I never finished LOTR - and developed a dislike for fantasy at the same time - can't even keep awake during the movies - much more into sci-fi - Jim has been my nickname - for nearly 50 years - because I convinced my parents to get me out of bed to watch the first UK re-runs of Star Trek (which was shown at 11pm) when I was 3!
All of William Gibson's novels are excellent, imo - but starting with the sprawl trilogy is great - Neuromancer used to be re-read by scientists every year - so they could check of what had actually been invented!
I also really like Neal Stephenson when it comes to cyberpunk...
If you want something a bit farther out than cyberpunk - then Iain M Banks is difficult to beat - the 'culture' novels in particular - and pulling back some of his 'literary' novels - under Iain Banks - are what could best be described as 'speculative' fiction - and if you've never read it 'The Wasp Factory', is definitely worth a read
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities