Another good call. You also can't go wrong with The Anubis Gates or On Stranger Tides. And just out now: Black Opera by Mary Gentle is an intriguing historical fantasy about the magical powers of, yes, opera music.
Probably this is too far off from heroic and urban fantasy, as well as uncomfortably old. But I would suggest anyone digging out Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague deCamp. The Harold Shea stories in particular, of course, but Land of Unreason etc. too. Even Pratt's solo work, The Blue Star.
Also, I wanted to add to the list: Let the Right One In and Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist.. Both are uncommon takes on Vampire and Zombie methos, respectively... Quite different than the more typical novels of the past several years, especially Handling the Undead, which poses the question of what do you do when the dead rise and just kind of stand around.. Society's attempts to deal with very low functional loved ones who suddenly are back from the dead. I know the vampire and zombie genres are overly saturated right now, but these defintely are worth the read...
I haven't read those in aeons, but I remember loving the Harold Shea stories as a teen. I was also recently re-reading some of the original Robert E. Howard CONAN stories: "Queen of the Black Coast," "Tower of the Elephant," "People of the Black Circle," etc. Good pulpy fun.
Yep, the Robert E Howard stuff is good. And can't recommend Pratchett highly enough. Good for a laugh and some hidden depths, particularly good for train journeys, though the odd snort-laugh can be embarrassing. Connie Willis does good stuff too. And Howard Waldrop I can't recommend enough, though he's often hard to find. In space opera SF stuff, the Culture novels by Iain M Banks, good but intense. For historical fiction, I'm really enjoying the Shardlake series by CJ Sansom. And if you like the Bombardier Beer ads, that character was based on Sir Harry Flashman, in The Flashman Papers by George MacDonald Fraser, one of may favourite series. Happy reading!
I've got some recommendations: Ben Reeder's "The Demon's Apprentice" and "Page of Swords" (books 1 and 2 in planned 7 book series) are both excellent. The first book is available in print or on Kindle, and the second is available on Kindle, with the print version coming http://www.amazon.com/The-Demons-Apprentice-ebook/dp/B005END37U (Kindle version) http://www.amazon.com/Page-Swords-Demons-Apprentice-ebook/dp/B009TIOZCI/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1 (Kindle version) If you liked Butcher, you'll like Ben's series. I don't know how you feel about "zombie apocalypse" stories, but DA Roberts has a fine one out (first in it's series) Called "Ragnarok Rising", also available in Kindle or paperback http://www.amazon.com/Ragnarok-Risi...id=1352524718&sr=1-1&keywords=Ragnarok+Rising (Kindle version). I know both authors personally, and they're excellent writers. I had the privilege to be a beta reader for both of Ben's books. I haven't read all of Doug's book because I haven't been able to access a copy yet.
Lawrence Watt-Evans - The Lords of Dûs series Jack Vance - Lyonesse trilogy Gene Wolfe - Urth of the New Sun series Piers Anthony - Incarnations of Immortality series Alan Dean Foster - Spellsinger series Ursula K LeGuin - Earthsea trilogy Tony Shillitoe - Andrakis trilogy
Rick Cook has the Wizardry series, where computer programs harness magic in a fantasy setting. fun stuff. And the other Rick Cook has fantasy detective stories with metals in the titles...
Anne McCaffrey's P.E.R.N. series. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLRXXfk92Xs But you must read it in "order"... by publication dates. Start with Dragonflight, Dragonquest, then The White Dragon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pern Then the Harper Hall trilogy, Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragon Drums. [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLRXXfk92Xs[/yt] After that... its a free for all back and forth through history upon the planet of Pern. I especially liked "Moretta Dragonlady of Pern" the novel that explained the ancient ballad known as "Moretta's Ride".