[Will]

Ok, I wrote up a post in the wee hours of the night, but it seems to have been lost in the nether regions of the internet, so a summary:

"My Favorite Science Fiction Story", is an anthology of short stories, selected by current successful SF writers. Basically each was asked what story is their favorite, or influenced them the most, and they write a short introduction explaining the choice. I liked all of the stories included, so I think it would be worth picking up.

Work by Roger Zelazny. "Lord of Light" is a novel where technologically advanced humans take on the roles of gods in Eastern religions. You have to be patient for this one, though, since it isn't really apparent what exactly is going on until you're about 1/3rd to half way through, and it is pretty easy to get confused about what is a flashback and what is happening 'now'. Much better, though, is his Amber novels. These are closer to fantasy, but not in the typical fantasy sense; the books are set in a universe where the city of Amber is "reality", and everything else is a shadow of Amber (including Earth).

I also recommended the Neuromancer trilogy by William Gibson (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive). If you haven't read them, it's basically like the Matrix, without machines enslaving humanity for power. The beginning of cyberpunk.