[Zeke]

If we're doing "sci-fi writers you recommend" here, first and foremost I recommend Ray Bradbury. I've only read one of his full-length novels, but he's a master of the short story. His originality and talent for description and atmosphere are among the best I've ever encountered. Bradbury is one of the writers most responsible for building sci-fi into a full-fledged genre. (Additional note for ENT S3 viewers: Bradbury's novella "Frost and Fire" is about a character named Sim, born on a world where humans live only seven days. Sound familiar?)

Other authors... C. S. Lewis is best known for the Chronicles of Narnia and for his theological writings, but he also dabbled in sci-fi. He wrote three books now generally known as his Cosmic Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra (Voyage to Venus in the U. S. edition), and That Hideous Strength (which I understand MmeBlueberry is reading). They're all remarkable books; of the three, I think Perelandra is the deepest, but they're best read in order. A word of warning, though... like the Narnia books, the Cosmic Trilogy turns out to be based in Christianity. The books explore questions like what a world would be like if it were "unfallen," i. e. no Original Sin, and whether it would be right to intervene and prevent the Fall from happening on another world. (That's where the title of the first book comes from -- the "silent planet" is Earth, whose spiritual communication with the rest of the solar system has been broken by the growth of evil.) In other words, if Christianity annoys you, you probably shouldn't try reading these.

John Wyndham and Arthur C. Clarke are very good too, and if you know French, I recommend trying some untranslated Jules Verne. The French in his books isn't difficult at all. The Dune books are amazing, though each is less amazing than the last. As for franchise sf novels, my abiding love of the Reeves-Stevens' DS9 trilogy Millennium is on record, and my favourite one-shot Trek novel is The Devil's Heart by Carmen Carter; in SW, Timothy Zahn is fantastic, and Kevin J. Anderson's not bad either.