Might be hard to explain exactly what I'm looking for, but the best inspiration is Neil Gaiman's 'The Sandman" comics and Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? NOT anything like Star Wars, A Song of Ice and Fire, Lord of the Rings, etc. I'd prefer books, but Graphic Novels are also open.
The Gods Themselves -Asimov Childhood's End - Arthur C Clarke Dune - Frank Herbert The Dispossessed - Ursula le Guin Also, i've only just started it, but you might want to check out Valis by Philip K Dick, it's very good so far.
Valis and American Gods have sparked my interests, I think I'm gonna pick those up. Thanks for the suggestions!
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin "This novel takes place many centuries in the future - no date is given, though the year 4870 has been suggested.[6] An envoy, Genly Ai, is on a planet called Winter ("Gethen" in the language of its own people) to convince the citizens to join the Ekumen. Winter is, as its name indicates, a planet that is always cold, and its citizens are neither female nor male: they have gender identities and sexual urges only once a month. These conditions have affected the ways that civilizations on Winter have developed, with the most notable effect being that there has never been a war on the planet. There are, however, arcane rules of politics and diplomacy that the envoy must learn in order to survive. His fortune changes quickly, according to what political faction is in power at the time in the country he is residing in: in one country, for instance, the Prime Minister arranges an audience with the king for him, but the next day the Prime Minister is exiled for treason; in another he has trouble determining which factions among the thirty-three Heads of Districts support him and which want to use him to gain political power. The struggle of Genly Ai as he tries to understand the ways of these people and survive on this hostile planet gives Le Guin the chance to explore what life would be like without the dualities, such as summer and winter or male and female, that form our way of thinking." The Saga of Recluse by L.E. Modesite Jr. "The 16 books of the series describe the changing, often confrontational, relationship between the genetic descendants of two technologically advanced cultures, representatives of which have been marooned on a sparsely inhabited world and regressed to the level of the existing inhabitants' primitive technology. Themes of gender stereotyping, sexism, ageism, racism, ethics, economics, environmentalism and politics are explored in the course of the series, which examines the world through the eyes of all its protagonists. The series is published outside of internal chronological order: The first book published in the series occurs near the end of the overall story, with subsequent books jumping further into the past to expand on elements of history. (The author strongly recommends reading the books in publication order.) As of the sixteenth novel, Arms-Commander, the saga covers seven different time periods and ten major storylines. The stories demonstrate the progression of real-life events into myth and legend over the progression of centuries, as the characters in one book will be referenced as heroes or mythical figures in other, chronologically later books. Additionally, certain characters appear in multiple books even if they aren't the main protagonist in that particular novel. Within the Recluce universe, magic is manifest as a person's ability to harness the natural order or chaos inherent in matter. The feats of magic that are possible rely on the user's understanding not only of order or chaos, but in the interaction between the two and how they occur in balance in nature. Modesitt is unusual in fantasy writing in that he shows how the use of order and chaos affects all aspects of society. For example, his order wizards have jobs—they are carpenters, coopers, smiths, and engineers—all areas where order gives an added understanding. The chaos wizards are mostly enforcers, but can take on tasks like road-building when it is in their interest." Anything by William Gibson... especially Neuromancer "Henry Dorsett Case is a low-level hustler in the dystopian underworld of Chiba City, Japan. Once a talented computer hacker, Case was caught stealing from his employer. As punishment for his theft, Case's central nervous system was damaged with a mycotoxin, leaving him unable to use his brain-computer interface to access the global computer network in cyberspace, a virtual reality dataspace called the "Matrix". Unemployable, addicted to drugs, and suicidal, Case desperately searches the Chiba "black clinics" for a miracle cure. Case is saved by Molly Millions, an augmented "street samurai" and mercenary for a shadowy ex-military officer named Armitage, who offers to cure Case in exchange for his services as a hacker. Case jumps at the chance to regain his life as a "console cowboy," but neither Case nor Molly know what Armitage is really planning. Case's nervous system is repaired using new technology that Armitage offers the clinic as payment, but he soon learns from Armitage that sacs of the poison that first crippled him have been placed in his blood vessels as well. Armitage promises Case that if he completes his work in time, the sacs will be removed; otherwise they will dissolve, disabling him again. He also has Case's pancreas replaced and new tissue grafted into his liver, leaving Case incapable of metabolizing cocaine or amphetamines and apparently ending his drug addiction."
His Dark Materials -Phillip Pullman Snowcrash - Neal Stephenson The Moon is a Harsh Mistress -Robert Heinlein Revolution -Ron Paul
another Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere, it came out about the same time the tv show of the same name was aired.
There really is nothing like some good PKD. Nothing compares, in my opinion. Find all that you can and devour it. With that said, you might also try some Kurt Vonnegut. It's a very different style of writing from Dick's, but I find that many of his works have a similar depth to them.
^I was just going to recommend some Vonnegut. He portrays a lot of real world abstract ideas in vivid plots, all with his signature humor that keeps those pages turning.