The bottom line, now, I'm afraid, is that as a late stage gall bladder cancer patient, I'm expected to live for 'several months' and it’s extremely unlikely I'll live beyond a year. So it looks like my latest novel, The Quarry, will be my last.

As a result, I've withdrawn from all planned public engagements and I've asked my partner Adele if she will do me the honour of becoming my widow (sorry - but we find ghoulish humour helps). By the time this goes out we'll be married and on a short honeymoon. We intend to spend however much quality time I have left seeing friends and relations and visiting places that have meant a lot to us. Meanwhile my heroic publishers are doing all they can to bring the publication date of my new novel forward by as much as four months, to give me a better chance of being around when it hits the shelves.

*　*　*

결론을 말하자면, 유감스럽게도 저는 현재 담낭암 말기 환자로, 예상 수명은 몇 달 정도이며 1년 넘게 살 가능성은 극도로 낮습니다. 따라서 신작인 『The Quarry』가 제 유작이 될 것 같습니다.

이런 연유로 저는 모든 공식 일정을 취소하고 제 파트너인 아델에게 저의 미망인이 되어주지 않겠느냐고 청했습니다. (미안합니다 ─ 하지만 음울한 유머가 도움이 되더군요.) 이 소식이 알려질 때쯤이면 우리는 결혼 후 짧은 신혼여행길에 올라 있을 겁니다. 친구들과 지인들을 만나고 우리에게 소중한 의미를 지닌 곳들을 둘러보는 데에 가능한 한 많은 시간을 쏟을 계획입니다. 그러는 동안 우리 씩씩한 출판사에서는 제 신작의 출간을 4개월가량 앞당겨 아직 제가 살아있는 동안에 책이 나올 수 있도록 온 힘을 다하고 있습니다.





플레바스를 생각하라, 게임의 명수로 유명한 SF작가 이언 뱅크스의 근황입니다. 얼마 남지 않은 20세기의 위대한 장르문학 작가였는데, 안타까운 일입니다. 작가답게 프로포즈가 참 드라마틱하네요. 얼마 남지 않은 시간 행복하게 보내시길.






이하 이언 뱅크스 메시지 전문.(번역할 능력이 없어 죄송합니다.)

i am officially Very Poorly.
After a couple of surgical procedures, I am gradually recovering from jaundice caused by a blocked bile duct, 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.

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.

The bottom line, now, I’m afraid, is that as a late stage gall bladder cancer patient, I’m expected to live for ‘several months’ and it’s extremely unlikely I’ll live beyond a year.  So it looks like my latest novel, The Quarry, will be my last.

As a result, I’ve withdrawn from all planned public engagements and I’ve asked my partner Adele if she will do me the honour of becoming my widow (sorry – but we find ghoulish humour helps).  By the time this goes out we’ll be married and on a short honeymoon.  We intend to spend however much quality time I have left seeing family. and relations and visiting places that have meant a lot to us.  Meanwhile my heroic publishers are doing all they can to bring the publication date of my new novel forward by as much as four months, to give me a better chance of being around when it hits the shelves.

There is a possibility that it might be worth undergoing a course of chemotherapy to extend the amount of time available.  However that is still something we’re balancing the pros and cons of, and is anyway out of the question until my jaundice has further, and significantly, reduced.

Lastly, I’d like to add that from my GP onwards, the professionalism of the medics involved – and the speed with which the resources of the NHS in Scotland have been deployed – has been exemplary, and the standard of care deeply impressive.   We’re all just sorry the outcome hasn’t been more cheerful.

This website was set up so family and fans can leave messages for me and check on my progress.
Iain Banks