wrong when I developed a sore back in late January, but put this down to the fact I'd started writing at the beginning of the month and so was crouched over a keyboard all day. When it hadn't gone away by mid-February, I went to my GP, who spotted that I had jaundice. Blood tests, an ultrasound scan and then a CT scan revealed the full extent of the grisly truth by the start of March," ha said.
"I have cancer. It started in my gall bladder, has infected both lobes of my liver and probably also my pancreas and some lymph nodes, plus one tumour is massed around a group of major blood vessels in the same volume, effectively ruling out any chance of surgery to remove the tumours either in the short or long term.""I have cancer. It started in my gall bladder, has infected both lobes of my liver and probably also my pancreas and some lymph nodes, plus one tumour is massed around a group of major blood vessels in the same volume, effectively ruling out any chance of surgery to remove the tumours either in the short or long term."
Banks has withdrawn from all public engagements and has asked his partner, Adele, "if she will do me the honour of becoming my widow (sorry – but we find ghoulish humour helps)". He and his new wife now "intend to spend however much quality time I have left seeing friends and relations and visiting places that have meant a lot to us". His publishers, meanwhile, are "doing all they can" to bring the publication date of his new novel The Quarry forward "by as much as four months, to give me a better chance of being around when it hits the shelves".
The author revealed he had married and was on a short honeymoon, and that he and his new wife "intend to spend however much quality time I have left seeing friends and relations and visiting places that have meant a lot to us". Banks, who made his literary debut in 1984 with The Wasp Factory, is really two authors: he writes bestselling, mainstream, literary fiction as Iain Banks, and award-winning science fiction as Iain M Banks, about the Culture universe.
His publishers, meanwhile, are "doing all they can" to bring forward the publication date of his new novel "by as much as four months, to give me a better chance of being around when it hits the shelves". "The exciting thing about reading Iain Banks is that you never know what kind of book it's going to be,"
The Quarry has already been delivered to his publishers, Little, Brown. said Banks' friend and fellow Scottish writer Ian Rankin.
Banks said there was a possibility he might decide to undergo chemotherapy "to extend the amount of time available", but it was still something he was "balancing the pros and cons of". "It could be weird, it could be other-worldly, it could be literary fiction, a family saga, about a disc jockey – you don't know what you're going to get, so every time a new book comes out there was that excitement."
The author added that the treatment he had received from the NHS in Scotland had been "exemplary, and the standard of care deeply impressive. We're all just sorry the outcome hasn't been more cheerful." Rankin and Banks are both part of a group of writers who would get together "fairly regularly either for a few beers in Edinburgh, or a curry," said the Rebus creator.
"He has this huge belly laugh with his head thrown back … He's a really interesting guy to spend time with – a mind fizzing with energy and ideas, with a childlike wonder at the world. He's also quite engaged with politics – I remember him destroying his passport in protest at what he saw as Tony Blair's war-mongering, and then suddenly realising he needed it for a tour to Australia. He wears his politics and his passion on his sleeve, and he's full of quirks – really engaging quirks. He was attempting at one point to drive along every single road in Scotland, for example, keeping very detailed road maps."
Banks has also written an exploration of the history of malt whisky, in Raw Spirit.
Banks told friends and colleagues about his cancer diagnosis a few weeks back, and Rankin said his comment that he'd asked his partner if she would do him the honour of "becoming my widow" was typical of the author.
"That combination of the macabre with the comedic is something he pulled off time and again in his fiction," said Rankin. "He's taken it with good grace and humour and solecism. I hope I have the chance to have that drink with him in Edinburgh."
Ken MacLeod, the award-winning Scottish science fiction author, has known Banks since the pair were at high school together, and paid tribute to the thousands of fans expressing their love for the writer online – Banks' name was trending at the top of Twitter following his announcement. "It's very moving indeed how many people are very sad," said MacLeod. "Everybody who knows him is just devastated by this.
"It's very hard to take. Iain has been a tremendous support and encouragement over the years. You couldn't ask for a better friend, and I'm just holding out for a statistically improbable recovery."
Banks said there was a possibility he might decide it is worth undergoing chemotherapy "to extend the amount of time available", but it is still something he is "balancing the pros and cons of".
"The way Iain has reacted to his situation is not really with a sense of unfairness but more that it's just the way the universe works, the way matter works, that there's nobody out to get us, nobody to blame for it all," said MacLeod. "It's a very courageous and stoical attitude in his situation. In his case, there's no doubting the style of the man. What you see is what you get, and the Iain who comes across in his books is very much how he is."
Banks said that the treatment he had received from the NHS in Scotland had been "exemplary, and the standard of care deeply impressive. We're all just sorry the outcome hasn't been more cheerful."