No one here will know off it but i couldn't reccomend this author more:
Bernard Werber, the best sci fi author to have come out of france period (cue anti french jokes). Seriously, the guy not only writes like a god but the themes of his books are just mind blowing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Werber for a bio
I particularly reccomend the Thanotaunautes series, it follows a team of scientists trying to pierce the mysteries of the afterlife in the first book, and as the series progresses....
Well let's just say the main character goes from being a human to an angel in the afterlife to being a student god participating in a rl version of civilization
All whilst on a quest to find out what lies beyond the next mystery and "who made us?". The ending will make you :O
Butterfly of the stars is also a personal favorite, about man's last ditch attempt to commence an exodus through space to escape their doomed homeworld. A classic scenario, but along the way....Plenty of twists and turns and an alternative explanation of a fair number of religious mythos
The ending will also make you :O
These aren't all time classics yet, but they will be given another few hundred years (they are that good). If you're feeling brave and experimental try a book from this guy, only "the peres de no peres" is meh imo (and only because it ressembles too much other books+has a somewhat boring theme in comparison to the others). Everything else is friggin golden.