Fantasy/sci-fi Author, book, and series recommendations

I decided to recommend some books to anyone who has a hobby of reading anything besides manga or gaming magazines...

Epic Fantasy Authors

Michelle Sagara West
Stephen Erikson
Anne Bishop
Holly Lisle
Jane Lindskold
Stephen Brust

Epic Fantasy Books/series
Malazan Book of the Fallen series, by Stephen Erikson
The Sun Sword Series by Michelle West
The Chronicles of Elantra by Michelle Sagara
The Firekeeper series by Jane Lindskold
The Matrin Novels by Holly Lisle
The Vlad Taltos books by Stephen Brust
The Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop


Urban Fantasy Authors
Jim Butcher
Jennifer Estep
Sergei Lukyanenko
F Paul wilson
CE Murphy

Urban Fantasy series
Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
The Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep
The Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko
The Repairman Jack series by F Paul Wilson
The Urban Shaman series by CE Murphy
The Negotiator series by CE Murphy

Sci-fi Authors
CJ Cherryh

Sci-fi series
The Foreigner series by CJ Cherryh


Special recommendations: I in particular recommend anything by CJ Cherryh and the Malazan Book of the Fallen, for those who want food for thought. Cherryh's gift for creating stories of interaction between races and her thoughts on the formation of language and the effect sentient beings have on it and vice-versa are really fascinating. With Stephen Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, you have a series that shows all the best and worst of what people are capable of, inspiring you and throwing you down in the mud at various points, while reminding you constantly that the characters are in the end, flawed beings, no matter how powerful they might happen to be. Think of Glen Cook's dark military fantasy born from the tales of Vietnam vets combined with Eddings-style humor (at times) and Martin's tendency toward creating a world that is utterly merciless to even the most important characters in the story and you'll have a shadow of an idea of the complexity in those books...