[Noumenon]

David Weber, for his strongly themed stories of the struggle of good against evil. He’s not afraid to describe evil in terms of collectivism and tyranny. And he does a damn good job of it.

Plus, nobody does space battles as well as he does, IMHO.

For sheer wonder, try Sean Williams and Shane Dix’ Geodesica series. Greg Bear, with his Eon/Eternity series is also one of my favorites.

Most anything by Charles Stross makes for great reading.

[Squawk 8888]

I’m partial to Heinlein. Job is one of the best SF works ever IMO.

[allmendream]

George R.R. Martin's series that starts with “A Game of Thrones”.

Edgar Rice Burroughs “A Princess of Mars”, “The Gods of Mars” and “The Warlord of Mars” (ERB is more famous for Tarzan, but John Carter of Mars is one of the best SciFi series ever, very anti-Communist, anti-racist, very “this is what it means to be a MAN.”).

Also Scott Lynch's “The Lies of Locke Lamorah”, an amazing first book by a promising new author. Check it out!

[nina0113]

If you like military science fiction, try the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. The first one is On Basilisk Station, available FREE! at www.baen.com. There are many other books in the Baen Free Library, and sample chapters from the current line are available too.

[Unassuaged]

Neal Stephenson.

I cannot recommend him highly enough.

CyberPunk and historical fiction/fantasy.

A solid conservative!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Stephenson

[Noumenon]

Oops - can’t leave out Iain M Banks.

Against a Dark Background
The Player of Games
Consider Phlebas
Look to Windward
Use of Weapons

Home runs, all of them. Just re-read Consider Phlebas - every bit as goos as the first time around.

[Squawk 8888]

I haven’t read any of his SF titles, but Harry Turtledove’s alternate histories are quite good.

[The Louiswu]

James P. Hogan
Inherit the Stars and Gentle Giants of Ganymede - a very good read with a happy ending. Reminded me of Clarke or old Heinlein.

[HamiltonJay]

In terms of Fantasy..

Weis & Hickman and Tad Williams

[The Louiswu]

A new player with a nice old style
Orphanage by Robert Buettner - this is now a 3 book series with the 4th coming in November.

[heartwood]

Lois McMaster Bujold - the Vorkosigan books. Start with Shards of Honor then Barrayar. Work through in order. The Chalion books are fantasy, pretty good but not as good as the Vorkosigan books, and the Sharing Knife series is merely competent fantasy.

I love the Man-Kzin War series.

And Prayers for the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno. Sequel was good and a third is coming out.

Orson Scott Card's Alvin the Maker series.

And I still have a soft spot for Podkayne of Mars.

Here's a question - what are the biggest unanticipated changes in SF, from 70, 50, 30 years ago? I vote for the changed role of women, and the ubiquity of computers, as opposed to robots.

[Question_Assumptions]

Another vote for Niven and Pournelle, particularly their early stuff (e.g., Niven's Known Space, The Mote in God's Eye, Pournelle's King David's Spaceship). I tend to read oddball stuff by second-tier authors so I'm not sure I can give you a useful list, but I do enjoy character development so maybe this will be useful. Some authors I've enjoyed include Cynthia Felice, Wayland Drew, Paul O. Williams, Richard S. McEnroe, Margaret Davis, and George R. R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle's book Windhaven. Most of those authors are out of print, though Windhaven was recently republished, as was Paul O. Williams post-holocaust Pelbar Cycle. From a fantasy angle, take a look at George R. R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series and Holly Lisle.

[latina4dubya]

anybody here ever read The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov? very strange... very Russian...

[Species8472]

All of them! :)

[Rocko]

R.A. Lafferty, Theodore Sturgeon, Robert Aickman.

[swarthyguy]

OK, Asimov and Clarke are superlative, if you like the hard edged type. Clarke’s City at the End of Time, and Asimov’s Foundation and Robot series, with the last few books merging the themes, though his later work didn’t have the fullness of the earlier stuff.

Another honorable mention, mostly forgotten, is Brian Aldiss’ Trilogy of a planet subject to climatological extremes - Helliconia Spring, Summer and Winter, the first being the best, IMO.

Haven’t read much of it lately.

[swarthyguy]

Consider a recent book called Zig-Zag translated from Spanish.

James Hogan has a series of books and a website. And they are great!

[SunkenCiv]

Philip K. Dick.

[AD from SpringBay]

William Gibson

[hoagy62]

J. Michael Straczynski

However, he’s more of a writer than an author.

Only writer in the history of TV to write EVERY show for an entire season (I believe Season 3, “Babylon 5”).