I'm compelled to read again. It's been about 5 years. Library, here I come. Wargear map making... good bye.

I read, make maps, play turns, watch everything on TV, see every movie and still find time to give the girls of Suburban Chicago plenty of time to reject and taunt me. It's all about Time Management, Cram, and don't give me this whole "Real Job" and "Baby" crap cause I ain't buyin' it!

Legendary authors:
Fredrick Pohl - under-read by the younger generations
Richard Matheson

On the lighter side: Christopher Moore - Stephen King meets Dave Barry

RAPTOR! LAMB IS QUITE POSSIBLY ONE OF THE GREATEST BOOK IN HISTORY!

It was actually one of the last paper books I've ever read and I had a special edition that looked like a fancy Bible and people kept making comments bout how it was nice I was reading the Bible. I told them it was a Gnostic version.

Lamb is the top of my list, I have given away more copies of that to friends than I can count and I read it again almost yearly.

I think what I would really like is a good Sci-Fi Military style adventure

Have you read March Upcountry (David Weber, John Ringo).  Not the best book ever, but certainly fits the genre.

In the fantasy realm I recently read a trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, the first is called The Blade Itself... very entertaining in a somewhat George RR. Martin sort of way.

BlackDog, read the Abercrombie stand alone novel "Best Served Cold" that is based off of the world of "The Blade Itself". It is the best of all of them and they are all pretty darn good. That's a fun world of midieval intrigue.
I haven't gotten into RR. Martin's stuff aside from the Busted Flush stuff when I was in my Superhero kick. My friends read a Series by him that I haven't started because it wasn't available on Kindle at the time.

Raptor, Lamb would be the only book I would pick up paper for. It wouldn't have the same impact as an experience on an E-Reader.

I highly recommend anything by Peter F Hamilton or Iain M Banks if you haven't already read them Risky - they are the best sci-fi authors still living imho. My favorite books are:

Peter F Hamilton: Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained / Nights Dawn Trilogy / Mindstar trilogy
Iain M Banks: The Player of Games / Use of Weapons / Against a Dark Background / Excession

The Player of Games was great! I got confused with how Banks runs his series because he has them all in the World but not really connected at all. If you know what order they should be read in (or if it matters) I would really like to read more. I've read the blurbs and reviews of all of the ones you mentioned but I always get nervous because I hate reading something and then feeling like I missed something.
I don't know Hamilton at all but I will check him out.

The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks is a fun read.

Just so it doesn't seem like I am being selfish here I think everybody should give Matthew Stover's "Heroes Die" a read and then continue to the sequel "The Blade of Tyshal". An incredible idea for a fantasy world and it blends Sci-Fi and Fantasy seamlessly.
The funny thing is that I read the 2nd book first by mistake (why I am so concerned about reading things out of order) and was blown away with the balls the author had to just thrust the reader into the world and give little bits of background. It was an unique read because of that but I was just obsessed with the concept. Now when I finally figured out it was a sequel and read "Heroes Die" I was just blown away even more. Great books (3rd one kinda sucked) and Heroes Die has probably the best Action opening of any book I've ever read.

RiskyBack wrote: The Player of Games was great! I got confused with how Banks runs his series because he has them all in the World but not really connected at all. If you know what order they should be read in (or if it matters) I would really like to read more. I've read the blurbs and reviews of all of the ones you mentioned but I always get nervous because I hate reading something and then feeling like I missed something.
I don't know Hamilton at all but I will check him out.

Yes I agree it's probably my favorite Banks novel.

Check the wiki for the reading order: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#Fiction_as_Iain_M._Banks

Will check out those recommendations thanks

Wallace, I thought I had read the Night Angel Trilogy before since I see the books all the time in my Amazon suggestions so I just pass over it but I just read the blurbs and I don't think I have read them. I'll have to download the trillogy because they have it as one bulk download.
I hate when I forget what I have read!

BlackDog, read the Abercrombie stand alone novel "Best Served Cold" that is based off of the world of "The Blade Itself". It is the best of all of them and they are all pretty darn good. That's a fun world of midieval intrigue.
I haven't gotten into RR. Martin's stuff aside from the Busted Flush stuff when I was in my Superhero kick. My friends read a Series by him that I haven't started because it wasn't available on Kindle at the time.

I didn't think Best Served Cold was quite as good as the original trilogy, but it was a more enjoyable/casual read maybe (and that one bedroom scene is about the greatest thing I have ever read).  I you like Abercrombie, you should definetely read Martin.

I think what I liked best about Best Served Cold was the total lack of any sort of morality of any character and even the one that had some morals lost them towards the end. The Main Character is just all venom and spite and I enjoy that a lot (especially in a female lead since she reminds me of 3 of my ex's).
I seem to like characters that are supposedly unlikable.

RiskyBack wrote: I think what I would really like is a good Sci-Fi Military style adventure or Star Wars-esqu (I don't want to read Star Wars Novels, however).  Oh, if anybody knows of any Epic Fantasy with a badass main character (not a whiny Garion Punk).  A well written Mystery or Thiller that isn't main stream could work too.

My favorite in the sci-fi military genre is the Lensman series by E. E. Smith.  It's old school, having been written in the 1930's and 1940's, but it's classic action-adventure space battle stuff with never a dull moment.  There are five books plus a loosely-connected sixth, and they're hard to find because they've been out of print for awhile.  I tend to re-read the series every 5 years or so because it's such a roller coaster ride.

The first book in the series, Triplanetary, is the worst, so I would actually recommend starting with the third book, Galactic Patrol, which was the first to be written.  If Galactic Patrol is to your liking, then read the rest.

I would second asm's suggestion about the Fool trilogy. Fairly small world, but epic character.

And if you haven't read George RR Martin's A song of Ice and fire, you're missing out on epic, epic fantasy. Unfortunately, he tends to take very long between books, and the series isn't finished.

Peter F Hamilton's books I really enjoyed. Vast scope, very imaginative. My friend hated it though, apparently because of flat characters, so...

Btw, Scott Lynch, isn't he the guy who wrote the Lies of Locke Lamora? They can almost be read as stand-alone books, can't they? Blooming brilliant.

And btw v2, if you love twisted characters, I'd again highly recomment George R.R. Martin. First book in the series is "A Game of Thrones".

Risky, glad you're liking the Flinx series so far - I always thought it was a lot of fun (have you gotten to the book where they talk about expandars yet? kind of like the opposite of a black hole -- neat concept).

Anyhow, it occurred to me that you might also like R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series (The Darkness that Comes Before, The Warrior-Prophet, and The Thousandfold Thought). He's just starting on a follow-up series, but the first three are more or less a story unto themselves, and really quite enthralling.

Scott Lynch is the guy who wrote Lies of Locke Lamora and that is one of my Fav books. I loved the combination of Oceans 11 plot but in a Fantasy World. The second one wasn't very good but his site says he has plans for like 6 more but I doubt we'll ever see them. Lies can be read as a stand alone and as it is right now, it should be by everyone!
Song of Ice and Fire I have checked into and decided I didn't like all the jumping around from character to character. Martin is a very fine writer but I always find myself getting annoyed because he never sticks to 1 storyline, there are always 20 of them. Busted Flush was a great concept and I liked it but getting to the climax of a storyline and then having to read 5 other story lines before that coming back to that one just bugged me.

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus, by Orson Scott Card. I know we've all had the Card conversations, but have I had you read that one yet? It's unlike any of his other stuff. It's alternate history.