A Gift from the Culture
"A Gift from the Culture", published in 1987, is a short work of space opera, by the Scottish science fiction author Iain M. Banks. The story is an early venture into the "complex and unusual and very distant" setting of the Culture, which Banks would further develop through various of full length novels, stories, and his essay "A Few Notes on the Culture".
Lionel Banks
With over 200 films to his credit, Lionel Banks (born June 22, 1901, Salt Lake City, Utah - died March 20, 1950, Los Angeles, California) was a hard-working art director from 1935 to 1949. In that time he worked on such films as Leo McCarey's "The Awful Truth" (1937), Howard Hawks' South American set "Only Angels Have Wings" (1939) and his rapid fire comedy classic the following year "His Girl Friday", most of the "Blondie" B-movies, Alexander Hall's turn of the century fantasy "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" (1941) and Charles Vidor's lush Chopin biopic, "A Song to Remember" in 1945.