Yes, Iain Banks is one of my favourite writers. Yes, I have lovingly collected his first editions and yes I once queued for hours in Basingstoke for his signature. But he's really annoyed me right at the death.
When Karin told me of her own cancer diagnosis, we both agreed there was one positive – it surely beefed up our pitch to agents and publishers for our novel 'Farewell Trip.'
“A romantic comedy about terminal cancer written by two lifelong friends, one of whom has terminal cancer.”
Surely that's a compelling and original starting-point, I said to her, trying to sound light-hearted, spitting in the eyes of death as our main characters do. And then I read that Iain Banks's last, as yet unpublished, novel is about terminal cancer.
As if that's not bad enough I also read that he had written 75,000 words of the book BEFORE he was diagnosed. So not only has he stolen our unique selling point but, like Karin, he also seems to have caught his illness from the hubris of writing about terminal cancer.
Bastard.
i do wonder whether we should start a twitter campaign to tell other writers of the possible association so they can make informed decisions about whether to embark upon something similar...
ReplyDeleteMuch as I regret the death of Mr Banks, I share Gary's sentiments.
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