The Wasp Factory in Imagine magazine (1984)

[FearfulSymmetry]

It’s been bugging me so I made the effort to track down where I’m pretty certain I first saw mention of Iain Banks – a review in Imagine magazine (a role playing / D&D mag put out by TSR UK in the mid 80s)

It’s in issue 29 (August 1984) in the Fantasy Media review column by a certain Neil Gaiman (then credited as writing the Imagine short stories: 'Feather Quest' and 'How to Sell the Ponti Bridge' and co-author of Ghastly Beyond Belief)

The review in full: Iain Bank’s (sic) THE WASP FACTORY will delight horror fans with its mixture of black humour and horrible, imaginative, beautiful deaths.

That's where the journey started, I picked up a copy of the paperback in Smiths soon after...

[daveh]

Have you still got it? Would love to see a scan.

[FearfulSymmetry]

I've not got a physical copy... found a digital copy somewhere. If you want a physical copy they turn up on ebay from time to time

[RedKing]

Reviewed by Neil Gaiman, when he was just a jobbing short story writer. Notice his credits at the top right of the page!

[RedKing]

And while we're on the subject, there's an interesting review by Dave Langford in White Dwarf #90: