Science Fantasy is a weird category. I mean you take a futuristic setting and then treat is as Fantasy with minimal work on the science side. I would argue that most of Star Wars fits that bill.
However, why put Ilium by Dan Simmons as Science Fantasy? As far as I recall, the science was pretty well grounded.
very interesting discussion. I was really surprised at the openness. I am very familiar with the Soldiering through advice. Unfortunately
Go for Priory, The prose is really good. However it does suffer from pacing.First half felt almost slice of life. The second part ramps up a bit
In no particular order: just based on my reading
Kameron Hurley SF- Stars are legion features an all female society. RAFO how they reproduce. Everything Kameron Hurley is either queer or gender diverse or both. The are on my TBR list for ages, so I cannot speak to their quality of writing.
Becky Chambers - A long Way to a Small Angry Planet (SF) features alien poly and queer relationships. Writing is pretty tight and the story is ok, not much on the action side.
Samantha Shannon - Priory of the orange tree, Features lesbian romance and there is NO social stigma due to sexual preferences. The relationship pressures are based on other factors. The writing has a dreamlike quality to it, however the pacing in the first half is very slow. i liked it but may not be everyone's cup of tea I understand that other of Samantha's works feature queer content, but I haven't read them. .
Arkady Martine - the Texicalaan duology (SF) Queer friendly, however it is not a focus. I recommend it based on the worldbuilding and the themes it tackles. Very rooted in sociological issues and political intrigue
Laura J. Marks - Fire Logic, Water Logic, Earth Logic, Air Logic. Really liked the books. The worldbuilding is very good, The characters are all distinct, however at first glance may appear one or two dimensional due to how they match with the 4 elements. Each element governs certain subtle abilities and certain behaviour patterns.
D Jordan Redhawk - The Sanguire Tetralogy Features lesbian MC, gay and bisexual side characters. A fresh take on Vampires. I really liked it.
Tamsyn Muir - The Locked Tomb series Interesting & very weird. Very good writing. There is a Lesbian unacknowledged potential relationship. RAFO. May not be everyone's cup of tea.
Seth Dickinson - The Baru Cormorant (3 books written, a 4th in the works). very heavy on LGBT suppression by a purist invading Empire. Very GrimDark, flawed main protagonist, very much a tragedy. Excellent Writing, Worldbuilding.
Honorable mentions (writing and/or plot a bit weak)/light reads
Fletcher DeLancey - the Alsea Chronicles. A bit unpolished, has some plot holes, basically Lesbian Star Trek. However the character interactions were done pretty well and there is a lot of feeling.
Erik Schubach (Fade to Black): The Bridge series (my absolute favourite of his work), The Techromancy Series. More pulpy work of his: the Asgard books, Urban Fairytales, New Sentinels and in a more YA range the "Elfed Series*
April Daniels: Dreadnought & Nemesis YA books about a MtF trans superhero
Cary Caffrey - The Girls from Alcyone & sequels YA novels about Teenage Girls kidnapped and raised to be assassins. With lesbian twist
Benjamin Medrano - Everything he writes features lesbians (Fade to Black). IMO the best written is the Eve of Destruction. But I need to be honest that his writing has ample room for improvement
Anthony Francis - Skindancer series(unfinished). Very interesting magic systems (based on living tattoos). interesting main character. Plot on the Mystery side.
So I come upon the definition that Grim Dark is the opposite of Tolkien-like fantasy.
Any works that subvert the Tolkienesque tropes qualify as Dark Fantasy. For Example Salvatore's Jarlaxle & Entreri Trilogy, A.S Etaski's books (very sexually explicit), Some of the Star Wars Legends books in the Vong series. Etcetera
As far as GrimDark notable books, all those listed are fantastic. However imho y'all forgot about GRRM's ASoFaI (Game of Thrones& Sequels).
Oooh, the Blue Core Trilogy. So much potential on that one. With some tightening of plot and more character depth it could very well have been Great instead of merely Good.