Well, since no one's posted anything new in a while I thought I'd try:)

Ian Banks is my new fav. He's British, and I've always loved British SF writers. His books tend to be character driven, but high tech stories. Not exactly Hard SF, but definately gadget oriented. He has a future in which humans and AI's as well as aliens play important characters, and his themes tend to be love, hate, revenge, hope, et. Look him up. He's worth it.