GENESIS + ?

I think that an interstellar civilization with regular faster then light travel is a fantasy. Until recently, I had thought that Poul Anderson's Genesis was a more probable future. However, large numbers of exo-planets are being discovered and life has very nearly been verified on a planet a mere 124 light-years away. So maybe something like Genesis but with more abundant life? There is still a long sequence of chance events from unicellular life to consciousness, intelligence, civilization and technology. And any ETI's are not going to be like Ythrians or Merseians. 

Two things might lie in our future:

sf based on much more detailed knowledge of exo-planets;

knowledge of extra-solar intelligences.