In the same vein, an article[1] in The Telegraph entitled "The Hobbit: How the 'clomping foot of nerdism' destroyed Tolkien's dream - and the fantasy genre" makes a few similar points.

I'm inclined to agree with them - Tolkein's brand of endless minutiae does not a good novel make. His is a world of casually racist undertones and completely shallow characters. The good and bad guys in Tolkein are good and bad for no particular discernible reason, and I think fantasy has yet to dig its way out of Tolkein's shadow.

However, I think new wave (and an emphasis on stylism in general) has done a lot to rehabilitate sci-fi. Personally, I think Gene Wolfe and M John Harrison deserve a lot of praise for pushing the genre along. Harrison's "Light"[2] comes to mind as a modern incarnation of a new wave novel that still manages to earn its sciency stripes.

1: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/11289765/The-Hobbit-...

2: http://www.amazon.com/Light-M-John-Harrison/dp/0553382950

I'm really surprised Charles Stross didn't get into the list. One of the best futurists currently writing, IMHO.

I also highly recommend M. John Harrison's 'Light' http://www.amazon.com/Light-M-John-Harrison/dp/0553382950.