Greg Bear - Blood Music is one of the best SciFi books ever, and it's got a relatively contemporary setting. I'd highly recommend the Novel, but the short story in the 'Tangents' collection is excellent too, and there some of the other stories in there are wonderful too, especially the one about 4 dimensional beings and music.
spac opera
Ursula LeGuin _the Dispossesed_ (as mentioned) and _The Left Hand of Darkness_
Octavia Butler the Xenogenesis trilogy, starting with _Dawn_
Tricia Sullivan _Double Vision_ and _Maul_ (which starts out pretty raw but it bonkers in a mostly good way)
Molly Gloss _The Dazzle of Day_ (quakers in space! no it's cool, really)
Maureen McHugh _China Mountain Zhang_
Sherri Tepper _Grass_
Gibson's future dub is rather cringe-worthingly described, but "Neuromancer" is still a good read.
Just started reading China Mieville's The City and The City - not usually my genre but am enjoying it - read 70 pages in bed this morning and looking forward to returning to it.