Trying to imagine getting it on with someone and then pulling this stuff out when it's time for lube...
Oh, whoops. Fair enough.
There isn't an orbital on the PoG cover? I think that's the fire planet where the final rounds of the Game take place.
A considerable chunk of the book takes place on an orbital called the Vavatch.
The covers for the Culture books are successful at rendering core concepts from the novels, and I confess I have a weak spot for abstract art in the sci fi space in particular. I have not read Feersum Endjinn, more's the pity, so I can't say anything intelligent about that one.
My Ma swears by those Hallmark made-for-Channel W movies. She would laugh her butt off at this. Someone needs to make something like it happen. 😀
In a certain sense it has specifically to do with Twitter-brain. People react to the most trivial difference in opinion by immediately going nuclear, as if said difference is a direct attack on them or an attempt to convert them. This is true no matter how innocuous the point of disagreement is.
Smash, easily. Unconventional but it looks amazing.
What it probably does is provide more proof that "civilizations" as such aren't necessary for monumentalism. It's a point that Davids Graeber and Wengrow made at length in *The Dawn of Everything* (which is well worth seeking out at your local library if they have it).