Interesting list. I've read most books in it. There's a bit too much listening to literary critics in there - e.g. Mieville is skilled writing, but it is not SF - not really.

Add in Neal Asher for the 2000s. Breakneck action space opera, wily AIs, disgusting wildlife, rarely a dull moment, Banks on speed.

Also, almost any Vance is bound to be enjoyable, after you acquire the taste (the P.G.Wodehouse of SF, not that it is comic, more of a sardonic tone).

And yeah, Lem, The Cyberiad, the non-existing-book reviews, whatever. Also, Pierre Boulle, amazingly unknown in spite of the movies (Les Jeux de l'esprit should be mandatory reading in some sophomoric circles.)

Brilliant list, fogus.

I would highly recommend adding Richard K. Morgan's work to the 2000s. Very very well written stuff.

Are those available on Project Gutemberg? I saw some classic authors (A.E. Van Vogt, etc) which should be.

Nope. Remember that Project Gutenberg hosts books which have lapsed into the public domain. That's not true for a lot of the stuff mentioned. (A decent collection of Van Vogt is available through Baen Book's Webscriptions program, though it lacks classics like Slan.)

You will find the occasional oddity: a couple of Samuel R. Delany's early Ace Double publications just popped up, and Chip is still very much alive. Chip has been in the business a long time - if they've lapsed into the public domain, it's because he allowed them to.

(It is weird when you see stuff appearing on PG by people you know/knew - Delany among the living, and Terry Carr and Laurence M. Janifer among the deceased.)