Hey guys, sorry I have been at sea with work for what feels like for ever.
Thank you for all the helpful suggestions I have made a list and am looking into each suggestion - love have a big list of fiction to work through, haven't read this solidly for a while.
I adore this series. Hands down one of the best reads ever. I don't think anything really compares - not even Stephenson's other books. If you haven't read Diamond Age, it's amazing. Reamde was ok, but not nearly as nuanced and well spun as Baroque Cycle, even accounting for the massive difference in length. The Dune series is more traditional Sci Fi, but the world building really holds up if you haven't read it. I really like Mists of Avalon as a historical fiction/fantasy crossover but it's fairly distinct as a book and not to everyone's taste. The Egyptian by Waltari Mika is another good historical fiction I really enjoyed....in fact, I'm going to go request that one at the library. It's been years since I've read it and it's due for a re-read.
Thought I would pick NWedible's reply to quote - as I have read Baroque cycle (as mentioned, just re-read), Cryptonomicon (actually re-read before Baroque which prompted the newest re-reading) Reamde (not as good as anything else Neal does), and Anathema.
Anyway, during this trip a workmate lent me his Ereader which had diamond age and Snow Crash on it. Snow Crash was devoured in 2 days and I am still slowly reading through Diamond age - I like Sci-Fi and Fantasy but I really enjoy Neal's take on the Genre. He tends to include enough familiarity in the 'far-out' technology that you can easily believe his futures are real.
I googled The Egyptian and saw it was written in 1945 and a movie was made in 1960, so I think I will give that a go. In exchange I can recommend Bernard Cornwell's 'Arthurian Trilogy' which is another piece of fantastical Historic-fiction.
Once again thanks guys!