# The long overdue 'favourite Culture ship name' thread



## SpookyFrank (Mar 5, 2009)

Well?

I quite like 'Hand me the gun and ask me again' 

'Ethics Gradient' and 'Attitude Adjuster' are both good too though.


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## dylanredefined (Mar 5, 2009)

I said ive got a big stick[/SIZE


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## Crispy (Mar 5, 2009)

Can we make up our own?

Anyway, here's all of them: Wiki

I like "Resistance Is Character-Forming"


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## SpookyFrank (Mar 5, 2009)

Crispy said:


> Can we make up our own?



No you can't 

That list makes me want to change my vote to 'Ravished by the sheer implausibility of that last statement'.


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## Orang Utan (Mar 5, 2009)

You'll Clean That Up Before You Leave


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## The Groke (Mar 5, 2009)

massive nerd-off!


yay!

"Of Course I Still Love You"
"A Frank Exchange of Views" and the pair:
"I Blame My Mother"/"I Blame Your Mother"


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## Orang Utan (Mar 5, 2009)

Is there one that's called It's Not Me, It's You?


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## Crispy (Mar 5, 2009)

I don't think so, but that's a good one


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## gsv (Mar 5, 2009)

Crispy said:


> I don't think so, but that's a good one


I don't think so, but that's a good one

GS(v)


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## brixtonvilla (Mar 5, 2009)

*wikis*

_What are the civilian applications?_

and

_Prosthetic Conscience_


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 5, 2009)

My favourite is
Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall


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## cybertect (Mar 5, 2009)

gsv said:


> GS(v)



I've always wondered, and I suppose this has to be the thread to ask...


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## mauvais (Mar 5, 2009)

I would also like to know why one of our posters uses/used MSV Ethics Gradient as a tag, when wiki says it's GSV, but I've never cared enough or had the opportunity to ask, so now I will.


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## Santino (Mar 5, 2009)

Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The


I haven't read Windward OR Matter yet.


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## Bernie Gunther (Mar 5, 2009)

To do a steal from Neal Stephenson, I think 'Poor Impulse Control' would make a good Culture ship name.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Mar 5, 2009)

not eligible  as  not a culture mind   but   



Spoiler: spoiler for excession



hats off the  the  ship Excession


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## Santino (Mar 5, 2009)

Bernie Gunther said:


> To do a steal from Neal Stephenson, I think 'Poor Impulse Control' would make a good Culture ship name.


Or 'Imp of the Perverse'


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 5, 2009)

From that list,

Ultimate Ship The Second.


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## kyser_soze (Mar 6, 2009)

I incorrectly assigned it MSV status, it's as simple as that 

Fave ship name of all time is the GCU _Reasonable Excuse_...and _Liveware Problem_, obviously...


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## bluestreak (Mar 6, 2009)

Mrs Magpie said:


> My favourite is
> Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall




Me too.  Also Unfortunate Conflict Of Evidence;  Poke It With A Stick.


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## bluestreak (Mar 6, 2009)

Alex B said:


> Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The
> 
> 
> I haven't read Windward OR Matter yet.




Windward was the first one I read, last summer.  I fell in love immediately.  It's a great work.


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## kyser_soze (Mar 6, 2009)

> Poke It With A Stick.



Technically not a ship name - it's one of the ones that comes up in the conversation about naming culture ships in Windward. It'd have to be a GCU if it was real tho...


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 6, 2009)

The Culture novels are some of the only sci-fi I can read. I enjoyed most of the Rama series, I enjoyed the Night's Dawn Trilogy, but the Culture novels are excellent. Saying that I've only read 2, _Consider Phlebus_ and _Excession_


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## fractionMan (Mar 6, 2009)

Liveware Problem made me chuckle


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## Santino (Mar 6, 2009)

Use of Weapons is the best Culture book, and I say that without having read two of them. Read it now if you haven't. Leave whatever you are doing and read it.

Now.

Go on.


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## Boycey (Mar 6, 2009)

more of a nickname but meatfucker gets my vote.


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## kyser_soze (Mar 6, 2009)

fractionMan said:


> Liveware Problem made me chuckle



I think along with GCU Grey Area and dROU Xenophobe it's the best ship character Banks has come up with...


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## camouflage (Mar 6, 2009)

_I Couldn't Possibly Choose._ -Plate.


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## DotCommunist (Mar 6, 2009)

Victim of the Ambient Morality


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## SpookyFrank (Mar 6, 2009)

Boycey said:


> more of a nickname but meatfucker gets my vote.



Apparently that's the name it's recorded by in the Culture archives.

[/geek]


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## xenon (Mar 6, 2009)

I like.

You Naughty Monsters
Frank Exchange Of Views
A Series Of Unlikely Explanations

Did think up a couple of my own... Can only remember. GCU. This Way Up.

BTW. State of the Art was on R4 yesterday, for anyone who missed. 1415.


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## SpookyFrank (Mar 7, 2009)

Alex B said:


> Use of Weapons is the best Culture book, and I say that without having read two of them. Read it now if you haven't. Leave whatever you are doing and read it.



Just posting to say thanks for this piece of advice. I haven't started the book yet but when I went to buy it today I managed to get the cute girl from the bookshop's phone number 

Science fiction and girls, who would have thought there'd ever be any crossover there eh?


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## Cid (Mar 7, 2009)

Crispy said:


> Can we make up our own?



This is actually quite a good idea; if you were a culture ship, what would you name yourself?

I have no idea, but will give it some serious thought when sober.


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## DotCommunist (Mar 7, 2009)

Cid said:


> This is actually quite a good idea; *if you were a culture ship, what would you name yourself?*
> 
> I have no idea, but will give it some serious thought when sober.



Your Mum


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## Crispy (Mar 7, 2009)

I am GCU "what does this do?"


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## PursuedByBears (Mar 7, 2009)

GSV "Infinite Number of Monkeys"


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## yield (Mar 7, 2009)

xenon said:


> BTW. State of the Art was on R4 yesterday, for anyone who missed. 1415.



IPlayer


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## likesfish (Mar 7, 2009)

I thought likesfish was a culture ship obviously mistaken 

theres no charge for awsome  would be quite good


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## Santino (Mar 7, 2009)

GVS Thrown Projection


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## Fruitloop (Mar 7, 2009)

ROU Are you looking at my pint?


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## SpookyFrank (Mar 7, 2009)

If we're making them up now then I'll be GSV I told you this would happen and as usual you ignored me.


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## Cid (Mar 7, 2009)

ROU Go on, press the button.

Or maybe GSV I like to watch.

Nah, probably GCU Here, let me try.


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## Santino (Mar 7, 2009)

SpookyFrank said:


> Just posting to say thanks for this piece of advice. I haven't started the book yet but when I went to buy it today I managed to get the cute girl from the bookshop's phone number
> 
> Science fiction and girls, who would have thought there'd ever be any crossover there eh?


Was your opening gambit 'A stranger on the internet told me to come and buy this book at once'?


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## SpookyFrank (Mar 7, 2009)

Alex B said:


> A stranger on the internet told me to come and buy this book at once...



...it must have been fate. Either that or we're pawns in some nefarious Special Circumstances plot. Whichever is the case we'd be unwise to go against the wishes of powers greater than ourselves, I think you'd better tell me what time you get off work 

No, sadly it was nothing like that.


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## gsv (Mar 8, 2009)

xenon said:


> BTW. State of the Art was on R4 yesterday, for anyone who missed. 1415.


It was poop.



cybertect said:


> I've always wondered, and I suppose this has to be the thread to ask...


 though for the boards I really should have declared myself a Contact Unit.
Turns out that gsv has...other advantages...

GS(v)


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## Bob_the_lost (Mar 8, 2009)

Unstopable force and Umovable object are just crying out to be names.


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## Crispy (Mar 8, 2009)

gsv said:


> It was poop.


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## dylanredefined (Mar 8, 2009)

Me I'd be the contact ship wait out .   sorry 


  Though  the Warship names   "Oi what you lookin at "
                                          "Did you spill my pint ?" appeal


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## xenon (Mar 8, 2009)

Yep. 
I've not read State of the Art but the play was a bit naff. 

I've just thought of these.

ROU. Now it's my turn.
GOU. Generally offensive.
GOU. Nice on the inside.
GCU. It's not supposed to do that.
GSV. Something about the quantem flux.
ROU. Be nice to your mother.
MSV. You only had to ask.
ROU. A delicate balance of rage and sarcasm.
Rou. Time waster.
GCU. Shifting perspective.
GCU. Little trupador.


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## Brainaddict (Mar 8, 2009)

I like 'Frank Exchange of Views' and 'Well I was in the Neighbourhood'.


I'd go for VFP Unexpected Inconvenience


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## kyser_soze (Mar 9, 2009)

GCU _Oh, alright then, I'll go and look_
ROU _Hit it again_
GSV _All Safe and Sound_
VFP _You shouldn't be driving_


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## DotCommunist (Mar 9, 2009)

GCU That Was My Last Beer

ROU I'll Be With You In A Minute

VFP Does Your Mother Know You're Out This Late?


e2a ^^^ made up ones


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## kyser_soze (Mar 9, 2009)

GCU _I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours_


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## kabbes (Mar 9, 2009)

The Player of Games has the best list of ship names.  (It also happens to be my favourite Culture book.)

The many highlights from that book are:

Screw Loose, Flexible Demeanour, Just Read The Instructions, Of Course I Still Love You, Limiting Factor, Cargo Cult, So Much For Subtlety, Unfortunate Conflict Of Evidence, Youthful Indiscretion and Kiss My Ass


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## DotCommunist (Mar 9, 2009)

kabbes said:


> The Player of Games has the best list of ship names.  (It also happens to be my favourite Culture book.)
> 
> The many highlights from that book are:
> 
> Screw Loose, Flexible Demeanour, Just Read The Instructions, Of Course I Still Love You, Limiting Factor, Cargo Cult, So Much For Subtlety, Unfortunate Conflict Of Evidence, Youthful Indiscretion and Kiss My Ass



Everyone kisses the rectum of Player Of Games, and while I did really enjoy it it is not a patch on Excession or Look to Windwards.


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## berniedicters (Mar 9, 2009)

Me? Er, 

GSV "We're Running Out Of Ways In Which It Could Get Any Worse"

or perhaps

ROU "You're Confusing Me For Someone Who Gives A Damn"


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## kabbes (Mar 9, 2009)

I didn't know that Player of Games was popular, actually -- I'm not really a big Banks fan.  I am amused to be told that my favourite is apparently one of his more popular -- doesn't happen to me that much!

I didn't like Excession much, though, and I haven't read Look to Windwards.

For the main, I find his Culture novels a bit impenetrable.  It's hard to get into the mindset.  But when they're good, they're very very good.  And I just found Player of Games particularly good.


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## gsv (Mar 9, 2009)

kabbes said:


> The Player of Games has the best list of ship names.  (It also happens to be my favourite Culture book.)
> 
> The many highlights from that book are:
> 
> Screw Loose, Flexible Demeanour, Just Read The Instructions, Of Course I Still Love You, Limiting Factor, Cargo Cult, So Much For Subtlety, Unfortunate Conflict Of Evidence, Youthful Indiscretion and Kiss My Ass


For most of the book he's outside the Culture. Hard to remember where so many ships come in at all!

GS(v)


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## Santino (Mar 9, 2009)

Use of Weapons pisses all over Player of Games. And then uses it as a weapon.


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## gsv (Mar 9, 2009)

Alex B said:


> Use of Weapons pisses all over Player of Games. And then uses it as a weapon.





Spoiler: Use of Weapons



...then discards it and picks up a rogue Jilly Cooper.



GS(v)


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## Idaho (Mar 9, 2009)

Ok - here's an Iain Banks competition. A prize goes to anyone who can name a Banks SF novel that isn't heroed by either a space uber-chic or a brooding genius, tired with the frivolity of culture life. I've read about 5 of them, and none of them pass the test 

_Frank Exchange of Views_ is the best name.


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## kyser_soze (Mar 9, 2009)

The latest one, Matter, and Look To Windward (IMO) 

Matter has a female SC Agent, but she's not cast in the Sma role...


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## SpookyFrank (Mar 9, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> Everyone kisses the rectum of Player Of Games, and while I did really enjoy it it is not a patch on Excession or Look to Windwards.



^This. Player was good but a bit obvious in places, the stuff about the barbarism of the Azadians all felt a bit forced. The Affront in Excession were a much more interesting strain of complete bastard IMO.


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## bluestreak (Mar 9, 2009)

Definitely Look To Windward, Idaho.  Neither male nor female lead in Excession are either of those things also.


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## SpookyFrank (Mar 9, 2009)

Idaho said:


> Ok - here's an Iain Banks competition. A prize goes to anyone who can name a Banks SF novel that isn't heroed by either a space uber-chic or a brooding genius, tired with the frivolity of culture life. I've read about 5 of them, and none of them pass the test



Look to Windward. Not only is there no hero in it but nothing very much actually happens


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## SpookyFrank (Mar 9, 2009)

bluestreak said:


> Definitely Look To Windward, Idaho.  Neither male nor female lead in Excession are either of those things also.



All the humans in Excession are just pawns in a giant game of spaceship silly buggers


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## kyser_soze (Mar 9, 2009)

Yeah, but in fairness, you can see where he's coming from WRT to Byr Genar-Hofoen...


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## fogbat (Mar 9, 2009)

SpookyFrank said:


> Well?
> 
> *I quite like 'Hand me the gun and ask me again'*
> 
> 'Ethics Gradient' and 'Attitude Adjuster' are both good too though.



That one's my favourite


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## gsv (Mar 9, 2009)

Idaho said:


> Ok - here's an Iain Banks competition. A prize goes to anyone who can name a Banks SF novel that isn't heroed by either a space uber-chic or a brooding genius, tired with the frivolity of culture life. I've read about 5 of them, and none of them pass the test


The Algebraist. Isn't in the lead is a bloke and it The Culture 

GS(v)


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## gsv (Mar 9, 2009)

I've just re-read that post and it's not in English.
Try again:The lead is a bloke and it isn't in The Culture.​
GS(v)


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## bluestreak (Mar 9, 2009)

kyser_soze said:


> Yeah, but in fairness, you can see where he's coming from WRT to Byr Genar-Hofoen...




Not really.  He's not particularly brooding, and is certainly no genius.  I'll allow you tired of the Culture though.


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## Idris2002 (Mar 9, 2009)

GCU _Suck it and see_

ROU _You disappoint me, lover_

VFP _The impossibility of death in the Mind of someone living_


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## berniedicters (Mar 9, 2009)

GCU _"Thus", spake Zarathustra._


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## Idris2002 (Mar 9, 2009)

ROU _The afterbirth of mathematics_

GCU _The soft kissing of continents_


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## DotCommunist (Mar 9, 2009)

GCU _Ascension is Overrated_

ROU _Are You Looking At My Bird_


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## berniedicters (Mar 9, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> ROU _Are You Looking At My Bird_


I like this


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## Orang Utan (Mar 9, 2009)

ROU Did You Spill My Pint


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## Idris2002 (Mar 9, 2009)

ROU _Your Honour May Be Your Loyalty, But It Sure As Hell Ain't Mine_


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## mitochondria (Mar 9, 2009)

I am surprised no one mentioned ROU _Nuisance Value_ yet. Also another vote for ROU _Attitude Adjuster_.

I would be like to be ROU _Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!_


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## SpookyFrank (Mar 9, 2009)

I'm bored so I'm going to invent some more:

GSV I'm Fairly Certain It Shouldn't Be Doing That
ROU Soon To Be Imminent
MSV Temporarily Misplaced
GSV Ulterior Design
VFP If You Think 'Right' Is Entirely Subjective Then Maybe I Should Hold The Map
ROU That Wasn't The Answer I Was Looking For

Etc...


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## DotCommunist (Mar 9, 2009)

always enjoyed Alistair Reynolds_ revelation space_ ship names

Nostalgia for Infinity, Zodiacal Light.


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## DotCommunist (Mar 9, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> ROU Did You Spill My Pint



we could go all day with the ROU's 'don't look at me in that tone of voice'  'I demand satisfaction' 'outside, now' 'I just slapped you with my glove' etc etc


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## Crispy (Mar 9, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> ROU Did You Spill My Pint



I think that's the dROU name. Back in the war, it was just the ROU _You Spilt My Pint_


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## Orang Utan (Mar 9, 2009)

ROU come and have a go if you think you're hard enough


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## Stigmata (Mar 9, 2009)

GCU _Happy Coincidence_

ROU _I Hope We Can Still Be Friends_

And i'm glad you mentioned Reynolds, DC. Ship names are a bit emo but cool nonetheless. _Eldritch Child_, _Misericordia_, _Madonna of the Wasps_, _Gnostic Ascension_ etc. Poncy Ultras.


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## DotCommunist (Mar 9, 2009)

Stigmata said:


> GCU _Happy Coincidence_
> 
> ROU _I Hope We Can Still Be Friends_
> 
> And i'm glad you mentioned Reynolds, DC. Ship names are a bit emo but cool nonetheless. _Eldritch Child_, _Misericordia_, _Madonna of the Wasps_, _Gnostic Ascension_ etc. Poncy Ultras.





Reynolds Ultranauts made me go and have a long hard think and read about time dilation.


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## Stigmata (Mar 9, 2009)

I'd rather be a Conjoiner or even a Demarchist tbh


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## DotCommunist (Mar 9, 2009)

Stigmata said:


> I'd rather be a Conjoiner or even a Demarchist tbh



no wai. Conjoiners are a hive mind and demarchists are simply lassai-faire anarcho capitalists.

Ultranauts are cool and slightly ramshackle and twisted.


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## Santino (Mar 9, 2009)

GSV Soothing Tones of Richard Briers


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## kyser_soze (Mar 10, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> no wai. Conjoiners are a hive mind and *demarchists are simply lassai-faire anarcho capitalists.*
> 
> Ultranauts are cool and slightly ramshackle and twisted.



Have you read The Prefect yet? Post-plague your description fits, but pre-plague...



> GSV I'm Fairly Certain It Shouldn't Be Doing That



I'd have to disagree - that's a GCU name, surely? GSVs tend toward slighty less flippant names...


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## Idaho (Mar 10, 2009)

gsv said:


> The Algebraist. Isn't in the lead is a bloke and it The Culture
> 
> GS(v)



The Algebraist suffers from a different problem - that of being one of the most long winded and tedious sf books ever written. Gas bags who have parties on Jupiter? Fuck off


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## DotCommunist (Mar 10, 2009)

kyser_soze said:


> Have you read The Prefect yet? Post-plague your description fits, but pre-plague...
> 
> 
> 
> I'd have to disagree - that's a GCU name, surely? GSVs tend toward slighty less flippant names...



oh yeah, pre plague demarchy was a different beast entirely, what with it's voluntary tyrannies etc.


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## Brainaddict (Mar 10, 2009)

GSV Keep Digging

GCU No really, I insist

ROU There's no need to be rude

GOU Talking _is_ the best way to resolve a conflict but that's not where my expertise lies

ROU Hard Place


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## xenon (Mar 10, 2009)

OH yeah I like Lapsed Pacifist. A ROU IIRC.

-
ROU Feel free to panic.
VFP. Ready when you are.
GSV. Matter under-mind.
GCU. I'm sure that wasn't there last time.


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## SpookyFrank (Apr 2, 2009)

Alex B said:


> Use of Weapons is the best Culture book, and I say that without having read two of them. Read it now if you haven't. Leave whatever you are doing and read it.



Why did you make me read that book you bastard? Urgh...just..._urgh_


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## Santino (Apr 3, 2009)

SpookyFrank said:


> Why did you make me read that book you bastard? Urgh...just..._urgh_


That dawning realisation...


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## Brinxmat (Apr 3, 2009)

Vintage Paw said:


> The Culture novels are some of the only sci-fi I can read. I enjoyed most of the Rama series, I enjoyed the Night's Dawn Trilogy, but the Culture novels are excellent. Saying that I've only read 2, _Consider Phlebus_ and _Excession_



Do "Player of Games" next, I pray you...


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## Brinxmat (Apr 3, 2009)

kabbes said:


> The Player of Games has the best list of ship names.  (It also happens to be my favourite Culture book.)
> 
> The many highlights from that book are:
> 
> Screw Loose, Flexible Demeanour, Just Read The Instructions, Of Course I Still Love You, Limiting Factor, Cargo Cult, So Much For Subtlety, Unfortunate Conflict Of Evidence, Youthful Indiscretion and Kiss My Ass


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## Random (Apr 3, 2009)

iirc it was M John Harrison who started the whole thing with space ships having funny names like _My Ella Speed _and_ Liberal Power_ in _The Centauri Device_


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## likesfish (Apr 4, 2009)

rou say hello to my little friend


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## DotCommunist (Apr 4, 2009)

Brinxmat said:


> Do "Player of Games" next, I pray you...



This, or Inversions.

Inversions has a wonderful subtlety.


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## SpookyFrank (Apr 5, 2009)

Player of Games is the worst Culture novel. It's still great mind you, but it hasn't got anything like the depth of Use of Weapons or Excession.

The descriptions of the Azad games feel like I could have written them, except that I'd have shitcanned them for being too dull.


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## xenon (Nov 2, 2020)

_bump_

Just cos I'm rereading some M Banks lately. Hydrogen Sonata at present.
LOU. Caconym.
UE. Mistake Not...

etc.

And then you always make up more of your own.

VFP. Flattening the Curve
LSV. About Time.
GCU. Didn't you get the Memo
ROU. Not my Problem
GCU. Well, someone Had to
ROU. Expeditious use of Exotic Nasties

As you were...


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## prunus (Nov 2, 2020)

xenon said:


> _bump_
> 
> Just cos I'm rereading some M Banks lately. Hydrogen Sinata at present.
> LOU. Caconym.
> ...



The Mistake Not... indeed - but give it the dignity of its full name (spoiler for The Hydrogen Sonata):



Spoiler



Mistake Not My Current State Of Joshing Gentle Peevishness For The Awesome And Terrible Majesty Of The Towering Seas Of Ire That Are Themselves The Mere Milquetoast Shallows Fringing My Vast Oceans Of Wrath.


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## David Clapson (Nov 2, 2020)

Who chooses the names? The minds?


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## existentialist (Nov 2, 2020)

David Clapson said:


> Who chooses the names? The minds?


Yep.


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## The Octagon (Nov 2, 2020)

Apparently the planned Culture series on Amazon has been effectively scrapped.

In two minds about whether I mind (aha) given the scope and CGI needed.


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## SpookyFrank (Nov 2, 2020)

The Octagon said:


> Apparently the planned Culture series on Amazon has been effectively scrapped.
> 
> In two minds about whether I mind (aha) given the scope and CGI needed.



I wasn't hopeful tbh. Either about it ever getting made or being any good if it did. Altered Carbon has taught me to be wary of cult sci-fi stuff being adapted for TV.


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## weltweit (Nov 2, 2020)

I missed this first time around. Am a fan of the books, think I have read them all now.


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## yield (Nov 2, 2020)

Ken MacLeod helped make Use of Weapons, which is still my favourite. 

Good old Guardian interview with Iain Banks here



> It was my pal Ken MacLeod who asked to read it again, in the mid-80s. I told him he was mad. He took it away, read it, then said he reckoned there was a good novel in there struggling to get out. I told him he was mad again. Undaunted, he revealed a plan: use a much simpler, two-strand structure, with – and this was the clever bit – one strand going forward in time and the other going back, both leading to their own climax, at the end.


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## SpookyFrank (Nov 2, 2020)

Need to read Use of Weapons again.


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## DotCommunist (Nov 2, 2020)

I'm just reading one of his non M books 'Stonemouth' which I haven't read before. A much missed writer.  ROU They Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore.


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## mojo pixy (Feb 17, 2021)

_Consider Phlebas_ blew my tiny mind, it was the first IMB book I read. _Excession _blew it again and for a while I got totally obsessed with the mind-communication-code some of it is written in. And then _The Algebraist_ did it again (gas giant creatures who hunt their own young ffs...)

In Use of Weapons there's a GSV called _Size Isn't Everything_ that's 50 miles long or something.

I've been writing fantasy/sci-fi stories and one of my favourite bits is thinking up characters' names, but after reading this thread my contribution is

GCU _No Authority Here_
GSV _We Make it, You Break It_
ROU _Unquantifiable Hazards

Unquantifiable hazards _is from a strange sign on a tree by the river in Bristol. 
I'm sure the truth behind it is probably way less interesting than it appears.



/random crap

(there goes another possible GSV name...)


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## strung out (Feb 17, 2021)

mojo pixy said:


> _Consider Phlebas_ blew my tiny mind, it was the first IMB book I read. _Excession _blew it again and for a while I got totally obsessed with the mind-communication-code some of it is written in. And then _The Algebraist_ did it again (gas giant creatures who hunt their own young ffs...)
> 
> In Use of Weapons there's a GSV called _Size Isn't Everything_ that's 50 miles long or something.
> 
> ...


Is that tree down on the Avon Valley by Hanham? If so, I run past it regularly - never stopped to read the sign though!



You're right, good name for a Culture ship.

P.S. If you haven't already, read Look to Windward. Perhaps my favourite Culture novel.


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## mojo pixy (Feb 17, 2021)

strung out said:


> Is that tree down on the Avon Valley by Hanham?



Yes, somewhere between the lane down from Hanham, and Conham River Park.
EtA - nice picture of the place!



strung out said:


> P.S. If you haven't already, read Look to Windward. Perhaps my favourite Culture novel.



I enjoyed that one too, don't remember it as well maybe because I only read it once. _Look to Windward_ is part of the same poem _Consider Phlebas_ comes from, isn't it? The Waste Land by TS Eliot IIRC


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## xenon (Feb 17, 2021)

Ha, so that's where it's from. I remember it was your tagline for ages Mojo.


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## mojo pixy (Feb 17, 2021)

xenon said:


> Ha, so that's where it's from. I remember it was your tagline for ages Mojo.



till Jackie Weaver came along and inspired a change


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