British authors are, needless to say, very popular in North America. Of course, there is the odd occasion when a British author's works just aren't all that familiar to the audiences overseas for various reasons. I think that Stephen Baxter is one of the most under-rated of the Brit authors, and is a true giant among them and can easily be compared to Brian Aldiss in many ways. Baxter is a mathematician by training and profession, now working in the information technology industry and it shows in his work.
I first discovered Baxter's work late in 1992, with his terrific novel called Raft, and was eager to see more from his quill. While there was some terrific short fiction that he wrote, I eagerly awaited another novel. That finally came out, and while Timelike Infinity was a good book, it wasn't a great book from my perspective. His works since that time have lived up to the expectations of Baxter's fellow writers, and he has taken his place as one of Britain's premiere science fiction writers. He can certainly take his place with Benford, Niven, Brin, and the other hard science fiction writers of the 1990's. Baxter's most recent work is brilliant sequel to the classic The Time Machine, called The Time Ships. If you get the chance, you should check out his writing.
The following is the listing of Stephen Baxter's fiction to this point:
While he doesn't have his own Web site, you can find a lot of material about Stephen Baxter at this particular one.