As I've been re-reading all the Iain M Banks books (in correct order) recently it was inevitable that I would be inspired to come up with some artwork.
There are, of course, thousands of amazing images and events described in the numerous 'Culture' and 'non-Culture' Science Fiction books but having just finished Use of Weapons I was drawn to a couple of pages that have always stuck in my mind since the book was first published in 1990.
The hero/anti-hero Zakalwe (beloved of Banks fans the world over) in a moment of contemplation in a bleak battlefield location surrounded by vast mysterious machines, just before he returns to the strange little cottage where his enemy captive waits.
The moment is in Part 2 and is actually chapter 6 although its title is VIII.
The illustration was created entirely in Photoshop using a mixture of painting and photomanipulation.