I've been a Banks fan for a long long time - if you liked the Culture series you might like the Neal Asher Polity series. They aren't quite as well written as B

I've been a Banks fan for a long long time - if you liked the Culture series you might like the Neal Asher Polity series. They aren't quite as well written as Banks - but they do make up for it with a lot of action and some superbly crafted scary beasties (Hooders being particularly terrifying).