Robert Runte blogs at http://runte.blogspot.ca/
As for the literary thing … been conflicted forever. And bored with myself. Sure, I think I convey some profound stuff about the human condition (and how people OUGHT to build AI) but it’s true. I write space opera. I’m proud to have readers with PhDs but trying not to be touchy about the young ones into the romances or sword fights, either. So am I! Literature is in the eye of the beholder, in the end. My whole saga’s meant a lot to me, on the front of processing big questions about life from “what is male vs. female” to “how responsible are we for our actions if we’re unbalanced mentally” and “can culture constrain us from mass destruction?”. I re-read it and find it deep as well as entertaining. I was self-consciously aware of the themes and subplots and symphonies of parallels and all the rest one could discover. But if others don’t see these things, either they’ve failed or I have.
Lynda Williams (on SF Canada list Aug 2014)
Yeah, pretty much why I read Lynda Williams. As I was saying earlier this thread, when I encounter students who are consciously trying to write CanLit or capital L literature, they end up losing their own voice and whatever potential they had to add their voice to the choir. Write what you love, and then we’ll have something. Yeah, Lynda Williams writes space opera, but it is f-ing marvellous space opera, and some of the best world building around. I’m a sociologist by training, and I love the meticulous sociological thinking that went into Lynda’s world building. And the psychology of the characters is completely believable…even or especially the unbalanced characters. And the interaction between sociological and psychological…the acknowledgement that cultures can be simultaneously functional and dysfunctional…the whole series is a brilliant thought experiment. As is a lot of the best SF.
Dr. Robert Runte (on SF Canada List Aug 2014)
The Story of Okal Rel 
One would think that literary fiction would tackle the Big Questions concerning what it means to be human, the interplay of masculinity and femininity within and between individuals, and how we can set the stage for a better tomorrow — but literary fiction authors are still mired in naturalism, realism, and post-modernism. So it’s up to speculative fiction to deal with the important questions.
I read Lynda Williams because she deals in Big Ideas without giving short shrift to plot and characterization, which was a mistake endemic to Golden Age SF.