[bogey1]

I like David Gemmel. Every book he does has the same archetype characters, yet somehow I can't put them down.

RR Martin's books are just incredible. Wish he put out more than 1 every 5 years.

For mind candy, I've enjoyed Butcher's "Dresden" books and even more so his Fury books.

I absolutely loved Julian May's classic Pliocene Exile books (all of them, the initial trilogy and the later prequels).

On the Sci-Fi front, Robert L. Forward is spectacular. Excellent science and he does a phenonmenal job with the alien lifeforms/characters.