[Sundae]

I couldn't sleep last night.
Thought of some lovelies for you, if'n you want to expand your reading.
Won't get you the job, but well worth it on their own merits.

Neil Gaiman.
Novels, short stories, novellas and comics. Don't flip put over the comics bit - buy a second hand graphic novel and be converted. The man is mired in all flavours of mythology and I know you'll be captivated by his recurring characters. American Gods is a good novel. He also wrote Coraline. Many more, I'm just trying to make him easy to access.

Terry Pratchett
Of Alzheimers fame - sadly.
He co-authored with Gaiman on Good Omens.
Created the Discworld series of books. If you only read one, start at the beginning and read The Colour of Magic or The Light Fantastic. The world is developed book by book, but these are easy to slip into, old (equals cheap second-hand) and show his knockabout humour and sly wit. Seriously funny - I almost hesitate to call it Fantasy because it is so well observed and rooted in the real world of people's lives.

Iain M Banks
Of cancer fame, sadly.
His sci-fi is really sci-fantasy. Immediately accessible due to his observations on people's motivations and subsequent actions.
Against A Dark Background is a stand-alone which I rated highly.
Consider Phlebas kicked it all off. Morally ambiguous was something I remember from reviews at the time. It features The Culture, who become the basis of future books. When I read the next novel and The Culture were (pretty much) the goodies, I was gutted. Banks sold me on the other side, mostly. I did come to love the next two though - they'd be on my desert island list.