Samuel R Delany, Philip K Dick, Ursula K Le Guin, and (maybe) William Gibson.

[pmb]

What scifi/fantasy authors would you be willing to defend as writers of high quality literature and not just genre fiction? What authors both have something to say, and say it well?

NB: I'm primarily looking for people who are by default filed in the SciFi ghetto, not "real" authors who have occasionally been filed in SF/fantasy. Because Kurt Vonnegut is widely acknowledged to be a virtuoso writer and has written a bunch of SF, but I'm not sure that most people think of him as a science fiction writer.

Comments

[kirin]

Shirow? Really? I mean, yes, he does some interesting explorations into the grey areas between humans and machines, but his original manga tend to get so bogged down in minute details as to obscure his points, not to mention the plot. I'm not saying I haven't enjoyed him, but he's got some issues.

(And then you put him and Oshii (who I think is often brilliant) together for movies, and you get the world's best recipe for interminable socio-political monologues in front of a lot of really pretty and detailed scenery.)