Just read about this today, very sad news, a wonderful author. I like the way he is going about things, given such terrible circumstances he really seems to be making the most of his time. Good for him.
I put a message on the Banksophilia site, and it's great to see how much he appreciates the response that he has got from the fans. Maybe we should try to make a point of doing that sort of thing for the authors that we love and who are not about to die!
I guess most wouldn't post these details up front (beside people like Terry Pratchett that is), but Iain's not just a great writer he's a decent human being to boot, still hoping for a miracle here.
I like to think from his perspective he'll just be in bed one day and wake up feeling better and miraculously recover in the next few days and keep going forever in that particular universe. That will be the universe that Iain Banks never dies in.
In our particular universe he'll be gone but down the infinite branches somewhere its just business as usual for him.