[YeGoblynQueenne]

Margaret Atwood is a terrible writer. If you're going to put someone next to Wells for mastery of the craft, that should be P.G Wodehouse. I would add Jerome K. Jerome to the list, also.

Then of course there are master storycrafters in SF like James Tiptree Jr., Cordwainer Smith, Ted Chiang, Clifford D. Simak, Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Brian Aldiss, Fredric Brown, Theodore Sturgeon, and others I'm forgetting. And H.P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, Clark Ashton Smith, R. E. Howard and Arthur Machen from the strict fantasy side.

[gizajob]

I was trying to ease the OP in, coming from Michael Crichton, not give an exhaustive list.

Also your list is 100% male.

[YeGoblynQueenne]

James Tiptree Jr was female. But yes, most of my list is male. Would you like to propose more female writers?

Edit: if you haven't read anything from Alice Sheldon (a.k.a. James Tiptree Junior, a.k.a. Raccoona Sheldon) I wholeheartedly recommend you chase down anything of hers and read it. It is not an accident that she is first in my list because she is, for me, one of the absolute best SF authors of all time. Same for Cordwainer Smith. It is distressing to see their names having faded into obscurity, with modern readers.

[mkl]

Any recommendations on where to start with Tiptree/Sheldon?

[YeGoblynQueenne]

I prefer shorter stories so I would recommend two of my favorites of Tiptree's: The Screwfly Solution (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screwfly_Solution) and The Man who Walked Home, included in the collection of shorts Ten Thousand Light Years from Home.

Or take a look at wikipedia where there's a list of her works and see which ones have titles that sound interesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tiptree_Jr.#Works

I think you'll find a few that catch the eye :)