I will look for all your suggestions, and any others offered! I also adore Le Guin, whose "Changing Planes" just came out here, which probably means it was out in the States for the past year as well! Listen, it's amazing how much time it takes for us to get things on this side of the pond...Buffy and Angel are still together, right? (Just kidding).
If you haven't read the Science Fiction books of Doris Lessing ,which a lot of people don't even know about, they are fabulous.
And as for Sheri S. Tepper, I'm working my way through every single one I can lay my hands on. Top of my wish list is "The Revenants", which apparently is the hardest to still find anywhere. I might have tracked down a copy somewhere in the South of England, but it could take less time to swim back to the States first, sigh...xx..e