Why does Banks publish his mainstream fiction under the name Iain Banks and his science fiction under Iain M. Banks?
Firstly the ‘M’ stands for Menzies. Banks has said that he regrets adding the ‘M’ because ‘literary types’ have suggested that he wishes to make a distinction between his serious side of writing (non-SF) and his ‘dumbing down’ side of SF. Banks loathes this attitude and the way many in the literary establishment look down on SF as not being serious writing. Banks had been considering writing his SF under a pseudonym but the addition of the ‘M’ seemed like a good idea instead because his family had complained that it had been left out on _The Wasp Factory_ and because there was a historical precedent with Brian Aldiss who becomes Brian W Aldiss when writing non-SF.
Firstly the ‘M’ stands for Menzies, it is a ‘family’ name. Banks has said that he regrets adding the ‘M’ because ‘literary types’ have suggested that he wishes to make a distinction between his serious side of writing (non-SF) and his ‘dumbing down’ side of SF. Banks loathes this attitude and the way many among the literary establishment look down on SF as not being serious writing. Banks had been considering writing his SF under the pseudonym of ‘John B. Macallan’. This was derived from two of his favorite whiskies; Johhny Walker and Macallan’s. However his publisher did not think this was appropriate. The addition of the ‘M’ seemed like a better idea partly because two of his uncles had complained that it had been left out on The Wasp Factory (“Are you ashamed of being a ‘Menzies’ then?”) and also because there was a historical precedent with Brian Aldiss who becomes Brian W. Aldiss when writing non-SF.
