Dan Brown. I love mindforgetery mystery novels.
Chris Kuzneski, because I don't love mindforgetery mystery novels ALL THE TIME. Chris is a lot like Dan Brown's style of writing but the stories tend to be a bit smoother paced and have a bit more action and more early-area plot exposition. That, and he actually used the phrase "
stuff in your cornflakes". That's awesome.
Terry Goodkind, because I love my fantasy too. Sword of Truth is an excellent series, but they're ridiculously hard to get here for some reason so I've only read bits and pieces.
Obviously, J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm not exactly a huge buff on Middle Earth lore but I'm more knowledgeable than the average person, and I own a first-printing copy of the Silmarillion in hardcover with leather binding (which is kickass). The Hobbit literally the first novel I've ever read and I was raised on Lord of the Rings by my dad.
Robin Hobb. I really enjoyed all of her books, although frankly the Fool is creepy as forget and the Liveship Traders trilogy was a bit... weird.
Stephen Donaldson. I've been reading the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant lately. The writing style is a bit odd and the amount of detail that often goes into it is a bit overwhelming, but it's refreshingly complex and not at all an unenjoyable read. Took me like three weeks to read the two books that were at my dad's place too, which is quite a feat since I read at
ludicrous speed.
R.A. Salvatore. I was really into old-school D&D and I love Forgotten Realms more than I will ever love any woman, and Salvatore's right at the heart of it. No other author gives it quite so much...
likeableness as Salvatore. I dunno. He just has a very special effect on the world and it comes to life in my head. Definitely an all-time favourite.
Elaine Cunningham is also really good with the Forgotten Realms stuff, and is much better at writing romance stuff than Salvatore (which isn't to say Salvatore's bad either - he's better than a certain someone who wrote a whole trilogy round it)
Terry Pratchett. Because fantasy is not and should not be treated as serious business.
Eoin Colfer, enjoyed Artemis Fowl and still do from time to time. Liked Airman too, and the Supernaturalist.
Christopher Paolini, because dragons are loving awesome and nothing more needs be said. The Eragon movie sucked though.
Douglas Adams, I have all five books of the HHGTTG trilogy on my desk here, and I still re-read them every year or so. It's coming along time, I usually start around the middle of December and I didn't read them last year.
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