Those names shine so brightly because the sky is so dark ;). China Mieville is awesome, as is Michael Chabon. And I’ll throw in Charles Yu ( How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe). You’re right that there are lots of talented writers out there in the field. I love science fiction, and my criticism was a bit of “making fun of your own.” You can’t deny there is also a huge mass of third rate hackery - same as with other genre fiction like Crime, Romance, Historical Fiction, etc. Its not all Ursula LeGuin and Samuel Delaney ;).

Fair enough. And I did see your wink. :) I do think the trend is increasingly towards literary sci-fi, though, especially in print (less so in film and TV where it's become almost synonymous with action).