[vehns_woman]

Heh, Vehn emailed me a link to this thread before he went to bed - he knew I would be interested.
The Vlad Taltos series by Brust is FANTASTIC (and since he's a poker player, he may just see this message!). I can't recommend it stronglty enough. I wasn't too hip to the stuff he wrote with Emma Bull, or to the "elf" books that accompany the Taltos series, but the Taltos books themselves are pure gold IMHO.
Dennis McKiernan - I am shocked (shocked, I say!) that no one has mentioned this man so far. Great epic-style fantasy, without the neverending aspect of Jordan. He also never once has a female character yank her braid at a man ... Start with Caverns of Socrates for a really cool fantasy/scifi twist, especially cool if you are (or ever were ) into PnP games or MUDs.
Anything by SM Stirling - technically these novels are scifi as they fall under they speculative fiction category, but I generally consider them fanasty as the story begins with "what would have happened if XXXX". One series sends the island of Nantucket back to the bronze age. Conquistador opens a portal from post WWII California back in time, and the Peshawar Lancers begins with an ice age descending on Victorian England.

Hopefully these will keep you busy for a while =)
Regards,
Vehn's Woman