I read A Wrinkle in Time in 5th grade (I believe) and something called Z for Zacharia, which I have heard of since. Since I didn't read when I was younger, the only Sci Fi was the J.W. books and magazines. Thats some serious Fiction right there.

Though in the last 10 years or so, I've read some Dick, Mathison, The Dune books, A series Terry Brooks wrote that was pretty good called Running with the Demon - at least until the end where they cheated the reader so's to make it a series. Have never read Asimov. Read a few of Gaiman's books - liked those.

Of the golden age gang, I have always considered Clarke to be the rational Scientist, Asimov the overly sly PsychoHistorian (with a giant brain), Heinlein the jubilant Libertarian, and Bradbury the child-like humanist prose poet (whose prose is sheer poetry and, ironically his poetry scary bad)...and Theodore Sturgeon to be the romantic who sought to map the human heart.

This is, of course, an oversimplification for you youngsters.

That being said, Mousepod swears by JG Ballard. Now, I love Ballard's short stories, but his novels do not connect with me on any level. I find him clinical and disturbing. Brilliant, but disturbing.

At its best, the genre represents boundless imagination, soaring to great heights.

Of the contemporary writers, it's hit and miss. The genre has become darker and as one future arrives, another passes into oblivion - The Martian Chronicles of my youth is now a nostalgia soaked tone poem, and Bradbury's Mars has been supplanted by the the excellent Red Blue Green Mars trilogy by Robinson.

I do love Neil Gaiman, and prefer most SF to fantasy, with the exception of Peter Beagle's A Fine and Private Place. I enjoy fantasy as in the fantastic - Twilight Zone stories, but excepting Tolkien's LOTR, the whole "wizard magick spell elf" genre puts me to sleep.

But now I've said too much.

I do. I swear by Ballard.

Dick, Asimov, Bradbury et al aren't bad either.

One of my absolute faves, though, is Iain M Banks. I love most everything I've read by him - his sci-fi, particularly his books revolving around "The Culture," are brilliant. His non sci-fi books are great, too (he drops his middle initial for those).