Another good SF writer (imo) is
Brian Aldiss, who's pretty old now, but still bringing out new and thoughtful works. Here are some of my favourites:
"Hothouse" came out in 1962, so it's not a new title, but it came out in Penguin Modern Classics recently. It's quite nightmarish, because it portrays humans in the distant future as essentially the preyed-upon, rather than the apex predator. Oh, wait - that's how things are now ...
Wikipedia: Hothouse (novel) said:
"Hothouse" is a 1962 award-winning fantasy/science fiction novel by British author Brian Aldiss, composed of 5 novelettes that were originally serialized in a magazine. In the US, an abridged version was published as "The Long Afternoon of Earth"; the full version was not published there until 1976 (US paperback title "The Sun is Dying"). Five of the stories which make up the novel, which were published separately in "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction" in 1961, were collectively awarded the 1962 Hugo Award for Best Short Fiction.
In the novel, the Earth, with one side constantly facing the Sun (larger and hotter than now), has become a a veritable hothouse, where plants have filled almost all ecological niches. According to Aldiss' account, the US publisher insisted on the name-change so the book wouldn't be put amongst the horticulture books in bookshops.
Set in a far future, the Earth has locked rotation with the Sun, and is attached to the now-more-distant Moon with cobwebs spun by enormous spider-like plants. The Sun has increased output and plants are engaged in a constant frenzy of growth and decay like a tropical forest enhanced a thousandfold. The plants have filled all the ecological niches on the land and in the air; of the animals only the descendants of four species of social insects remain (tigerflies (evolved from wasps), tree-bees, plant-ants and termights (from termites)), along with small groups of humans (a fifth of the size they are now); all other land and air animals have been driven to extinction by the vegetable kingdom. The humans live on the edge of extinction, within the canopy layer of a giant banyan tree that covers the day side of the earth.
"Frankenstein Unbound" is also terrific. It's a time travel story and a sequel to the 1818 novel. (There was a movie based on this book which was just terrible - I mean, just terrible - and didn't do the book justice at all.) The book is about dislocation: losing your points of reference, etc. At least, that's how it read to me - but then I read it when I was about 15. Again, it's not a new title, but hey ...
It came out in 1973, and it's about this guy who goes back in time from the 21st century to Switzerland in the early 19th century, where he meets Mary Shelley. But he also comes across the real Victor Frankenstein, who's created an artificial man and its bride. It's a real page-turner, this.
My total favourite, though, is
"Cryptozoic!", also published as
"An Age". This came out in 1967, and is a very funky time travel story:
Wikipedia: An Age said:
"An Age" (published in the U.S. as "Cryptozoic!") is a 1967 science fiction novel by Brian Aldiss. The book, set principally in 2093, combines the popular science fiction themes of time travel, totalitarian dystopia, and the untapped potential of the human mind. It was nominated for a Ditmar Award in 1969 in the "Best International Science Fiction of any length, or collection" category.
The future society described in the novel has developed a form of psychological time travel called "mind travel" by which, with the aid of the psychoactive drug CSD (no explanation of this acronym is given, though its mind altering effects are probably a reference to LSD), can travel in their minds to the distant past. While mind travelling, they are unable to interact with the world of the past, but they can sense and interact with other travellers from their own time. It has been discovered that the functioning of the human mind is influenced and limited by the "undermind", a mysterious force which aids in mind travel.
The story concerns Edward Bush, an artist searching for inspiration in the past. When Bush returns from a long stay in the Cryptozoic, he finds that his nation (presumably the United Kingdom) has been taken over by a totalitarian government. He is immediately drafted into the military and given the mission to kill the scientist Silverstone. As Bush mind-travels again to fulfil his mission, he learns of Silverstone's new philosophical and scientific discoveries. Bush and Silverstone meet and decide together to usher in a new era of humanity, one enlightened by the realization that time flows backward.
I went to an exhibition of Aldiss' art a few months ago. It was great, and thoroughly unpretentious - all this stuff, mostly collages, put on the wall of a cafe in Oxford. He comes across as a really thoughtful man - just completely unafraid to do his own thing. He writes like a serious novelist, whose real concern is with the human condition. I wonder if any serious novelist can write without moving into science fiction here and there? Frankly, I rather doubt it sometimes. When it comes to science fiction, Aldiss is definitely one of the all-time greats. I think he's got a big heart, and tons of sincerity.
I've put up a list of (imho) Aldiss' best titles on Amazon, where you can see the nice, pretty covers, and read a single-line review of each:
Best of Brian Aldiss.