Iain Banks, the best-selling author, has died at 59, his family have said.
In April, the Wasp Factory author wrote an emotional statement on his website to reveal he was suffering from gall bladder cancer and was not expected to live beyond a year.
His other books included The Crow Road and Complicity.
In a statement, his publisher said he was "an irreplaceable part of the literary world", the BBC reported.
In his message to fans revealing the illness in April, Banks said the cancer had started in his gall bladder, and infected both sides of his liver.
He said his latest novel, 'The Quarry', would be his last.
And he related how he has asked his partner, Adele, "if she will do me the honour of becoming my widow (sorry – but we find ghoulish humour helps)".
Shortly after releasing the statement Banks' website and that of his publisher crashed under the volume of traffic.