Some notable science fiction authors are
- Douglas Adams
- Brian Aldiss
- Poul Anderson
- Piers Anthony
- Isaac Asimov
- Robert Asprin
- J.G. Ballard
- Iain M. Banks
- L. Frank Baum
- Greg Bear
- John Bellairs
- Gregory Benford
- Alfred Bester
- James Blish
- Robert Bloch
- Ben Bova
- Leigh Brackett
- Ray Bradbury
- Marion Zimmer Bradley
- David Brin
- Fredric Brown
- John Brunner
- Steven Brusy
- Algis Budrys
- Lois McMaster Bujold
- Anthony Burgess
- Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Octavia E. Butler
- Pat Cadigan
- John W. Campbell (yes, he wrote also)
- Orson Scott Card
- Jack L. Chalker
- C. J. Cherryh
- John Christopher
- Arthur C. Clarke
- Jo Clayton
- Hal Clement
- Glen Cook
- Roald Dahl
- John Dalmas
- L. Sprague de Camp
- Samuel R. Delany
- Lester del Ray
- Philip K. Dick
- Gordon R. Dickson
- Thomas M. Disch
- David Drake
- George Alec Effinger
- Greg Egan
- Harlan Ellison
- Robert L. Forward
- Alan Dean Foster
- C. S. Friedman
- Hugo Gernsback (of Hugo Award fame)
- William Gibson
- Ron Goulart
- Peter F. Hamilton
- Robert Heinlein
- Zenna Henderson
- Frank Herbert
- James P. Hogan
- Fred Hoyle
- L. Ron Hubbard
- Raymond F. Jones
- Franz Kafka
- Colin Kapp
- Damon Knight
- Cyril M. Kornbluth
- Henry Kuttner
- R. A. Lafferty
- Keith Laumer
- Tanith Lee
- Ursula K. Le Guin
- Fritz Leiber
- Murray Leinster
- Stanislaw Lem
- Nina Liedtke
- George R. R. Martin
- Richard Matheson
- Anne McCaffrey
- Judith Merril
- Michael Moorcock
- C. L. Moore
- Larry Niven
- Jeff Noon
- Andre Norton
- Marek Oramus
- Alexei Panshin
- Corey Panshin
- H. Beam Piper
- Doris Piserchia
- Frederik Pohl
- Jerry Pournelle
- Mike Resnick
- Alastair Reynolds
- Kim Stanley Robinson
- Spider Robinson
- Tony Rothman
- Joanna Russ
- Eric Frank Russell
- Fred Saberhagen
- Carl Sagan
- James H. Schmitz
- Alice Sheldon (listed under her pen name of James Tiptree, Jr)
- Mary Shelley
- Clifford Simak
- Dan Simmons
- William Sleator
- Cordwainer Smith
- E. E. Smith ("Doc" Smith)
- L. Neil Smith
- Norman Spinrad
- Olaf Stapledon
- Neal Stephenson
- Bruce Sterling
- Christopher Stasheff
- J. Michael Straczynski
- Theodore Sturgeon
- Boris and Arkady Strugatsky
- James Tiptree, Jr
- John Varley
- Jack Vance
- A. E. van Vogt
- Jules Verne
- Vernor Vinge
- Stanley G. Weinbaum
- James White
- Jack Williamson
- Connie Willis
- Adam Wisniewski-Snerg
- H. G. Wells
- Gene Wolfe
- Donald A. Wollheim (mostly wrote under pseudonyms)
- John Wyndham
- Janusz A. Zajdel
- Yevgeny Zamyatin
- Roger Zelazny
- Rafal A. Ziemkiewicz
- David Zindell
See also
A great book for looking up authors (and it tells you who else you might like if you like one author) is A Reader's Guide to Science Fiction by Baird Searles, Martin Last, Beth Meacham, and Michael Franklin. Even if it hasn't been updated since the 1979 publication at hand, it's very useful.