Science fiction offers huge scope for epic books and one of my favourites is Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks:
[link] . The 'Cu;ture Orbital' described in the book owes something to its predecessor, 'Ringworld', an SF novel by Larry Niven. Larry Niven's 'Known Space' series, of which the Ringworld franchise forms a sort of sub-series, is full of memorable characters, many of them bizarre aliens, just waitng to be given the deviantART treatment:
[link] . Anth then there was Christopher Rowley's The War For Eterenity:
[link] which featured the fearsome 'woodwose'
[link] .