ps why do people put pratchett and gemmel in scifi category, they are fanstasy.....it used to drive me nuts when they mixed the two and had "scifi and fantasy" sections in shops.....grrrr.....saying this tho, gemmel rocks it, makes lord of the rings look like the care bears.
The Gateway series.
Any of the 100 or so Sci-Fi masterworks series.
Hyperion cantos (oh my god!!!!!!)
some of the banks culture are pretty good.
House of Suns by A.Reynolds is the nuts.
....i have read probably 250 sci fi books and the above are the creamiest cream of the crop, tho good...