I'm sure many of these have already been mentioned in the thread, but I haven't read the other posts, so there you go.

Guy Gavriel Kay: The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy (fantasy) (note he is a *terrific* writer and has an incredible duology, starting with Sailing to Sarantium, and many stand alones including Tigana, A Song for Arbonne, and others and they are all worth reading, one of the best writers in the game)

Roger Zelazny: Lord of Light. An all time classic that reads like fantasy but is actually science fiction. He also wrote the Amber series, which is his classic fantasy series, and also well worth reading.

Robert Jordan: This is the big one, 14 books, in the Wheel of Time series. The first five or so are amazing, the middle five are less so, the last five trend up, last few great again. What makes it a special series (as with several of these listed here) is that it is a new and creative system, an original world with original power structures, not just the usual evil sorcerer or dragons or elves, etc.

Katherine Kurtz: The Deryni books (there are perhaps 11 of them in several trilogies) (fantasy)

Patrick Rothfuss: The Name of the Wind came out a few years ago and was the best debut novel of any writer I've read in a very long time. It's the first in a trilogy, the second is out, now we're all waiting for the final book. Fantasy.

Harry Turtledove: The Videssos cycle (first book is Misplaced Legion, several series ) (fantasy) (Roman legion and one Gaul transported to other world where magic works, a lot of political intrigue as well as the magic component.)

Warbreaker – Brandon Sanderson (F)

Raymond Feist: All the various Midkemia/Tsurannuani books, starting with Magician: Apprentice (fantasy)

Peter F. Hamilton: The Commonwealth Saga (Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained) and the Void Trilogy (The Dreaming Void being the first)(scifi)

Richard Morgan: The Takeshi Kovacs books, starting with Altered Carbon(cyberpunk)

Tad Williams: The Dragonbone Chair and subsequent books in the series (fantasy)

Terry Brooks: The various Shannarra (sp?) series (there are four trilogies? five?), starting with the Sword of Shannarra.(fantasy)

Perdido Street Station – China Mieville (F)

Alan Dean Foster: The Flinx and Pip books, starting with The Tar-Aiym Krang and then Bloodhype, and then a dozen more.(scifi)

Piers Anthony: The Blue Adept series, starting with Split Infinity (fantasy and sci-fi, both); also, the Incarnations of Immortality series, starting with On A Pale Horse (note: the second series kind of diminishes after the second book, but probably still worth reading)(fantasy and sci-fi, both)

Kevin Hearne: The iron Druid chronicles, starting with Hounded. They are incredibly quick reads, they are a lot of fun, I mentioned yesterday. (fantasy)

Michael Moorcock's Elric saga. Great stuff, starting with Elric of Melnibone and The Sailor on The Seas of Fate (fantasy)

The Lies of Locke Ramora – Scott Lynch (F)

C.S. Friedman: The Coldfire trilogy, starting with Black Sun Rising (fantasy)

David Farland: The Runelords, comprising two series, the first starting with The Sum of All Men. The second series is not done yet and isn't as good but is ok. (fantasy)

David Duncan: The Seventh Sword trilogy, starting with The Reluctant Swordsman, fantasy); The King's Blades and the King's Chronicles, two trilogies set around the same place and mostly the same people, starting with The Gilded Chain (fantasy); and, The Pandemia books, also two sets, but this time tetralogies, so you get 8 books, and they start with Magic Casement (fantasy)

The Thieves World books, which if you don't know were books with stories by different authors all centering around a city, Sanctuary, and characters they all shared. One of the all time best for that, edited by Robert Lynn Asprin and Lynn Abbey. The series starts with Thieves' World and Tale of the Vulgar Unicorn and then there are another dozen. Can't stress enough how good these can be.

Old Man’s War – John Scalzi (SF)

Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson (SF)

The Vlad Taltos books by Stephen Brust. I think they are up to thirteen books now. First book in the series is Jhereg. There are also related books set in the same places/times but centering on different characters, so probably about 20 books total so far.

The Garrett P.I. series by Glen Cook, starting with Sweet Silver Blues. This series (there are at least a dozen so far) blends fantasy and old mickey spillane style mystery with a real dash of vaudeville. Very light, very funny, very entertaining reads.

There are at least a dozen other authors that are good so you have lots to choose from even after this list if none strikes your fancy. Let me know, and enjoy!!