Writers

[FingolfinFinwe]

Do not hesitate.  Read Dune asap.  In fact, read at least the first 3 original Dune's.

Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune

It's up to you if you want to read the last three.  Don't even bother trying to read the newer stuff written by Frank Herbert's son Brian and his friend KevinJAnderson.  It's trash.

On Star Wars - I agree that the Thrawn Trilogy is very well done and well worth the read.  After that it gets harder to find decent ones.  Again, avoid KevinJAnderson at all costs.

[Smeagollum]

Well Splinter in a minds eye is one of the best sw novells imo and I love the1 and 2 book of the Darth Bane trilogy (didn't read nr 3 yet).

Allthough I'm a sW-fan I must say it doesn't have the feel of grandeur and brilliance in comparison with the work of Tolkien. Actually 99% of SW universe is pulp (though love that kind of pulp).

@Ulmo the writers you mentioned are that the ones you reed or the ones you say about: well they write intelligent and creates a real epic story? The only one I know is philip jose farmer. Saw a film based on his writings which I liked and I must say that his work seems interesting.

Update: I just learned that Syfy made a new tv serie about riverworld.

[Gil-Estel]

Robin Hobb is quite entertaining, and I would absolutely recommend the George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, which is, imho, brutal. He is constantly switching and today's hero can be tomorrow's zero. I also enjoy the Wheel of Time cycle by Robert Jordan, allthough it is a bit far stretching at a certain point.....

[Witchkingx5]

Well, as German Fantasy is one of the best,I read or have read:

Markus Heitz: (definitely at least number two of all living fantasy writers!, after Hennen, of course!)

Shadowrun (all 6!)
Vampires
Dragons (both)
All 9 Ulldart!
All 4 Dwarven Books!
and also some more...

Bernard Hennen (which is my favorite writer after Tolkien, btw!):

Everything, as last, Elven Queen!

At this point, I must say that if you understand German, Bernard Hennen is definitely the best. He writes fluently, but the describsions are awesome. Really cool storyline. I can just recommend his books!

Wolfgang Hohlbein:

Many, like some of his Elves, a Dragon book and some others

Witzko:

His 2 Goblin Books.

Christoph Hardebusch:

Trolls,
Sturmwerlten

Stan Nocholls:

Orcs!

Just to list some of them, now I'm reading the 4th part of the Great Dragon serie by Julia Conrad (read all the other parts before), which is, her best book at last.

I think since I really started to read fantasy (about a year and a half ago), I read about 150 books! I know nearly every author, and if your favorite one isn't listed here, I can name some others: Rowling (7 books), Cavanan (6), Licia Troisi (6), Alfred Bekker (6), Susanne Gerdom (3) and many, many, many others! I actually cansay that I'm an expert of German Fantasy!


EDIT: And of course all the Star Wars Books I didn't count into the 150 before, those are about 30.

[Smeagollum]

oh I know both hennen and heitz. Loved the dwarves (heitz) and loved the elves (thoughdidn't love the one with the poems)

[Witchkingx5]

The Peom was awesome, but it was very difficult to read, and if you read a  translation, stupid anyway.

Oh, und ausserdem, there are also some others that come to my mind;

The Hitchhiker's guide through the galaxy (all 7/8/9?)
Monika Felten: Elfenfeuer (all 3)
Morgan Howell (all 3)
and also some others, I think I'll get the whole list some day.

Of course, all books of Tolkien once in English, 5 or 6 times in German, about 10 times in Czechish and about 100 "" (=die 3 Fragezeichen) when I was younger.

And when reading, what page rate do you have? I have about 100-130 pages per hour in Germna, 90-110 in Czechish, 70-100 in English, depending on the book. Really fast, uh?