Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library discussion

While I enjoy reading Sci-Fi/Fantasy a lot, I don't always want to read a trilogy or longer series. What good standalone (not a part of a series/no prequels) Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels can you suggest?

I'm not his biggest fan, but I think that most of William Gibson's books are singletons. Other than that, you'll probably have to go retro. Most of Andre Norton's are singles (a few doubles thrown in). Robert Silverberg, Lester Del Rey, and most of the other authors that were popular in the '60's.

You can also look under the Promotions thread in this or any Sci-Fi group and probably find a lot of newer stand-alone books that look pretty interesting. Just be sure to read the samples before you buy to make sure the author can write.

Well, my first thoughts are a couple of authors who write books with with the same setting/characters, but are written with an eye to being 'self-contained'. i.e., they don't assume you've read anything else. H. Beam Piper's books are all independent, and I recommend, oh, Little Fuzzy and Uller Uprising. Lois McMaster Bujold has a more focused series, but they're still written with the assumption that the reader is new; say, Memory and Brothers in Arms.

James P. Hogan was a good author (he went downhill with age), and especially recommend Code of the Lifemaker and The Two Faces of Tomorrow.

H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds is deservedly a classic.

Celestial Matters by Richard Garfinkle
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
The Night Circus by Erin MorgensternThe Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long
Except the Queen by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Most Patricia A. McKillip works; I'm particularly fond of The Bell at Sealey Head and The Book of Atrix Wolfe
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
Sunshine by Robin McKinley