Please, feel free to branch out! I can nerd it out in any genre...I could make gazillions of recommendations but since we seem to be sticking to Sci-Fi and Fantasy I must put in a word for one of my faves, George R. R. Martin. I discovered him through his epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. It's quite different from most fantasy in that magic pokes its head up only rarely. In fact, it reads more like medieval historical fiction set in an invented world. And unlike many works in the genre, it's not cleaned up so that it can straddle the "Young Adult" market. It's full of naughty words and <gasp> sex, gore, torture...Just like the real 14th Century! The first book in the series is called A Game of Thrones and I highly recommend it.
Martin is also an excellent science fiction writer. If you lean that way I recommend his recent short story collection Dreamsongs, which covers his entire career and includes fascinating commentary by the author.
Hey, nolabel, how is that Zittrain book? Looks interesting...