Scalzi and Charles Stross are notable to me as authors because (a) every book of theirs I've read to date is 'fun', (b) each of their worlds is VERY DIFFERENT from their other worlds, (c) they don't take themselves too seriously in any of them, and (d) they're both RECENT, in that neither of them were writing, oh, 15 years ago. Or, rather, not being published that long ago.

Gives me hope for the scope and shape of future SF, esp. when we lose people like Octavia Butler who I'd been hoping to get another four or five books out of at least before we lost them ...