Well many of my favorites are listed above so I will take the time to introduce you all to an author that one of my friends introduced me to a few years back.
His name is
Stephen Brust. His Vlad Taltos series is phenominal as are all the books tied to it. He started the Vlad series in 1983 and he has written it so it can be read in publishing order or chronological order. It is funny reading the series knowing it is out of order yet he does a briliant job of tying it together. Simply amazing.
In 1984 he also wrote a book called
To Reign in Hell. I am an ardent agnostic who was raised Catholic, so this story was very enjoyable since it put an awesome spin to the heaven/hell/world creation myth in Christianity.
EDIT:
His stuff is typically horror/fantasy/erotica but I will also list Clive Barkers'
Imajjica story. These two books have to be two of the best written books ever. Granted I am self proclaimed Barker fanboi, but I know of very few authors that can weave a story as complex as Imajica is, with as many integral characters as it contains, and maintain continuity and flow. Pure briliance!!!
Bookmarks